I went to the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring for the F1 in Madrid last year.
These are my top tips on the bag policy, what to bring, what not to bring, food and drink and buying merchandise when you’re at the circuit.
And it includes my most important tip relating to water bottles, which was a massive issue when I went!
Bag policy
Officially, the bag policy at Madring is that backpacks larger than 40 x 30cm are not allowed in. Suitcases and trolley bags are also banned.
What that means in reality is that a normal day backpack, small rucksack or handbag is fine, but don’t turn up with a huge travel rucksack or your luggage in suitvases. You can’t leave luggage at the gates, so if you’re arriving straight from the airport (Madring is only a few minutes from Madrid-Barajas airport), drop your bags at your hotel first.
I took my normal sized Northface backpack in with me which was fine, and you’ll see loads of other people with similar sized bags:
Bag searches
Your bag will be searched. I had my backpack very thoroughly and somewhat aggressively searched when I reached the venue.
They had a HUGE number of private security staff on the gates who seemed to take pride in trying to find anything you shouldn’t have in your bags. So expect to be searched, and if you have anything you’re not supposed to have it will be confiscated and you can expect not to see it again if you still want to enter.
Tickets - Madring F1
I bought my tickets to the Spanish Grand Prix at Madring on the ViaGoGo ticket platform about 1 week before the race weekend. That is when prices tend to be lower on that platform, and I managed to get mine for around half the official price.
ViaGoGo always has a great selection of tickets for sale right up until the last day of the race weekend, so it’s definitely worth checking them out if you still need tickets but think you’ve left it a bit late.
I’ve bought my F1 tickets through ViaGoGo loads of times over the past few years, including for my trips to Madrid, Silverstone and the Montreal Grand Prix. I’ve always had a good experience with them and will happily do so again next time/
Food and drink
Officially you are not allowed to bring your own food and drink in to the Madring F1 venue.
They try to make you buy all your own stuff on site. To their credit, there was a pretty good selection of food (comidas) and drinks (bebidas) available.
Here’s some prices taken from the various food and drink sellers:
- Peper carton of water (no lid) – €3.50 / £3 / $4
- Coffee (Americano / café con leche) – €3.50 / £3 / $4
- Soft drink (Pepsi, 7Up etc.) – €4.50 / £4 / $5
- Fresh orange juice – €5.00 / £4 / $6
- Beer (Heineken or Heineken 0.0) – €7.00 / £6 / $8
- Glass of wine – €7.00 / £6 / $8
- Spirit and mixer – €14.00 / £12 / $16
- Crisps / snacks – €3.50 / £3 / $4
- Jamón croquetas (4) – €8.00 / £7 / $9
- Patatas bravas – €9.00 / £8 / $10
- Nachos with guacamole and cheese – €11.00 / £9 / $13
- Calamari bocadillo (sandwich) – €11.95 / £10 / $14
- XXL hot dog with fries – €12.50 / £11 / $14
- Jamón de bellota bocadillo – €13.95 / £12 / $16
- Pizza and fries combo – €17.95 / £15 / $20
I bought some slightly uninspiring fried chicken and chips with BBQ sauce for €12, but it actually wasn’t too bad.
Water
This was the worst and most crazy thing about my experience at the Madring F1 race. It was over 32 degrees celcius and there was minimal shade, so you’d think it would be in the organiser’s interests to make sure you stayed well hydrated throughout the day, right?
Wrong.
Officially, the rules state you can bring in plastic bottles up to 500ml, but not glass or metal containers.
So that’s what I did. I brought a few 500ml plastic bottles full of water with me. And what happened when I had my bag searched? The security guard took the lid off each bottle, threw the lid away, and poured the water on to the ground directly in front of me.
Honestly I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and I got in a bit of an argument with the guy because of it.
He let me keep my empty bottles with no lids, but having no lids was the worst thing because yes there were a few water stations but without lids for bottles you couldn’t actually carry water around with you. You had to keep going back and filling up which is why the queues at the water stations were so big.
So my biggest tip for attending the Madring F1 race is to take the lids off your bottles before you enter and hide them in your trousers or somewhere where they won’t be found. So when you get in to the venue you can put the lids back on and fill them up.
There were a few water stations (Punto de Agua) around the venue, but not enough so the queues for them were long. In the end I filled up my bottles at the taps in the toilet areas, which came from the same supplies.
