MADRID (AP) — Formula 1 drivers enjoyed the high adrenaline produced by the Madring track at the Spanish Grand Prix while complaining about the lack of overtaking opportunities on the new circuit.
They also called for other improvements such as reducing the pit lane length. Madrid has produced a hybrid urban circuit using existing roads and purpose-built sections for its first grand prix in 45 years.
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McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain is flanked with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy, left, and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands after the qualifying session for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates his pole position after the qualifying session for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
“In terms of track design I think it can be better,” Red Bull's Max Verstappen said on Saturday. “Input from drivers in the future on track design can also help a lot. ... If you want to have better racing, overtaking, I think there can be a few corners that can be changed."
Verstappen added, “There’s always a way to find an overtaking opportunity around a track.”
There were only a few overtaking maneuvers in the first days of action at Madring across F1, F2 and the F3 series. Some commentators called Madring the Spanish Monaco.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult (to overtake),” Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli said. “In practice I spent two laps behind the Williams trying to painfully get past ... just really difficult, especially because already the deg (tire degradation) is quite big and when you’re behind you start sliding more and it just makes your life a bit tougher.”
Pole-sitter Lando Norris of McLaren said he hopes the pit lane, which is divided in two sections, will be improved next year.
“If we’re going to build a new track and spend so much money in building a new track, this is probably one of the main factors, I would say, in making a track, is you have a short pit lane so people can pit and you then create overtaking,” Norris said.
The 5.4-kilometer (3.3-mile) Madring, designed by Jarno Zaffelli, has 22 corners and combines high-speed zones, heavy-braking areas, changes of gradient, blind angles, technical sectors and long, high-load corners that have proved challenging for drivers.
The banked corner “La Monumental” is the highlight of the new track. It is 550 meters (yards) in length and a maximum banking of 24%, though drivers were not able to go flat out on it because of energy-saving requirements needed in the cars.
Drivers called the track “insane” and "crazy" because of the high adrenaline it produced. Some compared it to the circuits of Jeddah and Baku.
Madring signed a 10-year contract for the Spanish GP.
See AP’s full auto racing coverage here
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain is flanked with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy, left, and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands after the qualifying session for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates his pole position after the qualifying session for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Madrid, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — For Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, it was the biggest win of the year. For Kenny Bednarek, maybe his biggest win ever.
For both, it was quite a payday in what could turn out to be a Brink's-truck sort of weekend for the American sprinters. With their 100-meter victories Saturday at the all-cash-no-medals Ultimate Championship, they won $150,000 and gave themselves a chance to bank a total of $300,000 over two days in Budapest.
“I haven't made that yet,” said Bednarek who, like Jefferson-Wooden, could double up if he wins Sunday's 200 meters, too. “But 300 grand at an event like this, that's not really heard of.”
Jefferson-Wooden, the reigning world champion and the fourth-fastest woman in history, clocked a 10.62 for the fastest time of the year and a .12-second victory over Olympic champion Julien Alfred of St. Lucia. The two split two races over the past three weeks.
The tiebreaker was never in doubt. After 10 steps, Jefferson-Wooden was ahead of Alfred and training partner Sha'Carri Richardson, the world champion here in Budapest three years ago who finished third this time. Jefferson-Wooden overtook Jamaica's Tina Clayton to her left at the halfway point. After that, there was no doubt who would win.
Jefferson-Wooden said improved training coming into the week parlayed itself into her best race of the year — maybe ever.
“When you show consistency, like, the drop is going to come. So, I would love to see 10.5 out there. I'd love to see a world record," she said of Florence Griffith Joyner's 28-year-old mark of 10.49. "But right now, that's what we have.”
In the men's race, world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica jumped to favorite status when Olympic champion Noah Lyles pulled out with an injury last week.
But Bednarek, who has four major championship silver medals in the 200 but nothing in the 100, said his burst from the starting block while training with Jefferson-Wooden's group at Star Athletics in Florida has been improving all year. That set him up for a breakthrough that led to his sweetest win yet.
“I'd definitely call it a best win," Bednarek said. "I mean, it's not a world championship. But the severity of this means a lot to me because we had a really tough field, and to be able to come out on top of a really stacked field, it's definitely something to take note of.”
The feel-good win of the night belonged to Sandi Morris, the American pole vaulter who has four silver medals from worlds and one from the Olympics over the last 10 years, without a single win.
This time, she broke through, needing fewer tries than American teammate Hana Moll to clear the winning height of 4.90 meters (16 feet, 3/4 inch) to finally get the gold. Or, make that a pewter trophy and $150K.
“I'm not complaining about the prize money,” Morris said. “I mean, they put the stakes out there and athletes are going to compete. They're going to show up and I was going to come out and fight and it was a dogfight.”
Other winners included:
— Collen Kebinatshipi, who darted to a big lead early in the 400 final, briefly flirted with the world record (43.03) and ran away in 43.39 to remind the world of how big a force Botswana will be in the sprint game heading in to the LA Olympics.
— Aurdrey Werro in the women’s 800 for her third straight win over rival Keely Hodgkinson of Britain. Femke Broeders-Bol, who moved to this race from the hurdles, finished third.
— Poland’s Klaudia Kazimerska, who backed up her win in the 1,500 at the Diamond League final last week with an ultimate championship, beating Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell in a race missing Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon.
Among those potentially blocking Bednarek's path to a $300,000 weekend is Paris Olympics 200-meter champion Letsile Tebogo.
Tebogo, of Botswana, beat Bednarek in the 200, with Noah Lyles coming in third while suffering with COVID at the Games. It marked Bednarek's second Olympic silver medal at the distance.
In the women's 200, Jefferson-Wooden will face Gabby Thomas for the first time in more than a year — in yet another women's sprint featuring the world champion (Jefferson-Wooden) against the Olympic champion (Thomas).
Jefferson-Wooden raised some eyebrows Thursday at the “lane draft” — where the sprinters got to pick their lane for the semifinals. Picking second, she slapped her name right next to Thomas' in the first heat instead of avoiding her until the final.
No offense was meant, Jefferson-Wooden said.
“With me running tonight, I wanted to get more rest,” she said. “If I went first, I was going to pick Heat 1. If I picked second, I was going to pick Heat 1. That's all there is to it.”
See AP’s full sports coverage here
Sandi Morris, of the United States, reacts after winning the women's pole vault final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Kenneth Bednarek, of the United States, reacts after winning the men's 100 meters final during the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut) CORRECTION: Corrects ID to Kenneth Bednarek instead of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and competition to Men's 100 meters instead of Women's 100 meters
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, of the United States, celebrates after winning the women's 100 meters final and posting a world-leading time during the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
