Will fortune favor the bold on Madrid’s high-risk F1 street circuit?

“Without a doubt it's a circuit of very high risk and I think probably all the drivers are just giving that bit of margin today – let's see tomorrow…”

George Russell’s summation of Friday at the new Madring felt very much like some of Thursday’s comments, where drivers were able to talk about what was expected but had yet to see the reality.

Friday was a remarkably calm day from a Formula 1 perspective, with the only interruption being caused by Arvid Lindblad when he lost the rear of his Racing Bulls car on turn-in for Turn 13 in the second practice session, and couldn’t collect it again before sliding into the barrier and bringing out a red flag in FP2.

Others had brushed walls slightly, but only on a few occasions, as the grid appeared wary of following the example set by the junior categories. There were crashes and interruptions in the majority of session prior to F1’s running, with the drivers taking notes as the likes of Oscar Piastri sat glued to F2’s practice until the moment he had to leave for the fan stage. In the end he missed little of the action, as Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak had a heavy crash that resulted in his ART car catching fire – and a notably slow response from the fire marshals trackside leading to a long clean-up effort.

Despite the lack of incident in the F1 sessions, Piastri admitted the Madring was proving challenging to feel comfortable on.

“I would say honestly more difficult [to get up to speed] than some tracks,” Piastri said. “There's a lot of sections here where you're not really brushing up against the walls, you're kind of turning or heading at them and then you need to avoid them. So, it makes things quite challenging and definitely I think everyone is still getting up to speed.

“But when you get into a decent rhythm over one lap, it's pretty enjoyable. In the race running it's been a nightmare to try and manage the tires with graining. So, a lot of corners have been very difficult, but it's been an interesting day.”

If Piastri is finding it tricky in a McLaren that has won two of the last three races, then spare a thought for Alex Albon in his Williams. After a day that saw Albon finish in the bottom five, he says it’s even more difficult for those in less competitive machinery.

“I think we've got a lot of work to do on our side as a team,” Albon said. “I think it's more enjoyable for the drivers up at the front than it is for the ones at the back, but yeah, it's properly sketchy.”

Albon had previously expected the track to be “like a souped-up Jeddah” but like many bemoaned the number of corners that required turning under braking, reducing the chances of an overtake. The predominant feeling on Friday night remained that it will be a qualifying venue, or one where the power units will have to play the biggest role in any moves.

“I wish they did something a bit different with the braking zones and not having them too much angled,” Albon said. "You've got a lot of combined corners, which just thinking of overtaking on Sunday, it feels like it's quite easy to defend. You just put the car in the middle of the track and you're not going to get a car that's going to go past you. That just means that it will be more of a deployment overtake than a braking overtake.”

Not everyone who was outside the top 10 holds the same view, however. The most effusive driver was last weekend’s surprise pole-sitter Pierre Gasly, who enjoyed the opening day balancing risk versus reward.

“It was amazing honestly – I love the track, very exciting, a lot of adrenaline,” he said. "I mean, it's always cool to discover a new track and kind of throw yourself into the unknown and having to figure it out on the go.

“Overall quite tricky FP1; managed to put the car in a much better place for FP2. I still feel there's quite a lot of things to improve so hopefully it can be better for tomorrow, but generally a very exciting track to drive on.”

It might not look like one but Madring's still just a street circuit to Max Verstappen. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The banked La Monumental section lived up to its spectacular billing visually, although as with the majority of the track, there were few moments of drama during practice. That is likely to ramp up as the lap times come down and the competitive edge has to take over come qualifying.

Whether that impacts driver opinion on Saturday remains to be seen. If there’s one that the Madring was always going to struggle to win over, however, it’s Max Verstappen.

“Yeah…” was all the Dutchman initially offered as his views on the track. “I'm not a fan of street circuits, so that will never never change, and I will always prefer to drive on a track like Spa.

“I mean, what they have done in terms of the way they have built everything up, I think they've done a really good job but I'm not a fan of street circuits.”

The early running hasn’t yet provided a true reflection of what a challenge the Madring could prove to offer in qualifying, but the track has started to hint at it. Saturday afternoon could well be chaotic and spectacular, but the true test of whether the venue is a hit with fans will come on Sunday. For now, the circuit has a very Baku-esque feel to it: All of the potential for something dramatic, but if the drivers play it as sensibly as they did on Friday, the same potential for something far less exciting.