You could buy small cartons of water in the venue, but these didn’t have lids either.
Absolute madness. I’ve complained to the venue, and this HAS to change for next year.
Payments / cash
All the food and drinks vendors accepted contactless payments with cards or digital wallets. I used my phone to pay for everything inside the venue.
Cash is not accepted.
When you went through the entrance gates you were given a wristband with your grandstand name on it. This also had a chip in it which you could load up with the circuit’s own currency called MADCoins that you could pay with at all vendors except the merchandise vendors.
You had to load MADCoins in chunks of Euros, and as far as I could tell there was no benefit whatsoever to the race fan to doing this. Any unspent balance you could claim back after the race, but I hate it when F1 events do this. Thankfully it wasn’t mandatory.
Why do the organisers do this then if it’s not mandatory? Well I’m speculating now, but all the money loaded on to people’s wristbands is held in an escrow account which the organisers may earn a small percentage on.
Plus, you only have two weeks after the event finishes to request a refund on any unused balance. If you miss the two week window, they keep your money.
Not cool. Don’t bother with the MADCoins, they’re BADCoins.
F1 merch
There are loads of F1 merchandise stands selling clothes and caps dotted around the site. But the prices at the track are crazy. Here’s a few examples:
If you can’t quite see the prices in the photos, here’s some of the costs:
- Baseball caps started at €55 and went up to €85 for a Mercedes one
- T-shirts ranged from €65 for a basic Madrid GP one not tied to a team, all the way up to €130 for a Ferrari T-shirt
As ever you can save yourself LOADS of money buy purchasing merchandise online before the event.
Ear protectors & radios
There were a few places selling official F1 ear plugs and race radios, but again these were crazy expensive.
- A pair of simple foam earplugs was €25!
- Kids and Adults ear defenders were €40
- Ear defenders with the race commentary were €120
Just bring your own earplugs!
What to take to the Madrid F1
- Tickets – download the Madring app and get your tickets on there. Save them to the wallet on your phone before hand so you can access them without internet in case the signal is bad.
- Money – cards and contactless payment are fine. Cash is not accepted anywhere inside the circuit.
- It will be hot and shade is minimal. Light clothes, a hat or cap and sunglasses are a must. It’s hot in Madrid in September. Temperatures hit 32°C (90°F) on race day.
- Sun cream – bring cream or a roll-on rather than a spray, as aerosols are banned.
- Sun protection for your neck. If you’re sat in a grandstand with the sun behind you, your neck will get burnt.
- Comfortable shoes – you’ll do a lot of walking. I racked up over 30,000 steps on one day!
- Fully charged phone
- Battery power bank to re-charge your phone – it must be no bigger than your phone, anything larger is banned.
- Ear plugs / defenders
- Small foldable cushion (useful on grandstand seats to make them more comfortable)
- I snuck in some small snacks and sandwiches at the bottom of my bag, to keep me going.
Prohibited items
Here’s the official list of things you aren’t allowed to bring with you:
- Your own food and drink
- Glass bottles, metal bottles and cans
- Plastic bottles over 500ml
- Alcohol
- Backpacks larger than 40 x 30cm
- Suitcases and trolley bags
- Prams and pushchairs
- Power banks larger than a mobile phone
- Umbrellas
- Folding chairs and small chairs
- Tents, camping tables and sleeping bags
- Helmets of any type
- Professional cameras
- Tripods and selfie sticks
- Portable speakers
- Walkie-talkies, radio scanners and phone jammers
- Drones and other flying objects
- Laser pointers
- Aerosols (sprays), including personal protection sprays
- Megaphones, air horns, vuvuzelas, whistles and musical instruments
- Political or religious banners, or anything with offensive slogans
- Flares, fireworks and smoke bombs
- Weapons of any kind, including knives
- Drugs
- Bicycles, scooters, skateboards and roller skates
- Remote-controlled cars, balls and frisbees
- Pets (registered assistance and guide dogs are allowed)
Accommodation
I stayed in central Madrid close to a metro station, then had about a 45 minute commute to get to a station near the track. From there it was a 20 minute walk to my entrance gate.
Staying closer to the circuit would have made getting to / from the venue easier. The map below shows all of the available accommodation options near the track (the blue pin), so have a look around the map to see what’s available.
