Spanish GP: Max Verstappen says new Madring F1 circuit 'probably a car killer' as drivers anticipate disruptive weekend

The close proximity of the walls at the high-speed track, which includes a big banked corner in the middle sector, was the big talk of the paddock on Thursday.

It means Friday's practice sessions at 12.30pm and 4pm, live on Sky Sports F1 , will be more important than usual so the drivers can get up to speed around the challenging circuit.

"It's a tough track. For me, what I feel while driving, it's a little bit the same kind of sensation that I get sometimes around Jeddah in places," said Verstappen.

"Of course, Jeddah is faster on average with the corners, but the walls are quite similar in how they are positioned.

"It's going to be tough. I think when F3 were testing here there were a lot of shunts, so it's not an easy track, easy to make a mistake also with the layout of the track. The kerbs that are there, we need to run over a few of them, and that's normally not the strong point of our car, but we will try to do the best we can."

Asked if it was a car killer, Verstappen added: "It probably is a car killer from what I've seen so far but you just need to try and stay out of the walls and try to get the best possible feeling in the car. When you're confident in the car on a street circuit it helps a lot."

Last month, a two-day Formula 3 test took place at the Madring and there were 19 red flags, mostly for crashes at several areas of the track.

Williams' Carlos Sainz, who has given some input into the circuit design, says the track is "different to what we're used to".

"Realistically speaking, it's going to be now tomorrow in FP1 when we really know what this track is all about. And I'm going to say it looks different," he said.

"It looks that the track has character, that it's charismatic, with a lot of different kinds of corners."

Qualifying is expected to be pivotal due to the difficulty of overtaking as most corners only have one racing line, so the drivers will be keen to push the limits come Saturday afternoon, even if it means taking huge risks.

Last week's shock pole-sitter Pierre Gasly believes it will create "huge adrenaline" for the drivers.

"The track layout is something I've never seen before. You have these crazy corners, blind corners, a huge banking," said the Alpine driver.

"It took me a few laps in the sim to get my head around what's where. It's very challenging because everything is twisty. I'm excited. I expect a really hectic weekend with lots of disruption and mistakes and we will have to make sure we are on the right side of it."

It will be particularly important for the championship contenders to keep out of the barriers so they don't lose big points to their rivals.

After his spectacular Monza win, Kimi Antonelli leads George Russell by 66 points in the Drivers' Championship, Lewis Hamilton by 76 points and Lando Norris by 96 points.

"It's a crazy circuit. I would put it as arguably the most risky circuit of the whole calendar because you have real high-speed corners, sort of Jeddah-esque. The walls are very close, so there's no margin for error," said Russell.

"But then you have other corners that are quite like Baku, where you're coming from a high speed into a slow braking zone, you're braking and turning at the same time, so locking tyres is going to be easy. And if you lock up, you'll be straight in the wall."

Hamilton added: "There's probably some similarities with these kerbs compared to somewhere like Montreal where you saw obviously Mercedes was very quick, but there was a lot more straights there as well.

"It's a massively challenging circuit. Of all the new tracks that I've gone to, this one, maybe Saudi, are the two closest in terms of how difficult it was to get on top of the car and find the right lines etc."

Friday September 11 8.50am: F3 Practice 10am: F2 Practice 12pm: Spanish Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm) 12.55pm: F2 Qualifying 2.40pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference 3.45pm: Spanish Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 4pm) 5.20pm: F3 Qualifying 6.20pm: The F1 Show

Saturday September 12 10am: F3 Sprint 11am: Spanish Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am) 1.10pm: F2 Sprint 2.15pm: Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying build-up 3pm: SPANISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING* 4.55pm: F3 Feature Race 1 6pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday September 13 8.40am: F3 Feature Race 2 10.20am: F2 Feature Race 12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Spanish GP build-up 2pm: THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX 4pm: Chequered Flag: Spanish GP reaction 5pm: Ted's Notebook

Formula 1 is in Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit with Sunday's race at 2pm (build-up from 12.30pm), live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime