From Real Madrid to the World Champions – F1's Spanish football connections

Formula 1 heads to Madrid this weekend, with the all-new Madring preparing to host the Spanish Grand Prix as the sport returns to the capital for the first time in 45 years.

It also arrives at quite the moment for Spanish football. Both their women’s and men’s national teams are World Champions, while Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are both getting involved in F1's newest race. Add in Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso's love of the beautiful game, and there are plenty of connections between the two sports.

Ahead of the first Grand Prix at the Madring, let's take a look at some of the biggest links between Formula 1 and Spanish football...

Madridistas in the paddock

When it comes to choosing between the two sides of Madrid, there is little debate for Sainz and Alonso, with both firmly in the Real Madrid camp.

The Spanish pair have supported Los Blancos through their fathers' influence. Indeed, before becoming a two-time World Rally Champion and four-time Dakar Rally winner, Sainz Sr even had trials with Real Madrid as a teenager.

Both F1 drivers have been regular visitors to the club and have often brought their support into the paddock by arriving at races wearing Real Madrid shirts.

Alonso's connection with the club went one step further in 2017, when the two-time F1 World Champion was made an official honorary member of Real Madrid, the highest distinction the club can award. Sainz Sr later received the same honour in 2021.

For Sainz Jr, Real Madrid will now be even closer when he takes part in his first Grand Prix in his home city. The Williams driver was born and raised in Madrid and has been closely involved with the new event as a Madring ambassador, becoming the first driver to complete a lap of the finished 5.4km circuit earlier this year.

Real Madrid's new racing neighbours

Sainz and Alonso won't be the only Real Madrid representation around the Madring this weekend. Ahead of the inaugural race, Real Madrid became an official Local Event Supporter of the Spanish Grand Prix, and the location of their famous training complex makes the partnership particularly fitting.

Real Madrid City and the northern section of Madring are neighbours in Valdebebas, with just 200 metres separating the circuit's northern entrance and the main gate of the club's training base. Selected club facilities will be incorporated into Grand Prix operations, while Real Madrid will also have a presence within hospitality areas across the weekend.

It means F1 cars will be racing only a short distance away from the training ground used by some of the biggest names in world football.

There is even a newly crowned World Champion among them. Marc Cucurella joined Real Madrid this summer after Spain's triumph at the 2026 World Cup, having played every minute of the tournament for La Roja.

Atletico get in on the action

The Madrid football connection doesn't stop with Real. Atletico Madrid have also joined forces with the Spanish Grand Prix, agreeing a five-year partnership to become a Local Event Supporter of the race.

Their involvement stretches beyond Madring itself, with the Riyadh Air Metropolitano set to become another hub for fans across the weekend. The stadium will host fan experiences and hospitality, as well as the main concert connected to the Grand Prix, while shuttle services will help transport fans towards the circuit.

Atletico will also have their own presence at Madring, bringing another of the capital's biggest sporting names into F1's newest race.

The club also arrive into the weekend with plenty to celebrate, having had several players involved in Spain's World Cup-winning squad earlier this summer. According to the club, it was the largest number of players supplied by one team to a World Cup final since 1934.

Spain on top of the world

One member of the squad who lifted the World Cup earlier this summer has already made his way into the F1 paddock. Ferran Torres was a guest of Audi at Monza last weekend, where he got a closer look at the Audi R26 alongside Gabriel Bortoleto and race engineer Jose Manuel Lopez.

Torres was joined by a host of other footballing names across the Italian Grand Prix weekend, including Sandro Tonali, Curtis Jones, Serge Gnabry and Cesc Fabregas.

With Spain still celebrating their latest World Cup success, the crossover between the country's two sporting passions is set to continue as Formula 1 arrives in Madrid.

When El Clasico came to F1

Real Madrid and Barcelona have contested some fierce battles over the years, but in 2020 their rivalry found an unusual new setting: a Formula 1 grid.

With racing put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic, F1 launched a series of Virtual Grands Prix featuring current drivers alongside stars from elsewhere in sport and entertainment.

For the Virtual Spanish Grand Prix, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois lined up for Alfa Romeo while Barcelona midfielder Arthur Melo represented Haas.

And they weren't the only footballers swapping boots for a steering wheel. Then-Manchester City and Argentina striker Sergio Aguero joined Alex Albon at Red Bull, while F1 drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and George Russell also competed.

The race took place around a virtual Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, giving football fans a rather different version of an El Clasico battle.

Football fever in the F1 paddock

Football stars getting close to F1 machinery is certainly nothing new, and previous Spanish Grands Prix have attracted plenty of familiar faces from the game. The 2025 race in Barcelona was particularly football-heavy, with the England men's national team among those visiting the paddock on Sunday.

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham was spotted alongside England team mate Bukayo Saka, while former Real Madrid and Brazil defender Roberto Carlos also made his way onto the grid.

Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski was given one of the most important jobs of the weekend, waving the chequered flag as the cars crossed the line.

A year later, football was everywhere once again as the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix coincided with the opening weekend of the World Cup.

Drivers tried their luck with a football goal inside the paddock, Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar took to a local pitch for a kickabout, and Racing Bulls transformed themselves into 'VCARB FC' with a football-inspired crest and special livery.

There have also been plenty of Spanish World Cup winners making appearances at F1 races over the years. Sergio Busquets, part of the side that lifted Spain's first men's World Cup in 2010, has visited several Grands Prix, including the Barcelona-Catalunya race earlier this season.

Now the crossover moves to Madrid

The Madring's 22 corners will provide a completely new challenge when cars hit the circuit for the first time this weekend, 45 years after F1 last raced in the Spanish capital at Jarama.

With one of the world's biggest football clubs training just metres away, another turning its stadium into part of the Grand Prix weekend, and Spain still celebrating World Cup glory, there should be no shortage of football fever when Formula 1 arrives in Madrid.