MADRID (AP) — The Formula 1 cars haven’t even made it to the track and there’s already plenty of noise surrounding the return of the Spanish Grand Prix to Madrid.
Some residents have not been happy with how this weekend's race — back after 45 years on a hybrid Madring track located in an affluent area of the city — has been affecting them.
There is plenty of support and excitement about the event, including among the locals, but some are complaining about the noise generated by the cars, the road closures in their neighborhoods and the environmental effects of the race that is on contract to take place in the Spanish capital for the next 10 years.
Residents have lodged several official complaints, with claims the race it will affect schools, nursing homes, religious buildings and environmental areas. Spanish courts have rejected at least two requests for precautionary measures against the Spanish GP's project, and local officials have sought to defend the event.
A residents' group launched a platform called “Stop Formula 1 Madrid” to help bring together those who oppose the race, with the goal of “stopping this project that will only create noise and mobility problems for thousands of households and workers.”
On its website, a countdown clock pops up with the time left to “an aggression to the health of our neighbors.” The site includes a petition that can be digitally signed “to stop this harmful project.” Last year, the group protested at a Madrid plaza where authorities officially presented the Spanish GP.
“Preliminary studies themselves conclude that the circuit will generate noise levels far exceeding legal limits, and will also be a significant source of air pollution,” it said.
Local officials have acknowledged the disruptions caused by the race but boasted about benefits the event will bring to the region and the country.
They highlight the increase in tourism, along with the indirect benefits to the economy, such as the creation of new jobs and the boost to sales by local businesses.
“It’s one of the greatest events the city will host,” Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida said. “We understand the complaints that residents may have, and we are taking all the measures that are appropriate to minimize those inconveniences.”
The city said 345,000 people are expected to attend the event throughout the weekend, with tickets reportedly nearly sold out. Officials said the Spanish GP is expected to generate some 8,000 jobs and have an estimated economic impact of 450 million euros annually ($522 million).
Not all local businesses will benefit, though, as parts of the city will be restricted during the race weekend.
The golf course Olivar de la Hinojosa, which is open to the public inside one of the areas that will be partially closed off, is likely to see a decrease in profits during the weekend. The course, considered one of the busiest in Spain, is having to give out accreditations to those who want to play during the weekend. Intense traffic in the area is likely to keep golfers away, though.
“We have been in touch with organizers for the past year or so,” said Gregorio González-Irún Velasco, the general director of a company that oversees the golf course. “Let's see how it goes this year. It's the first time, so we don't really know how it's going to go. So we will wait, and then we can have discussions with organizers again.”
Organizers were reportedly installing noise-measurement devices in houses and businesses near the track, and noise-reducing screens were set up in some places around the circuit.
"Stop Formula 1 Madrid" said F1 cars could produce noise levels exceeding 100 decibels, which it says would be above legal limits for events in the city.
Residents got a first taste of the noise when Formula 3 cars had test sessions at the Madrid track last month.
Workers at the store that operates inside the Olivar de Hinojosa golf course said glass windows at the course's clubhouse vibrated heavily when the cars drove by on the track located some few hundred meters (yards) away.
One neighbor that didn't mind having the race nearby was soccer powerhouse Real Madrid, whose training complex and other facilities are also a few hundred meters (yards) away from the circuit.
Organizers added the club as a “local event organizer,” saying the proximity of the circuit “led to a unique collaboration" that allowed the track to use certain club facilities during the weekend.
Real Madrid will be present across different hospitality spaces over the race weekend, with club legends and prominent figures expected to take part.
It isn't the first time noise complaints have affected events in Madrid.
Real Madrid had to cancel concerts at its Santiago Bernabeu Stadium after residents living near the centrally located venue complained about the loud noise. Since 2024, the club hasn't been hosting big concerts.
Neighbors also complained about the noise level of the halftime show during the first regular-season NFL game that took place at the Bernabeu last year, and again expressed concerns about this year's game that will be played in November.
The Madrid region last hosted the Spanish GP in 1981 at the Jarama circuit in the capital’s outskirts. The Jerez de la Frontera track in southern Spain hosted races from 1986-90, and in 1994 and 1997.
