Turn 12 · MADRING
The Monumental
547.82 metres of asphalt curving at 24% banking. It is the feature the Madrid circuit wants to be known for, and the only part of the lap that looks like nothing else on the calendar. Here is what has actually been measured, what the drivers who have already driven it say, and where you can watch it from.
Data verified on 16 September 2026
All these figures come from the official circuit fact sheet and the organisers’ press releases. Where one source rounds and the other gives the decimal, the decimal is what you get here.
Every measurement
- LengthThe organisers round it to 550 metres in the press.
- 547.82 m
- BankingConstant gradient across the whole corner.
- 24 %
- WidthAt its widest point.
- 12 m
- Maximum heightDrop between the bottom and the top of the banking.
- 10 m
- Time insideHow long cars spend turning at that angle, per the organisers.
- ~6 s
- SpectatorsPer the circuit’s technical fact sheet. The organisers have said «more than 50,000» in a press release: we publish the fact-sheet figure, which is the technical one.
- 45,000
The 547.82 metres is the exact figure from the circuit fact sheet; the 550 metres you see in headlines is the same measurement rounded, not a different one.
Where the name comes from
The organisers explain the name two ways: the semicircular shape, which echoes the ring of a bullring, and how demanding the corner itself is. Madrid has the reference close to hand —Las Ventas is the best-known bullring in Spain— and the circuit has built much of its visual identity on it: La Monumental is the centrepiece of the official Grand Prix poster.
It is not the only corner at MADRING with a name of its own. The organisers have named eight sections of the lap, almost all after places nearby: Hortaleza, the Las Cárcavas climb, El Búnker, El Parque. It is a branding decision, but a practical one too: these are the names the broadcast will use and the ones you will see signposted inside the venue.
What makes it hard
The banking is half the story. The other half, and the part that surprised Carlos Sainz when he drove it for the first time in May 2026, is that the corner is blind: from the car you cannot see the exit, because the gradient itself hides the horizon. That turns a section that looks flat out on paper into a corner about reference points and memory.
What Sainz said after driving it
Quotes from the first driver to complete a lap of the circuit, translated from Spanish. Each one shows the original wording and links to where it was published.
«I thought La Monumental was just a banked corner and that was it»
Original in Spanish: «Yo pensaba que La Monumental tenía peralte y ya»
«It is not just banked, it is blind as well. You have created quite a cocktail»
Original in Spanish: «No solo tiene peralte, sino que además es ciega. Habéis creado un buen cóctel»
«All you can see is the sky»
Original in Spanish: «Sólo se ve el cielo»
Which grandstands look onto it
The official sale does not sell «tickets for La Monumental»: it sells sections. These are the ones around it according to the official description of each grandstand. If the banking is the reason you are going, check here before you choose.
The Gold on the banking
Section 9The only Gold grandstand away from the start/finish straight: it looks straight onto the corner. The best seat for the banking, priced with its category. The organisers do not specify whether it is covered.
Around the corner
Section 9ASilver, with partial cover. The official sale describes it as being around the Monumental corner, a step below section 9 in both price and view.
Covered, same sector
Sections 8 and 8ASilver Plus, and among the few grandstands the organisers describe as covered. They sit in the fast technical stretch that feeds into the banking.
The entry to the corner
Section 6ACarlos Sainz’s Team FIFTY5 grandstand, high up on the Las Cárcavas climb. From there you see the fast sequence before it and the entry to La Monumental.
The exit
Sections 10 and 10ASilver, described as the technical sector after the banking. This is where you find out who got the corner right and who did not.
The Monumental Fan Zone
Beyond the grandstands, the venue has a Fan Zone named after the corner. Access depends on your ticket category: it is open to Silver Plus and Silver.
How it was built
The banking was surfaced in March 2026 and the organisers published the details of the operation. This is construction data rather than spectacle, but it explains why this corner is not just another stretch of asphalt.
Over 1,800 cubic metres of mix
For the base layer of the banking alone. The mix was produced at the Vicálvaro plant, in Madrid itself.
Laid at around 170 °C
With a window of barely 30 minutes from leaving the plant to being laid, which meant coordinating two pavers working in sync.
20% less material
The pavement design cut roughly that proportion of material compared with the original plan.
And on 9 July a Formula 1 car ran over it
Ferrari became the first team to run at MADRING, with Hamilton and Leclerc on a Filming Day: an FIA-regulated promotional activity capped at 200 kilometres —100 per driver— on demonstration tyres. It was not a development test, but it was the first time the asphalt, the barriers and the pit boxes were checked with a real car on top of them, two months before the Grand Prix.
