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Formula One bigwigs could be left sweating if the Madrid Grand Prix track isn't ready in time. Madrid has assumed the Spanish Grand Prix from Barcelona, with the inaugural race set to take place later in the Formula One season.

Rather confusingly, Barcelona will still host a race this year, but it will no longer be called the Spanish Grand Prix. Instead, it will go by the name of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

However, in the Spanish capital, the track resembles a building site just five months out from the scheduled race date. The course is a 5.4-mile street circuit, but building work has been ongoing to get parts of the city ready for the race.

A snap from @jamie_at show was uploaded to social media, with the image highlighting just how much work still needs to be done to the track. It resembled something more suited to rally driving, as opposed to Formula One.

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Understandably, Formula One fans have been sent into a state of panic, with @QueAlegriaVerte replying: "They won't make it even if they try."

@difundimosideas added: "How does it seem like a good idea to someone, in their right mind, to build a circuit in a barren wasteland?"

@Nicoyant remarked: "That's still way too rough, let's see if they make it to the race date."

The actual track is situated some way out of Madrid city centre, with the aerial shot showing Real Madrid's training base just beside it. Madrid Airport and Atletico's Metropolitano Stadium are also visible from the overhead image.

Over 100,000 fans are expected to go through the gates for the race, which is scheduled to be the 16th of the season in September. Temporary stands and an entertainment complex is still to be built, with estimates that the project could cost north of £50million to complete.

It comes after the Formula One season was thrown into chaos by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The fourth and fifth races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were cancelled, leaving a black hole in the 2026 schedule.

Formula One chiefs opted against replacing the races, instead choosing to leave a gap of one month between the Japanese Grand Prix and the Miami Grand Prix in May. Kimi Antonelli is the early pacesetter, with the Italian having won two of the three races so far.