Madring’s first Spanish GP was more smoke than fire, but can a few tweaks light it up?

Sitting in what is an enormous exhibition hall that has been divided in half by giant LED screens and then sectioned off by a low temporary wall to create a media center, I had hoped each evening that Sunday night would not end with me writing this feature.

But the warnings from the drivers came to pass, as the new Madring provided painfully little in terms of racing action.

For all the potential for drama and incidents, when there was green flag racing there was very little in the way of, well, racing, beyond the opening lap.

Liam Lawson gets a special tip of the cap for producing the most memorable overtaking move of the race when he found a way past Franco Colapinto into Turn 5, given the fact that both drivers had yet to make their first pit stops. The only downside to that move was that it slightly raised the hope that there could be more later in the race.

Lawson proved you could make a move, but it proved a flash in the pan. Dom Gibbons/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

But even the junior categories – despite more errors and collisions – had seen little in the way of passing on Sunday, with the F3 title decider seeing Ugo Ugochukwu able to comfortably hold his P2 position while Freddie Slater was powerless to try and improve on eighth place while stuck in a train of cars.

When it came to the Spanish Grand Prix, the biggest casualty of the lack of overtaking potential was Lando Norris, as an unfortunately timed Virtual Safety Car cost him the lead, and despite his obvious pace potential he could not find a way past Max Verstappen to get back at eventual winner Kimi Antonelli.

RELATED: Antonelli triumphs in Madrid as VSC thwarts Norris

“We know that Lando got unlucky with that VSC, so for us I think today P2 is an incredible result because you could see how much Lando was catching me,” Verstappen said. “Around here you can’t pass, so I could keep him behind. And for us to be P2 is incredible.

“I just kept the car in the middle [of the track]. I think that works quite well around here.”

In some ways, Norris benefited from the track layout as Antonelli admitted he had opted for the more cautious approach to their opening-lap fight. The Italian might have the championship picture to keep in mind, but even he wants to see the Madring circuit layout revised.

“It definitely doesn’t create overtaking opportunities and it doesn’t push you to try and make a move because 80% of the time you might have contact,” Antonelli said. "So, I think especially in the second chicane, if I would have turned in, me and Lando would have touched and probably gone in the wall and blocked the road; it definitely wouldn’t have been nice.

“So, I think there are some corners that need to be changed to create more overtaking opportunities because right now, yes, it’s nice over one lap, but for sure in the race, you’re just stuck behind.”

Norris calls Madring great to drive on, not so much to race on, but thinks a few changes could make a big difference. Clive Rose/Getty Images

Having seen his chance of a third victory in four races ultimately ended by the VSC, before having to spend the closing stages of the race staring at the back of Verstappen’s rear wing, unsurprisingly it was Norris who was the most outspoken of the top three, though he was reiterating earlier-voiced opinions.

“I think there are some obvious changes they should make,” Norris said. “They should get rid of [Turn] 18, 19 – useless. Just have more of a straight into a hairpin. Like, I don’t know how someone looks at this design and goes, ‘Mint.’

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity. I think they can make it into a track that’s good for racing, and I’m excited to come back here next year if they can make these changes because I think it’s a track that is good fun to drive and it can be a great racetrack.

“To me, it’s not a great racetrack. It’s great in qualifying, but, straight line from [Turn] 17 straight to 20, have a much wider entry like Austin Turn 1 or Turn 10 – the big hairpin. You’ll create much better opportunities for everyone and you’ll be able to enjoy the race.

“So there are some simple changes and maybe some trickier ones, like Turn 5, 6, 7 – it’s hard to know exactly what’s the best thing. The fact you have to turn and brake basically defeats the whole object of racing. So, they can do some simple changes, I think, easy changes and maybe some more tricky, but I hope they do it because then it should be more exciting for everyone.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who watched that race who doesn’t agree with the drivers’ perspectives, and it’s particularly important that the race organizers heed their views. Not because they haven’t done an impressive job in many aspects, but because the largest stakeholders – the watching broadcast audience – are predominantly focused on the action between the white lines on a Sunday.

The encouraging aspect over the weekend was a receptiveness to the feedback that was offered during the driver briefing, as well as a desire to discuss potential changes with the teams and FIA already.

“I think for a first, it's probably one of the best, or maybe the best that I've seen so far,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. “It's a temporary circuit. They've built something that is challenging for the drivers. A mini Macau or a mini Monaco. The location is good…

“We're thinking about how much more we can do next year in terms of the events here or presentations, because we have the space and that's very rare in Formula 1. So I would say congratulations for a first [effort].

“Then it's the tricky bit. Doing a track that is spectacular also for the drivers, and then building it in a way that there is lots of overtaking. I had a discussion yesterday with the CEO of the circuit and they are totally open-minded about next year, saying we’ve had the discussions with the FIA: ‘What is it we should do? How is it that we should lay the track out when it comes to overtaking?’

“There is a constant discussion and I think that they are on it and understand that we can tweak it a little bit here or there.”

The Madring came together in a short space of time and had some hugely impressive areas as well as some loose ends that could do with improving for fans on the ground. Doing so will always help its commercial potential, but making adjustments to a track – that you have just invested so heavily in – after just one event, would be a significant commitment to trying to make the event as big a sporting success as possible.

Push ahead with changes, and there could be a far happier set of drivers and fans come the Sunday evening in year two.