The other named corners at MADRING
La Monumental is turn 12 of a 22-corner lap. These are the others the organisers have named, with the lengths published on the official fact sheet.
| Turn | Name | Length | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Hortaleza | 139.73 m | Fast right-hander named after the neighbouring district, launching the cars into the urban part of the lap. |
| 6-7 | Subida de las Cárcavas | — | An 8% climb that gains ten metres of elevation: the highest point of the circuit. |
| 8 | El Búnker | 72.79 m | Named after the Spanish Civil War bunkers still standing beside the track. |
| 10-11 | La Chicane | 92.94 + 94.5 m | Two linked corners whose job is to scrub off speed before the banking. |
| 12 | La Monumental | 547.82 m | The 24% banked corner. Semicircular like a bullring, which is where the name comes from. |
| 14-16 | Las Enlazadas de Valdebebas | 76.06 + 209.7 + 40.54 m | The fastest sequence on the circuit: three linked corners taken almost flat out. |
| 18 | Norte | 95.34 m | Named after IFEMA's North Convention Centre, right beside the corner. |
| 22 | El Parque | 119.14 m | Final corner of the lap, next to the Juan Carlos I park. |
Where the overtaking happens
The circuit's official fact sheet flags 5 braking zones as clear overtaking points, and gives the entry and apex speed for each one. One of them, turn 13, is set up inside the banking: whether you get there at all depends on how you come out of La Monumental.
| Turn | Braking | Why there |
|---|---|---|
| Turn 1 | 320 → 100 km/h | At the end of the 589-metre main straight. There is barely 200 metres between the start line and the first corner. |
| Turn 5 | 340 → 80 km/h | The heaviest braking on the lap. The cars arrive from the 837 unbroken metres between turns 3 and 5, the urban stretch and the longest straight on the circuit. |
| Turn 13 | 300 → 140 km/h | Right at the exit of the banking, a slow corner of almost 84°. Getting out of here cleanly is what sets up Las Enlazadas de Valdebebas. |
| Turn 17 | 280 → 100 km/h | At the end of Las Enlazadas: turns 14, 15 and 16 are taken flat out and it all ends in this braking zone. |
| Turn 20 | Arrives at 260 km/h | The entry to the slow part of the circuit, a 117° right-hander. |
In case you read it differently elsewhere
Several outlets report that MADRING has four overtaking zones and place one of them at turn 11. The circuit's official fact sheet describes five and never mentions turn 11. These are the organisers' five, with their own figures: the detail is scattered across the fact sheets of the interactive map, you have to open them one by one, and that is why the wrong version travels.
What they race on: tyres and an F1 without DRS
Compounds chosen without any race data
Pirelli brings the middle of its 2026 range to Madrid: C2 as the hard, C3 as the medium and C4 as the soft. The interesting part is not the compound but how it was decided: nobody has ever raced here, so the choice comes from simulations of the track's characteristics rather than data from previous races. Pirelli expects the loads acting on the tyres to be comparable to those at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.
Their own statement says what the choice is for: to favour a 2-stop strategy and to give more protection against overheating if it turns hot — which in Madrid in September is hardly a remote scenario.
There is no DRS: there is active aero
MADRING debuts under the very regulations that drop DRS. In its place there is active aerodynamics: the flaps open on the straights for low drag and close in the corners for downforce. The difference from DRS is that it is no longer a reward for closing in — everyone uses it, on every lap.
What does have to be earned is Overtake Mode: a driver who passes a designated point on the track within 1 second of the car ahead gets 0.5 megajoules of extra electrical energy for the whole of the following lap. That is the real replacement for the DRS effect, and on a circuit debuting with no reference points nobody yet knows how much it will be worth.
Watching the banking
The grandstand with the best view of it is uncovered
Section 9 is the only Gold grandstand that is not on the main straight: it looks straight onto the banking. It is also the one the official sale describes as uncovered —«The uncovered grandstand offers high-quality amenities», word for word on its listing—. The ones around it, 9A and 10, are listed as partially covered, which is not the same as being in the shade.
Then there is the sound, which is half the reason to come to this corner: through banking the cars go past flat out and loaded up, not lifting. Filtering plugs like the Loop Experience 2 take the hit off while keeping the timbre —17 dB of high-fidelity reduction, per their spec sheet— which is exactly what you came here to hear, and exactly what foam plugs take away.
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Frequently asked questions
- Exactly how long is the Monumental corner?
- 547.82 metres, according to the official circuit fact sheet. The organisers round it to 550 metres in their press releases: same measurement, not two different figures.
- Is 24% banking a lot?
- It is a 10-metre drop between the bottom and the top of the corner, and enough for the circuit to have made it its signature. Cars spend around 6 seconds turning at that angle inside it.
- Can you walk up onto the banking?
- No. La Monumental is part of the live track, with the grandstands and the Fan Zone that carries its name around it. Track access is not included in any ticket category.
- Which ticket do I need to see it?
- There is no corner-specific ticket. Section 9 (Gold) overlooks the banking and 9A is the one the official sale places around it; Silver Plus 8 and 8A are in the same sector. Every Grand Prix ticket is a three-day pass: single days are not sold.
- Is it really the longest corner in the world?
- The organisers publish it as the longest on the Formula 1 calendar, and that is the claim that holds up. The «in the world» version is the circuit’s own line, repeated by the press, rather than a measured comparison against layouts in other categories.
- Where do the overtakes happen at MADRING?
- At five points, according to the official fact sheet: turns 1, 5, 13, 17 and 20. The heaviest braking is into turn 5 (340 down to 80 km/h) and turn 13 is the one set up on the way out of the banking. If you read elsewhere that there are four and that one of them is turn 11, that version does not come from the organisers.
- Is there DRS this year?
- No. It went away in 2026 and active aerodynamics took over, used by every car on every lap. The boost you have to earn is Overtake Mode: 0.5 megajoules extra for one lap for anyone passing a designated point within a second of the car ahead.
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