I went to the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring and tried out different Fan Zones around the circuit. This is my review of the different zones, and my guide to help anyone else planning a trip here in the future.
If you’re trying to choose your tickets and aren’t sure what the different zones are like, this guide will help you out.
Madring Fan Zones - what you NEED to know
The Madring F1 circuit is split in to two halves – Madring Norte (North) and Madring Sur (South). The M11 motorway that runs across the track, and that is the dividing line for the North and South Parts.
There’s a total of 6 different Fan Zones around the circuit. These are as follows:
- Bulevar Cibeles Fan Zone A – Madring Sur
- Bulevar Sol Fan Zone B – Madring Sur
- Barrio Fan Zone C – Madring Sur
- Monumental Fan Zone D – Madring Norte
- Distrito Fan Zone E – Madring Norte
- La Milla Fan Zone F (VIP / hospitality only) – Madring Sur
There’s one very important detail that you need to be aware of before you go, or before you book tickets, and this caught me out: You cannot move between different fan zones. You can only accesss the zone your ticket is for.
That means if you end up in one of the smaller fan zones with less to see or do, then you’re stuck there. The only way around this is to buy different tickets on different days, each one for a grandstand in a different zone. The best way to do that is to use ViaGoGo to buy single day tickets, which is what I did. That’s how I managed to access different zones as you’ll see in this guide.
Which grandstands are in which zone?
Just so you’re clear, below is a table I’ve put together showing you which grandstands are in which zones. You can see these on the map above as well.
Click the blue links in the table for my full review of each grandstand:
| Zone | Grandstands |
|---|---|
| A – Bulevar Cibeles (Madring Sur) |
GA01 |
| B – Bulevar Sol (Madring Sur) |
GB01, GB02 |
| C – Barrio (Madring Sur) |
GC01, GC02, GC03, GC04, GC05 |
| D – Monumental (Madring Norte) |
GD01, GD02, GD03, GD04, GD05, GD06, GD07, GD08, GD09, GD10, GD11, GD12, GD13 |
| E – Distrito (Madring Norte) |
GE01, GE02, GE03, GE04, GE05, GE06, GE07, GE08, GE09, GE10, GE11, GE12, GE13, GE14A, GE14B, GE15, GE16, GE17, GE18, GE19, GE20, GE21, GE22, GE24, GK01, GK02, Pelouse (General Admission) |
| F – La Milla (Madring Sur) |
GF1, GF2, GF3, GF4 |
Tickets - Madring F1
If you need tickets to the Spanish GP at the Madring it’s worthing looking for tickets on the ViaGoGo ticket platform because they have single-day tickets available, and they’re often cheaper on there. Plus they have tickets for sale right up until the last minute – I bought mine about a week before the race.
Food and drink
From what I saw, the food and drink offerings across the different zones was pretty similar and prices were also consistent. I’ve written a seperate guide which gives you full details on food and drink prices and offerings at the Madring F1, so check that out for more info.
That page also provides info on everything you can and can’t bring in to the fan zones with you, which the same across all of them.
Bulevar Cibeles Fan Zone A
Bulevar Sol is in Madring Sur and is the second largest Fan Zone with a capacity of over 15,000 people, and it only has grandstand GA01 in it.
There’s not a huge amount of shade in the fan zone, but because the grandstand is covered then that’s not too much of an issue.
There were lots of merchandise stalls, a few cars on display, an arcade area and a stage where a few drivers were interviewed on the Friday. I didn’t see any being interviewed on the stage in this area on Saturday or Sunday, however.
Overall there was enough to keep you occupied here when you weren’t sat in the grandstand. But like I said, with grandstand GA01 being shaded, you were in no rush to leave your seat.
Bulevar Sol Fan Zone B
Bulevar Sol is in Madring Sur and is the smallest Fan Zone at the Spanish Grand Prix, big enough for just over 5,000 people. The two grandstands within it – GB01 and GB02 – are both un-shaded, so you had to leave your seats in those stands and try and find shade in this zone to get out of the sun.
There was one large shaded area with lots of benches, but it wasn’t big enough for everybody and often full. And because the roof over it was so high, the shade often encroached on the seats beneath it. So all in all they could have done with more shade. Make sure you dress appropriate for the weather to protect yourself from the sun.
