Fred’s View
“Barcelona is a combination of fast, high-speed corners which put a lot of energy through the tyres and the driver. You will definitely feel it in your neck after the Grand Prix!” said Test and Reserve Driver Fred Vesti.
“Tyre degradation can provide a real challenge, and finding the compromise between managing the tyres and pushing is not east to get right either.”
A Rich History
Barcelona is one of five circuits to have hosted the Spanish Grand Prix. The others are Jarama, Jerez, Montjuich, and Pedralbes.
Valencia hosted five European Grands Prix between 2008 and 2012, and from 2026 the Spanish Grand Prix is set to move to a street circuit in Madrid.
Barcelona has witnessed a host of iconic and dramatic F1 moments over the years. Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell famously went wheel-to-wheel along the pit straight in 1991, while in 1994 Michael Schumacher finished second after being forced to drive most of the race in fifth gear.
Two years later, the legendary German scored his first win for Ferrari in atrocious conditions, and in 2001 he claimed victory after rival Mika Hakkinen broke down with just a few corners remaining having led most of the race. Home hero Fernando Alonso became the first Spaniard to win his home Grand Prix in 2006, and Williams would claim a shock victory with Pastor Maldonado in 2012.
Four years later, team-mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton would clash on the first lap, allowing Max Verstappen to become the youngest ever winner of a Grand Prix.
Lewis would then win five Spanish Grands Prix in-a-row between 2017 and 2021, a joint F1 record for most consecutive wins at the same Grand Prix he shares with Ayrton Senna at Monaco.
The final year of that sequence saw the team pull of a famous strategy call to help Lewis overhaul Max Verstappen in the closing laps. A day prior, Lewis became the first driver to claim 100 F1 pole positions.
The record for most Spanish Grand Prix victories is six, held by Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. George has claimed two podiums at the track since joining the team full time, in 2022 and 2023, when he recovered from P12 on the grid.
Along with Melbourne and Baku, Barcelona is one of three tracks George has collected multiple podiums at. The British driver also triumphed at the circuit in F2 in 2018, on a day he shared the podium with Lando Norris. Kimi’s only previous racing visit to Barcelona saw him collect two P2 finishes in 2023, on his way to winning the FRECA title later that season.