BARCELONA, SPAIN - FEBRUARY 26: Daniil Kvyat of Russia driving the (26) Scuderia AlphaTauri AT01 Honda on track during Day One of F1 Winter Testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 26, 2020 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Pre-Season Track Session2022

2022

23 - 25 Feb

FORMULA 1 PRE-SEASON TRACK SESSION 2022

spain-flag.png Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Spain_Circuit.png

First Grand Prix

1991

Number of Laps

N/A

Circuit Length

4.675km

Race Distance

N/A km

Lap Record

1:18.149 Max Verstappen (2021)

Catalunya

When was the track built?

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was built as part of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics development programme. The foundation stone was laid in 1989, while the first car race was a round of the 1991 Spanish Touring Car Championship.

When was its first Grand Prix?

Two weeks after the touring cars raced at Barcelona, it was Formula 1’s turn. The track enjoyed a sensational debut, with Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna’s famous eyeball-to-eyeball drag race down the straight, before Mansell took the lead and drove on to victory.

What’s the circuit like?

The drivers love the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which is just as well, because they often spend huge amounts of time pounding around it during winter testing. The track is a good mix of high- and low-speed corners, with the challenging Turn 3 right-hander a great chance to evaluate the balance of the car your team’s designers have given you to fight with for the season.