Here’s a few video clips I took walking around this zone:
In all honesty, this was the most disappointing Fan Zone out of them all. It was small, there wasn’t much to do, and there wasn’t much shade. It’s a shame because the views from the two grandstands within it are some of the best at the track. So I’d definitely try and get different tickets for different zones on different days to try and mix up your experience of the whole weekend.
Barrio Fan Zone C
The Barrio Fan Zone was kind of split in to two areas, but you could access them both. The smallest area was around grandstands GC03, GC04 and GC05 on the outside of the track where there was actually very little other than those three stands and a couple of drinks stalls. To get to the main part of this zone you had to cross over the track and walk for 10 minutes.
When you got to the main part of the fan zone there was a big covered area with benches where you could eat and drink, a tiny arcade with about 4 games where there was always a massive queue, one Williams F1 car on display, two Mercedes SLRs, a few merch stands on display and that was about it.
I didn’t see a stage anywhere, instead there was a screen near the shaded seating area that was showing a live feed of driver interviews in another Fan Zone at the Madring.
Again in between the F1 sessions shade was hard to find as it was so busy here. In the end I sat down under a tree on some grass to cool off.
Here’s a few video clips I took walking around this zone:
One little bonus thing I found in this zone was a spot where you could actually get super close to the edge of the circuit as the cars came around Turn 3. There was a gap in the safety fence you could stick your camera through, which meant you could get some great shots. This was near entrance gate C1.
Here’s a video of me showing this viewing spot in the Barrio fan zone at the Spanish GP:
Monumental Fan Zone D
The Monumental Fan Zone is in Madring Norte and is the second smallest zone, holding around 9,500 fans. Now I didn’t actually get a chance to go in this zone but from what I’ve heard it’s very simlar to Bulevar Sol and Barrio – a few merchandise stalls, a few cars on display, a small selection of simulators and games which there was always a big queue for, a stage with some music and DJs playing throughout the weekend and never quite enough shade.
Distrito Fan Zone E
The Distrito Fan Zone is in Madring Norte and is a HUGE fan zone, far bigger than the others, capable of holding over 56,000 fans. It has 39 grandstands within it, plus the Pelouse General Admission area, which is why it’s so big!
When I entered I could not believe the size of it. Then straight away I couldn’t believe how hot it was. Yes there were some shaded areas, but again not enough. People were trying to find shade wherever they could in between the F1 sessions – often relying on the shadows of grandstands or other strutures to get out of the hot sun.
There were a couple of areas with beanbags that had covers over them, but even those were full up pretty quickly. People were doing whatever they could to stay out of the sun, because most of the grandstands in this zone were also un-shaded.
The videos I took below give you an idea of how big this zone is, and how people were trying to find shade wherever they could:
A lot of the area was astroturf, but all the other parts were dusty gravel. There was all sorts to do here – a ferris wheel, go karting, gym machines, basketball hoops, loads of cars on display, all the F1 activations like the pit stop challenge, simulators and blast lane, a HUGE F1 merch shop, a random massive red square and a big stage that hosted driver interviews and musical performers over the weekend.
Distrito is by far and away the biggest and best fan zone at the Madring circuit. Having tried most of the zones out, you would definitely feel like you’d missed out if you were in one of the other zones. And that’s why it’s such a shame, and a bit of an insult to us fans, that the organisers don’t let you move between zones.
So if you have a choice I’d definitely recommend getting tickets for a grandstand that get you access to the Distrito Fan Zone to make the most of your weekend experience at the Spanish Grand Prix.
La Milla Fan Zone F
I didn’t go in this zone as it was for people with VIP and Hospitality Madring F1 tickets only. If you were here and have any feedback, please leave a comment below.
Getting there
I’ve written a seperate, fully detailed guide on how best to get to all of the different zones. Check out my article on how to get to the Madring F1 circuit for more info.
Where to stay
Because some of the zones are so far apart, you might want to stay in a different area that gets you easy access to your gates.
To help with that I’ve written a guide to the best places to stay near the Madring circuit, depending on which zone you have access to.
