Formula 1 unveiled a new track on Sunday. The race was even worse than feared

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Despite all the hype, the first Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring was a bit of a damp squib. It was not met that warmly by fans watching at home on television and the drivers were critical as well.

The biggest problem was the lack of overtaking. When you create a circuit from scratch, as is the case in Madrid, it is unforgivable to end up with a layout like this.

From before a car turned a wheel it was clear that any action in the race was going to be very difficult.

Yes, it may have been a decent challenge for the drivers as well as the engineers, but that should not be the most important part of the equation. People – including the drivers – want to have at least a chance of overtaking.

The fact that leader Charles Leclerc, on old tyres, managed to stay in front of Kimi Antonelli, on fresh ones, for as long as he did underlines how hard passing was. It was almost like Monaco, if you replace the casino, harbour and glamorous hotels for a conference centre, a motorway intersection and soulless airport hotels. To add to that, Pierre Gasly did the full race minus one lap on one set of hards, so Pirelli got their calculations wrong on how degrading it was going to be on tyres.

What made overtaking so difficult?

There are plenty of corners – many of them blind – that........

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