“We know it won't be ideal, with the noise and the traffic and other things,” said Pablo Gomez, a resident who lives near the track. “But we also have to understand that it's only for three days. I don't think it's too much for us to adapt and adjust our lives a bit during this weekend.”
See AP’s full auto racing coverage here
A man drives a golf cart inside the Spanish Grand Prix circuit in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom on Tuesday banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where it says “settler terrorists” are carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, in a significant toughening of Britain's stance toward a longtime ally.
France and Canada announced they would take similar action in an attempt to prevent expanding settlements and growing violence from making it impossible to establish a future Palestinian state.
Israel responded angrily and said it would close the British consulate in Jerusalem.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the U.K. will ban imports of all goods from the settlements and bar companies from providing services for the settlements, including financing, construction, infrastructure, real estate and advertising.
“I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets," Miliband said.
In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank “pose a direct and urgent threat” to the two-state solution. They said they decided to act “before it is too late.”
The economic impact is likely to be limited, since the settlements produce only a small amount of largely agricultural exports. But the move is a symbolic expression of displeasure with Israel by some of its closest allies, and it offers a new sign of the Israeli government's growing isolation as a result of the Gaza war.
Miliband said that he feels “a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of the international community.”
“We will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution,” he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the “despicable” move. He said Israel would expel U.K. representatives from a joint military center monitoring the Gaza ceasefire and end U.K. training of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces in the West Bank. In addition, Israel barred entry to a dozen British lawmakers and other U.K. citizens whom Sa’ar said were “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.”
Under the ultranationalist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, settlement construction in the West Bank — seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — has surged. Netanyahu’s government views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.
The international community overwhelmingly considers such construction to be illegal. Britain and other countries have voiced particular concern about the E1 settlement project approved by Israel, which would effectively cut the territory in two.
There have been marked increases in attacks by settlers on Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns, Israeli military operations and checkpoints that choke freedom of movement, as well as several Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
"The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Miliband said. He said there had been “houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes.”
The ban on trade will be in place in six to nine months, Miliband said. He said Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to “support further action.”
The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway have either banned goods from settlements or are in the process of doing so, he said.
Miliband also tightened Britain’s embargo on weapons sales to Israel for use in Gaza to include arms “that materially contribute to the occupation” of Palestinian territories.
Britain recognized Palestinian statehood last year in an attempt to revive dwindling efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
In a change of Britain’s position, Miliband said Tuesday that the U.K. regards Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and not just the settlements, as illegal.
The new position is likely to be welcomed by many Labour voters and lawmakers, who have urged the government to go further in sanctioning Israel and supporting the Palestinians.
But some expressed concern that the sanctions could boost support for Netanyahu, who is facing a tough battle for reelection in October, or lead to attacks on British Jews. The U.K.'s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said it was “a dark day for British Jews.”
Opposition Conservative Party foreign affairs spokesman Tom Tugendhat said that "turning Israel into a pariah will risk sectarian division in our own country and risk a further rise in antisemitic violence on our own streets.”
Before Miliband’s announcement, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hard-line public security minister and a settler leader, called on Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic known in Argentina as the Malvinas.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the ban “a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history.
“In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation,” he said.
The move was also criticized by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a longtime supporter of the settlements, who said that it was “discrimination against the Jewish people.” He said the U.K. could face “repercussions or retaliations” from the U.S. if it imposed the sanctions.
Several U.S. states have laws banning contracts or investments with businesses that boycott Israeli firms, including those based in the West Bank.
Burnham’s office said he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday and set out “the U.K.’s commitment to working toward peace and security in the region” and achieving a two-state solution. There was no word on how Trump responded.
Miliband, whose parents came to the U.K. as refugees from the Nazis, told lawmakers he spoke “as a proud British Jew” and supporter of Israel.
“Our argument is not with the people of Israel, with whom the U.K. has unshakable bonds,” Miliband said. “Our argument is with the conduct of its government.”
Associated Press writers Sylvia Hui in London and Megan Mineiro in Jerusalem contributed.
A view of the the British Consulate in east Jerusalem after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced that Israel would close the facility in response to U.K sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
FILE - Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband speaks during a press conference in Madrid, Spain, on July 29, 2026. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP, File)
