Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Lore & Background

The circuit was built in 1991 and began hosting the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix that same year. Construction also coincided with the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games scheduled to take place in Barcelona the next year, where the circuit acted as the start and finish line for the road team time trial cycling event and road team time trial para-cycling event. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya should not be confused with the Montjuïc circuit, which hosted the Spanish Grand Prix four times between 1969 and 1975 and is actually located within the city of Barcelona.

The circuit has hosted a motorcycle Grand Prix since 1992, originally the European motorcycle Grand Prix from 1992 and later the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix since 1996. It hosted two rounds in 2024, with the season-ending one-off Solidarity motorcycle Grand Prix replacing Valencia because of flooding in the Valencia area. The circuit hosted many other international racing series, including the FIA Sportscar Championship (1999–2002), European Touring Car Championship (2003), FIA GT Championship (2003), Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2006–2009), European Le Mans Series (2008–2009, 2019, 2021–present), and World Series Formula V8 3.5 (2002–2004, 2006–2013, 2016), GT World Challenge Europe (2017–present), 24h de Barcelona Trofeu Fermí Vélez, and FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX of Catalunya; 2015–2022).

For the latter, the layout included parts of the permanent track near turns 11–15, with two additional gravel sections. Since 2016, the racetrack hosts the 24h BiCircuit Festival, an ultra-distance cycling event featuring 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour races for soloists and relay teams up to 8 riders. Because so much testing is done at this circuit, Formula One drivers and mechanics are extremely familiar with it. This has led to criticism that drivers and mechanics are too familiar with Catalunya, reducing the amount of on-track action.

For the 2020 Formula One season Liberty Media expected the calendar would consist of twenty-one Grands Prix and that any new races would come at the expense of existing events, in particular the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort replacing the Spanish Grand Prix on Circuit de Barcelona, but later negotiated an agreement with the teams to allow up to twenty-two Grands Prix, salvaging the Spanish Grand Prix.

Reader's Guide

The track is demanding of a car's aerodynamic qualities. The wind direction at the circuit can change drastically during the day, a significant factor given the importance of aerodynamics to modern Formula One cars. It is then difficult to find a good setup since cars can have massive aerodynamic drag and understeer on one part of the circuit in the morning, but suffer oversteer at the same part of the circuit in the afternoon. A given tyre compound can work well when tested, but not so well a couple of months later.

These changeable conditions can make for unexpected performances from some teams during the race. The changeable wind conditions have also caused accidents at the circuit, with Fernando Alonso's testing accident in 2015 partly blamed on the severity of the wind. In Formula 1, Turn 1 is arguably the most popular place for overtaking. When first used, overtaking was frequent as cars could follow closely through the last two corners and slipstream down the long straight.

As aerodynamic balance became more critical in the 2000s and 2010s, this overtaking method drastically decreased as the cars were unable to follow each other through the fast final corner due to turbulence created by the leading car. In motorcycling, riders are known to overtake in at least five points on the track (turns 1–2, 4, 5, 10 and 14). The 2007 season saw the first of the two final sweepers replaced with a slow chicane to reduce speeds through the final corner, where serious accidents could occur, and in an effort to improve overtaking.

However, it has been criticised for failing to achieve the latter aim and for causing congestion during qualifying sessions. From the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, Formula One stopped using the 2007 chicane, therefore reverting the final corners for Formula One cars to a sweeping fast configuration. Through 2015, MotoGP used the layout used the 1995–2003 version of the Grand Prix circuit. This was originally the same layout as Formula One.

Did You Know?

• In 1991, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell went down the entire front straight side by side while dueling for second place, with Mansell eventually taking the position and ultimately the race itself.
• In 1994, Michael Schumacher managed to finish in second place despite driving over half the race with only fifth gear.
• In 1996, Schumacher took his first win as a Ferrari driver, after a dominant performance during a torrential rainstorm.
• In 2001, Mika Häkkinen suffered a clutch failure while leading the race on the last lap, handing the win to Schumacher.
• At the 2006 event, Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish Formula One driver to win at his home country's track.