Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Barcelona, Spain · On the current calendar
The sport's reference circuit — a lap that exposes every weakness in an F1 car.
Circuit layout
Race historyThe sport's reference circuit — a lap that exposes every weakness in an F1 car.
Circuit
- Circuit
- Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
- Location
- Barcelona, Spain
- Length
- 4.657 km
- Corners
- 14
- Race laps
- 66
- Race distance
- 307 km
- First GP
- 1991
- Opened
- 1991
- Grands Prix
- 36
Last winner here
Lap record
About Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was Formula 1's default winter testing venue for two decades, and teams know it better than any other. Its lap contains high-speed corners, slow hairpins, long-radius turns and a lengthy main straight, which means a car cannot be set up to hide a weakness here — whatever is wrong with it will show.
Sector one is the fast part: turn three is a long, loaded right that punishes any lack of front-end grip, and the sequence through turns seven, eight and nine tests aerodynamic stability. The final sector is where lap time is genuinely lost or found, and the exit of the last corner determines the slipstream down the 1.05 km start-finish straight, which is the circuit's only reliable overtaking zone.
The layout changed for 2023, when the slow chicane installed at turns fourteen and fifteen in 2007 was removed and the original flowing final corners restored. Lap records set with the chicane in place belong to a different circuit; Oscar Piastri's 1:15.743 from 2025 is the record for the layout in use today.
Notable facts
- Formula 1's principal winter testing venue for two decades, making it the best-understood circuit on the calendar.
- The chicane added at turns 14 and 15 in 2007 was removed for 2023, restoring the original flowing final sector.
- Michael Schumacher won here six times, a record he shares with Lewis Hamilton.
- The 1.05 km start-finish straight is the circuit's only consistently reliable overtaking zone.
Grands Prix by decade
36 races, every decade from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Most wins — drivers
Most wins — constructors
Every Formula 1 winner at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
36 World Championship Grands Prix have been held here between 1991 and 2026.
