Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – Spanish Grand Prix

Round nine sees the start of the European summer leg with the countdown to the summer break with five races in eight weeks beginning in Barcelona. The penultimate Spanish Grand Prix to be held at this circuit before moving to Madrid in 2026, the 2.905-mile circuit is one which drivers know well, up until 2020 this had been the regular testing venue and a stable of the junior formula since 1990.

Barcelona is a high-speed and downforce circuit where the challenge for the teams is getting the balance right, there is also the added factor of changeable wind conditions. Its conflicting demands makes finding the right set-up challenging as in one session drivers could complain about oversteer in one part of the circuit but come the next session the car could be struggling with understeer.

Overtaking and following other cars can be difficult because of the long flat-out sections and fast-flowing corners. Only four of the nineteen races at this track between 2001 and 2019 have not been won from pole position. This has been made more difficult over its nearly thirty-five years on the calendar it has led to criticism that drivers and mechanics are too familiar with Catalunya, reducing the amount of on-track action.

But this circuit has not been the only circuit in Barcelona, the city first held a non-championship grand Prix in 1951 that race was won by Juan Manuel Fangio, who took advantage of tyre problems. However the race would be placed on hiatus for financial reasons and following the 1955 Le Mans disaster would not return until 1967 as a non-championship race at Jarama starting an alternating arrangement with Montjuic, in the city of Barcelona.

these two circuits were very different, Jarama was a fast wide and sweeping circuit while Montjuïc was a slow, tight and twisty circuit. Jackie Stewart would win the first race in 1969 he would win again for the following three years before Niki Lauda took his debut win in 1974.

The 1975 race held at Montjuïc had been blighted by safety concerns following practice. There were several protests, and the drivers refused to race. The organizers panicked, and they threatened to lock the cars inside the stadium where they stayed while not being raced.

The race then left Barcelona for fifteen years first moving to Jarma until 1980 and Jerez in 1984. Like many races in the era it was dominated by the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alian Prost, but there were other great battles including one with Nigel Mansell.

1987 saw Mansell win in his Williams; and 1989 saw Senna drive a hard race to keep himself in the championship points; he won the event from Austrian Gerhard Berger in a Ferrari and the Brazilian’s fierce rival and McLaren teammate, Frenchman Alain Prost

The current circuit in Barcelona opened in 1991 and will host the race until June 2025, but with an option to host what could be the Catalan Grand Prix from 2026 after losing the rights to Madrid. Built twenty-four miles away from the city centre.

Prost and Mansell took two wins each in the first four races in Barcelona in the early 1900s, with Williams dominating until 1993. 1994 saw Michael Schumacher take the first of his six wins, including in 1996 one of his best and his first for Ferrari.

The win in torrential rain is regarded as one of his best, the race saw numerous crashes including Jos Verstappen being the final driver to crash with twelve laps to go. Mika Häkkinen also had success towards the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, the Finn took three wins and was on course for a fourth before suffering a car failure on the last lap.

The 2000s saw rapid growth thanks to Fernando Alonso, who finished second in 2003 and 2005 before taking victory from pole in 2006. Alonso also finished third in 2007, with two further second places in 2010 and 2013. His 2013 is, to date, the last victory of his career.

The beginning of the hybrid era in 2014 saw Mercedes dominate the next eight years, with the expectation of 2016 when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed into each other taking each other out on the opening lap. This highlights the fact only four races between 2001 and 2019 were not won from pole.

That 2016 race saw Max Verstappen on his Red Bull debut take his maiden win following a battle with teammate Daniel Ricciardo and the Ferrari’s. but the race swung his way with twenty-two laps remaining during the final pit stops with him remaining in the lead winning on his Red Bull debut and becoming the youngest ever winner.

2017 saw Mercedes and Hamilton dominate this race for five years, ending a period of eleven different winners in ten years. While since the 2022 regulation changes Verstappen has won both races.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• Lella Lombardi is the only woman to have scored a top 6 finish in an F1 World Championship race. She recorded half a point for sixth place in the shortened 1975 Spanish Grand Prix on the treacherous Montjuïc circuit in Barcelona
• The smallest victory margin was in 2016, when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his first in by finishing just 0.616 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen
• Rubens Barrichello holds the record for most retirements at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He failed to finish here seven times – one time more than Kimi Raikkonen.
• At the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher all finished on the podium. By the end of their careers, they’d have 14 World Championship victories between them; the most to have ever finished on an F1 podium together.

Event timetable

What happened in 2023?

Max Verstappen beat Carlos Sainz to pole by nearly half a second on his first run to take pole with a 12.272. Sainz was the only Ferrari driver into Q3 as his teammate Charles Leclerc was an early casualty, the Monacan failing to improve and was shuffled down to nineteenth and out in Q1. Personal bests in the final sectors allowed him to move onto the front row.

Fernando Alonso couldn’t really fight for the front row as damage was caused by an off at Catalunya in Q1. That would have lost him performance through the corner and along the main straight and Aston Martin having to patch up the car, also resulting in him being out-qualified by his teammate Stroll for the first time.

Verstappen went on to finish twenty-four seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes coming from fifth after shadowing Sainz for much of the first stint before overcutting the Ferrari at the first stops. Russell managed to fend off Sergio Perez in the closing stages and take his first podium of the season. That was despite Hamilton making contact with Lando Norris at the start.

Norris’s work in qualifying dropped him to last, then only recovering to seventeenth. Hamilton was momentarily unsettled and was overtaken by Stroll behind him, but reassured there was no damage to his car, retook the place and set about catching chasing Sainz. Sainz meanwhile failed to regain position after dropping to fifth at his stop just after the halfway stage.

What to watch for?

The big unknown and feeling is that Red Bull are going to return this weekend given it’s a much more conventional circuit. It’s one where you need straight-line speed and being good in the corners, this circuit has a history of favouring the world champions in normal situations unless they are taken out or have technical issues. This could give us possible answers to whether the gap has truly closed up or whether Red Bull can return to winning ways at this key point in the season with five races in eight weeks before the summer break.

Barcelona is the perfect place for the teams to bring upgrades as it’s good for aero testing and straight-line speed is important, that could give us a really good picture for three of the next four races about what Red Bull’s rivals need to do to challenge them. Championships are I think not won but built at this point of the season before the summer break if Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes can beat Red Bull. In recent races, the gap has closed up behind Red Bull.

But I think it’s going to be interesting, Ferrari had a difficult weekend in Montreal, whereas Mercedes looked to close the gap to the others in that midfield gap. Ferrari I feel should be able to bounce back as all teams have off weekends during the season, they were earlier in the season in the mix in places like Sakhir and Shanghai. This could be an interesting weekend going into that countdown to the summer break, we can learn a lot this weekend.

We will not see as great track evolution as we have done at the last two races, because this is a permanent circuit and one which gets a lot of use throughout the year. Though we don’t come to testing regularly any more, the teams and drivers know this place extremely well which could limit running in practice. Also, the teams who don’t bring upgrades may opt to use this as one of the sessions for young drivers, but next week we have the sprint format too.

Carlos Sainz may use his home race to announce his future, he has had a decent season since losing his seat at Ferrari. There has been a surprise rumour of a possible move to Williams, he has been asked at nearly every race this season because I think he is the cork in the bottle of the driver market.

2023 vs 2022 Race Data

2023 Lap time comparison

Tyres