It is Saturday, August 29, and there is not a soul at Ifema. The stands of the Madring are already erected, workers in yellow vests are making the final touches, some curious people are exercising and stopping to take photos. Meanwhile, Javier is slicing ham at Taberna Cazorla, located opposite one of the circuit’s sides, next to the M-40. “Many people haven’t come to work these days because of the noise. On the Grand Prix weekend, there will be countless spectators (it is estimated that 120,000 tickets have been sold) but all the money goes to the caterings. We are prepared with more staff, on alert, but who knows…,” he explains cautiously. “The business is sometimes for just a few,” he adds.
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The circuit advances towards the M-11 and causes the closure of the main entrance to Valdebebas. There, only a Shell gas station remains, which barely sees any cars, but Madring employees do come to ask for their sandwiches. In that stretch, opposite the Real Madrid Sports City, there is still a lot to be done with two weeks to go. “Sorry, we can’t talk, we have been forbidden and I am a man of my word,” replies the gas station manager.
The works began in December, accelerated in May, and for two weeks now the roar of the racing cars has been part of the neighbors’ soundtrack. Those in Hortaleza (and also in Barajas) are not very happy. “F1 out of Hortaleza,” reads a banner hung on a bridge over the M-12.
Constantino Blanco, spokesperson for the neighborhood platform Stop F1 Madrid, reflects for the neighborhood’s own website. “It’s not a dream to have a circuit in front of your house. Some neighbors at first didn’t see what was coming, and little by little they are realizing it. The circuit is a huge asphalt monstrosity that has wiped out all the surrounding vegetation. It’s concrete and inconveniences, it contributes absolutely nothing. On race day the neighborhood will be congested,” he concludes and adds that they will file a complaint because they consider it “illegal”: they are going to measure the noise.
The circuit is a huge asphalt monstrosity that wipes out all the vegetation”
Constantino Blanco
Spokesperson for the neighborhood platform StopF1 Madrid
Already in Formula 3, on August 24 and 25, the sound of the racing cars entered the homes in the Alameda de Osuna neighborhood, farther away from the aforementioned, who could hardly believe it. Some neighbors told La Vanguardia that that weekend is ideal for a getaway.
Madring estimates, according to a study by PwC, the economic impact at 467 million euros and 8,850 jobs. The agreement is signed for ten years.
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On the other end of the phone is Marta, a resident of Valdebebas. Everything is experienced differently there. She lives firsthand the integration of Madring in the city’s trendy neighborhood, also in the headlines for the rezoning of Real Madrid’s lands. “I bought an apartment in 2020 and now it would be worth double,” she sums up. For months she has had to juggle taking the children to school (“some exits have been closed”) and living in recent weeks with the noise coming from the circuit. “It’s as if you were right there,” she points out. And she reveals the gossip currently in the neighborhood. “A friend was offered 11,000 euros to occupy his apartment for the weekend!” On Idealista, ads specify prices between 700 and 1,500 euros for those two specific days, but the most lucrative business is on Airbnb.
Álex is a Formula 1 enthusiast and has recently moved to Valdebebas. “The noise doesn’t bother me,” he begins. “Next year I want to buy tickets.” About rental apartments, he provides new information. “11,000 euros? Yes, I’ve heard. It’s the chalet area, right behind one of the stands. I’ve heard that some neighbors have even paid off their mortgage with the money they will receive for those days,” he says.
That famous chalet area is located at the chicane, with two consecutive turns, the first a 57° right and the second a 78° left. A residential area with semi-detached houses with land. “Luxury villa with views of the F-1 track, 50m from the circuit,” reads one of the ads. Its price is 29,271 euros for the week in question. During the course of yesterday, the ad for a penthouse with views of part of the circuit for 21,000 euros from Thursday to Sunday had already disappeared. And a house with a pool and eight bedrooms takes the prize (in the attached image), with more than 56,900. It is understood that few houses remain available, and the price of those that are left is even below the initial one. These neighbors are rubbing their hands considering that it will be the first of at least ten years…
Madring, a semi-urban circuit far from the city’s beauties, has turned already overloaded neighborhoods upside down. For some it is a perfect (and dreamed) business. For others, an unknown, and for the rest, an inconvenience due to the works, closures, and noise.
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