{"id":2216,"date":"2026-09-13T14:49:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2026-09-13T14:49:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:49:36","slug":"piastri-calls-for-madrid-track-changes-after-spanish-gp-only-monaco-is-harder-to-overtake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/piastri-calls-for-madrid-track-changes-after-spanish-gp-only-monaco-is-harder-to-overtake\/","title":{"rendered":"Piastri calls for Madrid track changes after Spanish GP: &#8220;Only Monaco is harder to overtake&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oscar Piastri finished eighth after sustaining front-wing damage during the opening-lap battle in Madrid.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The McLaren driver said the circuit needs a significantly better overtaking zone, pointing specifically to the Turn 5-6 chicane.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Piastri believes Monaco is currently the only Formula 1 circuit where overtaking is more difficult than at Madring.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oscar Piastri has called for changes to Madring after Formula 1&#8217;s first Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit, arguing that only Monaco currently makes overtaking more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri started seventh but endured a difficult opening lap. Contact with George Russell damaged the endplate of his McLaren&#8217;s front wing and dropped him to 10th, leaving the Australian fighting in traffic for much of the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was just a difficult afternoon from the start,&#8221; Piastri said after the race. &#8220;From there, the rest of the race was pretty compromised, obviously with some damage and mainly just track position. So that made things very, very difficult.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri said McLaren&#8217;s underlying speed was more encouraging when he finally had clear track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The pace in free air on the hard was very good, to be honest,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;But we were trying to recover the time loss from the VSC compared to the guys that pitted.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Virtual Safety Car proved decisive at the front, where <a>Andrea Kimi Antonelli capitalised on the timing of the neutralisation and Lando Norris&#8217; slow pit stop to win the Spanish GP<\/a>. Piastri, however, found himself trapped behind Liam Lawson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When I got to Lawson, I was kind of stuck again,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That was painful. And then when we stopped for the mediums, we came out in a train of four cars, so that wasn&#8217;t great.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri was equally unimpressed by the performance of the medium compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The medium was just terrible,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It was good for literally one lap, and then it was really bad. So we&#8217;ve got a lot of things to try and improve.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Australian eventually recovered to eighth, behind Franco Colapinto, and is now seventh in the Drivers&#8217; Championship with 120 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His assessment of the circuit itself was more significant. Overtaking had already emerged as a concern during the weekend, with the narrow layout and walls making track position particularly important. <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/norris-beats-antonelli-by-0-011s-to-take-first-f1-pole-at-madring\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Qualifying proved crucial as Norris beat Antonelli by just 0.011s to take Madring&#8217;s first F1 pole<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri believes the circuit needs a genuine passing opportunity rather than relying on drivers going off track while attempting moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The track needs a much better overtaking zone,&#8221; Piastri said. &#8220;At that chicane, even the overtakes that did work were normally because someone had to cut the track and give the position back, rather than actually overtaking.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;So hopefully they can make some changes because, at the moment, I think the only track that&#8217;s harder to overtake at is Monaco. So that&#8217;s not ideal.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri&#8217;s criticism adds to a broader discussion about Madring after its inaugural Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso also said overtaking had been difficult and suggested changes could be considered at several parts of the circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns with the Azerbaijan GP in Baku on September 24-26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What did Oscar Piastri say about the Madrid F1 circuit?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri said Madring needs &#8220;a much better overtaking zone&#8221; and argued that Monaco is the only circuit currently more difficult to pass on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What changes does Piastri want at Madring?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri highlighted the chicane around Turns 5 and 6, saying many attempted passes there resulted in drivers cutting the track and returning positions rather than completing genuine overtakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where did Piastri finish the 2026 Spanish GP?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri finished eighth after starting seventh. Opening-lap front-wing damage, traffic and tyre difficulties compromised his race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tags:<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oscar Piastri wants Madring to create a better overtaking opportunity after a frustrating Spanish GP in which traffic, front-wing damage and tyre struggles limited the McLaren driver to eighth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020315093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Piastri urges Madring changes after F1 debut","42wp_featured_image_credits":"McLaren","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":21,"location":"Madrid"},{"id":58,"location":""}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17,10,16,112,29],"42wp_author":[21,58],"class_list":["post-2216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-george-russell","tag-mclaren","tag-mercedes","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-spanish-gp","42wp_author-leonid-kliuev","42wp_author-vicente-soella"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2217,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions\/2217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020315093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}