The all-new Madrid Grand Prix is facing a legal challenge on two fronts as efforts ramp up ahead of its inaugural event next year.

The High Court of Justice of Madrid has accepted an appeal from Mas Madrid against plans to build the Madring circuit around the IFEMA exhibition centre in the Spanish Capital.

Court accepts legal challenge against Madrid GP

Announced in January 2024, organisers in Madrid have secured a 10-year deal with Formula 1 to host an event from next year.

That will see the Madring join the calendar as Round 16 of the F1 2026 schedule, the final European leg of the 24-event calendar announced by the sport’s commercial rights holder.

Its position on the calendar is subject to circuit homologation, a standard qualifier for any new event, but one that appears to have additional caveats in this instance.

In April, Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, announced that an urban planning licence needed to allow work to commence on the circuit would be issued “tomorrow”.

“We are in a position to issue the license tomorrow and, therefore, to continue moving forward so that F1 comes to Madrid,” Martinez-Almeida announced.

That was quickly followed by comments from Rita Maestre, the leader of political group Mas Madrid, who has now followed that up with a statement off the back of the appeal filed with the High Court of Justice of Madrid last week.

“This is a plan without an adequate environmental impact assessment or public health evaluation, despite the noise and pollution that the surrounding areas will suffer with the circuit passing less than 40 metres from homes,” Maestre said.

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A long-term opponent of the Madrid Grand Prix, Mas Madrid highlighted a number of concerns with the Special Plan that allows the circuit’s construction.

Mas Madrid has argued that there is an “absence” of key environmental information, including a lack of an environmental impact assessment and public health studies.

Further, it claims the process “was carried out without individual notification to the surrounding residents, contravening urban planning regulations.”

It’s also alleged more than 700 trees could be destroyed as a result of the circuit’s construction.

“We appealed this urban plan, just as we are going to appeal the license judicially and we are not going to stop asking for explanations for each public euro of the 190 million euros that have already been committed to everyone’s taxes, although they said that everything was going to be free,” Maestre stated.

“This hit is going to be difficult for the PP because from Más Madrid we are going to defend, above all, the general interest of the people of Madrid.”

Meanwhile, efforts to build hype surrounding the all-new event continue, with Carlos Sainz performing a demonstration run at the site with Williams last Sunday.

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