The FIA Method 3 Championship will play a key position in getting ready Madrid’s brand-new MADRING circuit for its Method 1 debut, with the sequence set to conduct a two-day official in-season take a look at on 24-25 August.
Held simply two weeks earlier than the inaugural Method 1 TAG HEUER Gran Premio de España 2026 on 11-13 September, the take a look at will present groups, drivers and officers with their first aggressive operating on the new venue.
Past providing helpful preparation for the championship’s season finale, the occasion may even function an vital validation of the circuit’s sporting, operational and security procedures below actual racing situations.
Expanded finale to interchange misplaced Bahrain spherical
Along with the August take a look at, Method 3 has confirmed a singular format for its 2026 season finale at MADRING. Following the cancellation of the Bahrain race weekend earlier this 12 months, the championship has launched an expanded schedule to revive the variety of aggressive occasions initially deliberate for the season.
The Madrid finale will characteristic two qualifying periods and, for the primary time this season, two Function Races, giving drivers an additional alternative to attain helpful championship factors in the course of the title-deciding weekend.
The revised schedule might be as follows:
Friday morning: 45-minute Free PracticeFriday afternoon: Two consecutive 20-minute Qualifying sessionsSaturday morning: Dash Race, with the reverse-grid decided by the outcomes of the primary Qualifying sessionSaturday afternoon: First Function Race, utilizing the grid from the primary Qualifying sessionSunday morning: Second Function Race, with the beginning order set by the second Qualifying session
Every Qualifying session will award two factors for pole place, whereas each Function Races will supply the usual FIA Method 3 championship factors allocation.
Twice the Function Races, twice the chance 😮💨
This is how the factors might be distributed throughout the season finale in Madrid 📊✨#F3 #RoadToF1 pic.twitter.com/QrUDBfckk2
— Method 3 (@Formula3) July 10, 2026
Worthwhile preparation earlier than Method 1 arrives
Method 3 CEO Bruno Michel welcomed the chance to each consider the brand new circuit and create an enhanced championship finale.
„I am more than happy to announce this F3 take a look at session on the MADRING. Will probably be two very helpful days of testing for our groups and drivers to appraise this new problem earlier than the essential closing spherical of the 2026 season, which might be held at this new venue.
„This season can have a fairly distinctive conclusion with an enhanced finale, which is able to present the groups and the drivers with an extra alternative to attain factors, following the lack of the race weekend at Bahrain earlier this 12 months.“
Luis García Abad, Director of the Method 1 TAG HEUER Gran Premio de España 2026, emphasised that the August take a look at is an important milestone in getting ready Madrid’s latest circuit for its first Method 1 occasion.
„From the very starting, we had been clear that we wished to reach on the Grand Prix with a completely validated and examined circuit. In a very new venture corresponding to MADRING, it was important to test, below actual competitors situations, that every one components associated to security, operations and the sporting supply of the occasion would work precisely as we had deliberate.“
He additionally praised the cooperation between Method 3 and the Spanish Grand Prix organizers: „From our very first conversations with Bruno Michel, we discovered Method 3 to be utterly keen to make these take a look at days doable.
„Their collaboration has been excellent and permits us to fulfil a twin goal: to hold out all the required checks earlier than the Grand Prix makes its debut and, on the identical time, so as to add main sporting attraction by incorporating an extra championship race whose end result might be determined in Madrid.“
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