SPANISH GRAND PRIX
BARCELONA-CATALUNYA CIRCUIT - BARCELONA
Spanish GP: all you need to know
In recent times, the common denominator for the Spanish Grand Prix has been its venue, the Montmelo track.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has hosted the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix since 1991.
The facility can be found just over 20 kilometres to the north of Barcelona and the track itself is 4.66 kilometres in length. There have been 52 Spanish GPs to date, going back to 1951 and five venues have hosted it: Pedralbes, Montjuic, Jarama, Jerez and the current Barcelona track.
CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA
Olympic spirit
The Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit was built at the time of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. The track was inaugurated with a Spanish Touring Car race and then, two weeks later came the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The winner of this first world championship race at the track near Montmelo was Nigel Mansell in a Williams, following an epic battle with Ayrton Senna.
A little bit of everything
The track features 16 corners, with a wide variety of characteristics, including high, medium and low speed turns. It’s an ideal track to probe a car’s abilities and so it is said that a car that goes well in Barcelona, goes well everywhere.
Hard to overtake
The track layout means overtaking is no easy task and the best opportunity comes at Turn 1, at the end of the long start-finish straight.
