I sat in the GE19 grandstand at the Madring circuit for the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix in Madrid.
This is my review of this grandstand, and I’ll share my thoughts on what it’s like to sit here which will include a video that shows the views from different seats, my tips on where the best seats are, a full seating plan and info on how I bought my Spanish Grand Prix tickets for under half the official price.
GE19 grandstand location
Grandstand GE19 is on the left hand side (inside) of the circuit between turns 14 and 15. Directly to its right is GE18, and opposite it on the other side of the track is GE24.
Turn 14 is quite a fastright hand corner, and turn 15 is an even faster left hand corner. Like the rest of the circuit this part is narrow, and this wasn’t an easy place to overtake. So sitting here means you’ll see the cars corner at fairly high speed, but you won’t see much else other than that.
Zone
GE19 is in the Madring Norte (North) area of the circuit, located in the Distrito Fan Zone. This is the biggest fan zone at the track so theres lots of other activities to keep you busy here when you’re not sitting in this grandstand.
To access GE19 and the Distrito Fan Zone I had to enter via the E gates. However, I’d actually arrived on the other side of the track nearer the D gates. Initially I tried to get in there, but the security wouldn’t let me through those gates so I had to walk for 30 minutes around the outside of the track on the streets to get to the E gates which was annoying.
Theoretically the best way to get to GE19 and the E gates at the Madring would be to get to the Valdebabas train station which is only a short walk away. But there are massive lines of people trying to leave using that one station at the end of the day, and I couldn’t face that. So I walked to the San Lorenzo metro station instead which was around a 30 minute walk but when I got there there was no queue.
GE19 is classified as part of the the Curva 15 Bronze grandstand on the Madring website. It’s in Zone E which is part of the the Curvas enlazadas area of the track.
Confusingly the Curva 15 stand isn’t just just one grandstand, it’s actually made up of grandstands GE19, 20 and 21.
Grandstand tickets - Madring F1
I bought my weekend ticket to the Formula 1 race in Madrid for about half the official cost on the ViaGoGo ticket platform.
I bought my tickets pretty late, actually just 1 week before the race weekend, but ViaGoGo is great for last-minute purchases as they almost always have a decent selection of tickets available right up until the end of the GP weekend, even if they seem to be sold out everywhere else.
They also offer lots of one-day tickets which are cheaper and they give you the flexibility to try different grandstands on different days of the weekend.
As well as this trip to the Madring I’ve used ViaGoGo a load of times during the past few seasons to buy Formula 1 tickets, including for my recent trips to watch the F1 at Montreal and Silverstone. I’ve always had a great experience buying with them and I’ be happy to do so again next time.
Grandstand details
TV Screens
There’s one big TV screen directly opposite this stand.
Seats
The seats are plastic chairs.
Cover
This grandstand has no cover and is completely exposed to the sun all day long.
It faces West, so the sun will be right in your face in afternoon all the way until it sets. It was too hot here in the mid afternoon to be honest, so when the F1 cars weren’t on the circuit me and pretty much everyone else left the stand and went to the fan zone to seek some shade.
Grandstand GE19 seating chart
Below is the seating chart for Grandstand GE19 at the Madring Formula 1 circuit.
The grandstand has 27 rows. Row 1 is at the front and Row 27 is highest up at the back.
The stand is 148 seats wide. If you were standing on the track looking at this grandstand then the seat numbers would begin at 1 on the left hand side of the stand and go up to 148 on the right hand side.
Accommodation
If you’re heading to Madrid for the F1 and need somewhere to stay, the map below shows accommodation options near the Madring circuit (blue pin). The track itself is a short way outside of the city, but staying close is a good idea if you want to try and avoid the massive queues for public transport at the end of each day.
Alternatively you can do what I did and stay in the centre of Madrid then commute to and from the track each day to enjoy the city’s entertainment, bars and restaurants when you’re not at the GP.
Have a look around the map below to see all of the different accommodation options and their location around to the track:
View
On the circuit map below the parts of the track you can see from this stand are shown in green:
In this grandstand you have a view of the cars as they emerge from under the bridge at Turn 14. You can’t see the entry to Turn 14, only the apex and exit. Unless, however, you sit in seats 1 – 20 in rows 10 – 18. In those specific seats you can actually look under the bridge at Turn 14 and see the cars exit Turn 13.
You’ll then see them pass by in front of you pretty quickly, then they’ll disappear out of sight under the bridge at Turn 15.
All in all you’ll only see the cars for a few seconds before losing them out of sight. Thankfully the big TV screen is directly opposite so you can keep up with what’s going on elsewhere on the track.
The video I filmed below shows the views from different seats in this grandstand. I filmed the clips in this video from the following seats to give you an idea of how your changes depending on where you sit:
- Seat 1 Row 27
- Seat 15 Row 13
- Seat 18 Row 20
- Seat 40 Row 12
- Seat 60 Row 15
- Seat 92 Row 6
- Seat 99 Row 22
- Seat 111 Row 17
- Seat 117 Row 1
- Seat 135 Row 27
- Seat 148 Row 14
Best seats
The best seats in grandstand GE19 at the Madring are those in seat numbers 1 to 20 in rows 10 to 20. Those seats give you a view of the cars approaching Turn 14, and also allow you to see back down to the exit of Turn 13 under the bridge.
