‘My Racing and Professional Life, Everything Started in Barcelona’

Growing up a five-minute drive from the Circuit de Catalunya, our team Hospitality Lead has a long and close history with the Spanish Grand Prix.

“I grew up in Parets del Vallès. Every time we go racing here, it feels like coming home, and there is no better feeling than that,” says Anna.

Anna’s ears may have been attracted to the sound of engines from Barcelona, but her eyes also revealed an early passion for motorsport, too.

“My first visit to the track was when I was just two years old, my dad took me to watch the 24-hour motorbike race they hold there every year,” she says.

“After a while of sitting in the grandstand, he freaked out because he noticed my eyes were moving side to side really fast, I was trying to follow every single bike!

“He panicked, thought he’d broken me, and took me home immediately. My mum was not impressed!”

It would be 10 years before Anna first attended an F1 Grand Prix at the track, but the sound from the engines and the sight of the bikes flying past had never left her mind.

It was time to indulge her sense again.

“My first proper memory of actually being at the track was when I was 12,” she says.

“My uncle had been gifted grandstand tickets for the Grand Prix but couldn’t make it, so he passed them on to my dad and me.

“I remember walking through the FanZone and taking pictures next to the replica cars. It was such a fun day!”

Anna’s Dad would play a crucial role in her next involvement with the circuit a few years later.

“My Dad told me that a hotel next to the track was holding interviews to work at the Grand Prix that weekend,” says Anna.

“Since I was still only 17, he had to wait the whole time because I wasn’t legally allowed to sign a contract on my own.”

Anna would spend the weekend as a hostess in Paddock Club, and the experience left her determined that her time immersed in the world of F1 would be more than just a guest appearance.

“From that moment, something shifted. I fell in love with the sport, the people… I was blown away by how big the operation was, how nice everything looked and how this whole circus travelled around the world.

“If I hadn’t lived just five minutes from the track, I would’ve never had that opportunity, and I would be doing something completely different today.

“Beyond the racing, Barcelona is the place where everything started for me professionally too.”

What began as a summer job turned into the career of Anna’s dreams. In 2025, she returns to the Spanish Grand Prix for the fourth time as part of our team, heading up our Hospitality operations in Barcelona.

From watching the show in the grandstands, to putting on a show in the paddock. Anna’s story is full circle.

And decades later, the garden that bloomed Anna’s love and passion for motorsport still has a part to play in our team’s Grand Prix weekend.

“A couple of years ago, my mum had the brilliant idea to invite the whole Marketing Team over for a Spanish/Catalan meal,” Anna says.

“She thought ‘a few’ might show up… but we ended up hosting 30 people! It’s now become a bit of a tradition, and the group keeps growing every year!”

For a job that requires travel around the world, what better feeling than to have work and home so perfectly intertwined every year?

“Hosting the team is always very special, not just for me, but for my family too,” says Anna.

“My parents don’t speak any English, and only one or two people from the Marketing Team speak Spanish.

“But for them, it means a lot to meet the people I travel the world with, and it brings them so much joy.

“The team has always been amazing and invited my parents to the Paddock after the dinner and that means a lot to me.”

For 34 consecutive years, Barcelona has hosted the Spanish Grand Prix, a longevity that few other tracks on the calendar can match.

“It is because we have everything! High-speed corners, low-speed sections, a long (but not too long) straight,” says Anna.

“I’ve heard people say the Circuit is a “true test” of a car’s capabilities, and I agree.

“Plus, where else can you race in the morning and have paella by the sea in the evening?!”