I sat in the GB01 grandstand at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring circuit.
This is my review of this grandstand which includes videos of the views from different seats, my tips on picking the best seats, a full seating plan and info on getting tickets for the F1 in Madrid.
GB01 grandstand location
The GB01 grandstand is on the outside (left-hand side) of the Madring F1 circuit at Turn 2. It’s close to the edge of the track and is directly adjacent to the GB02 stand which is to the left of this one.
In theory, being situated here should give you a good view of some action at the start of the race – having a view of Turns 1 and 2. But in the F1 there was barely any overtaking anyway, all that happened here was Kimi skipping the chicane on the first lap.
Zone
This stand is part of the Bulevar Sol Fan Zone which is in the Madring Sur half of the circuit. This zone is one of the downsides of sitting in this stand. It’s a pretty small zone with not a lot going on, and sadly you weren’t allowed to access any other zones (which hopefully they’ll change for next year).
This stand and zone is accessed via the B gates, and I think you could also get there through gate C1. All of those gates are only a short walk from the Feria de Madrid metro station, which is the easiest way to get to / from the stand. But it gets crazy busy there at the end of the day!
Grandstand tickets - Madring F1
I bought my tickets about two weeks before the race through ViaGoGo where I managed to get a 3-day ticket for about half the official price. They also offer single-day options which give you more flexibility, are cheaper, and mean you can try different stands / zones on different days.
ViaGoGo is a great option if tickets are sold out elsewhere, as they’ll usually have some available right up until the start of the race day on Sunday of the GP weekend. I used them for this trip, and for my other recent F1 trips to Montreal and Silverstone.
Plus they have a good ‘FanProtect’ policy which protects your tickets and money, which always gives me peace of mind when using them.
Grandstand details
TV Screens
There’s one big TV screen visible from everywhere in this stand, on the inside of the circuit. Easy to see from all seats, except those in the front couple of rows where the safety fence obscures your view slightly. You can see this in my video lower down this page.
Seats
The seats are plastic chairs with fold-down seat bases.
Cover
This grandstand had no cover, and no shade. And even though this stand is North facing, tt was SO HOT here.
The only slightly shaded rows were the top one two rows in the early afternoon as the VIP Skyboxes behind them cast a small shadow on those rows (rows 30 and 31). Other than that, there was no escaping the sun, and in between F1 sessions I had to go and find shade in the fan zone behind the stand.
Grandstand GB01 seating chart
Below is the seating chart for Grandstand GB01 at the Madring F1 circuit.
As you can see the grandstand has 34 rows, with row 1 lowest down at the front and 34 highest up at the back.
Seat numbers start at 1 on the left side of the stand (if you’re stood on the track looking up at the grandstand) and increase as you move to the right, up to seat 124.
View
On the map below I’ve shown the parts of the track you can see from this stand in green, although it does change slightly depending on where you sit.
If you sit in the lowest seat numbers (furthest to the right of the stand as you sit in it) then your view of the first corner is blocked by another building. As your seat number increases, your view gets better – you can see more of the Turn 1 apex, and see more of the cars as they head off around Turn 3. You can never see the cars entering Turn 1, but the higher seat numbers see more of the cars apexing and exiting it which is good.
The front few rows should be avoided as the safety fence is quite obstructive to seeing the track clearly (see video below). The higher the row the better your view.
In the video below I’ve filmed the view from a number of different seats to give you an idea of how the view changes depending on where you sit. The clips in this video were filmed from the following seats:
- Row 14 Seat 5
- Row 28 Seat 10
- Row 19 Seat 34
- Row 15 Seat 57
- Row 14 Seat 93
- Row 22 Seat 113
- Row 26 Seat 120
- Row 1 Seat 114
- Row 34 Seat 124
Best seats
The higher seat numbers in the higher rows are the best places to sit in grandstand GB01 at the Spanish GP in Madrid. Plus, in the top two rows you get a tiny bit of shade from the VIP hospitality skyboxes behind.
So if I could choose I’d go for seats in rows 33 or 34, in seat numbers 75 and up.
