I sat in the GB02 grandstand at the Spanish F1 Grand Prix in Madrid at the Madring circuit.
This is my review of the GB02 grandstand and it includes videos of the views from a variety of seating positions, my top tips on picking the best seats, a full seating chart and information on how I got cheaper tickets for the Formula 1 in Madrid.
GB02 grandstand location
The GB02 grandstand is on the left-hand side (outside) of the Madring F1 circuit between turns 2 and 3. It’s close to the edge of the track and is directly adjacent to the GB01 stand which is to the right of this one.
This grandstand should be well located to give you a good view of any action at the first chicane, especially on the opening laps. But in the F1 there were only 4 overtakes, so there wasn’t much action to see! But from here at least you could see Kimi Antonelli skip across Turn 2 on the first lap.
Zone
This grandstand is part of the Bulevar Sol fan zone which is in the Madring Sur (South) half of the circuit park. Unfortunately, at the race I went to you were only allowed to access the zone which your grandstand was in, which was rubbish. So you are limited to this small fan zone which is one of the big downsides. Hopefully next year they’ll let you access multiple zones.
This zone and grandstand is most easily accessed via the B gates. I think you could also get there through gate C1 if the security let you, but I didn’t try.
All of those gates are only a quick walk from the Feria de Madrid metro station which is the easiest way to get to and from this part of the circuit. But expect huge queues of people trying to get in to the metro at the end of the day!
Grandstand tickets - Madring F1
I bought my tickets around two weeks before the race through ViaGoGo where I bought a 3-day ticket for around half the official price. They also offer one-day options which are cheaper, give you more flexibility, and allow you to try different stands or fan zones on different days.
ViaGoGo is a great option when tickets are sold out elsewhere, which happens pretty quickly with this race. They’ll usually have tickets available right up until the start of the Sunday of race weekend. I’ve used ViaGoGo for this trip, and for my other recent Formula 1 trips to Silverstone and Montreal, and won’t hesitate to do so again next time.
Plus their ‘FanProtect’ policy is there to protect your tickets and money, which gives me extra peace of mind when booking through them.
Grandstand details
TV Screens
There’s one big screen visible from this grandstand, and you can see it easily from wherever you sit. Only if you’re in the front couple of rows can the safety fence block your view slightly.
Seats
The seats are plastic chairs with fold-down seat bases.
Cover
This grandstand is North facing but has no cover and no shade. So it was VERY hot sitting here, so hot that in between F1 sessions I had to leave my sit and find some shade in the Fan Zone.
The only rows that had a slight bit of shade were the top two rows in the early afternoon. They had the VIP Skybox hospitality areas behind them which cast a small shadow on those two rows (row 30 and 31). You can just about see this in the image below, but note the furthest 20 seats to the right (seats 100 and above) didn’t have the shade as there was nothing behind them.
Grandstand GB02 seating chart
Below is the seating chart for Grandstand GB02 at the Madring F1 circuit.
As you can see the grandstand has 31 rows, with row 1 at the front lowest down at row 31 higher up at the back.
Seat numbers begin at 1 on the left side of the stand (if you are standing on the track looking up at the grandstand) and go up as you move to the right, all the way up to seat 124.
View
On the track map below the parts of the circuit you can see from this stand are shown in green:
From this stand you get a great view of the cars coming through the apex of Turn 1, all the way through Turn 2, through Turn 3 and heading off down the straight that follows it, where you quickly lose them out of sight.
The further left you sit in the stand (higher seat numbers) the better you angle gets for seeing more of the cars coming in to Turn 1, and the more you can see of them as they exit Turn 3.
Higher rows are definitely better as they give you a better and wider vantage point to see this whole complex of corner. Avoid the front few rows as the safety fence, marshal posts and TV cameras can block you view (see my video below).
In this video I’ve filmed the views from GB02 from a number of different seats to give you an idea of how the view changes:
Row 27 Seat 5
Row 19 Seat 29
Row 10 Seat 37
Row 1 Seat 53
Row 17 Seat 72
Row 3 Seat 96
Row 26 Seat 108
Row 31 Seat 124
Best seats
Higher seat numbers are definitely better for a wider vantage point. Seats 60 – 90 are directly in front of the TV screen.
Ideally I’d get seats in Rows 30 and 31, around seats 60-90. Those two rows mean I might get a little bit of shade, and those seat numbers give me a nice angle to see Turn 1, the Turn 3 exit and to be right in front of the TV screen.
This grandstand has better views than the adjacent GB01 stand which doesn’t see as much of Turn 1 or of Turn 3.
