The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands with a capacity of 140,700. The circuit has an FIA Grade 1 license.
Until 2013 the track was known only as the Circuit de Catalunya, before a sponsorship deal with Barcelona City Council added Barcelona to the track's title.
History
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was built in 1991 and began hosting the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix that same year. Construction also coincided with the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games scheduled to take place in Barcelona the next year, where the circuit acted as the start and finish line for the road team time trial cycling event and road team time trial para-cycling event.1992 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. pp. 305–7. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya should not be confused with the Montjuïc circuit, which hosted the Spanish Grand Prix four times between 1969 and 1975 and, unlike the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, is actually located within the city of Barcelona.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has hosted a motorcycle Grand Prix since 1992, originally the European motorcycle Grand Prix from 1992 and later the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix since 1996. It hosted two rounds in 2024, with the season-ending one-off Solidarity motorcycle Grand Prix replacing Valencia because of flooding in the Valencia area.
The circuit hosted many other international racing series, including the FIA Sportscar Championship (1999–2002), European Touring Car Championship (2003), FIA GT Championship (2003), Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2006–2009), European Le Mans Series (2008–2009, 2019, 2021–present), and World Series Formula V8 3.5 (2002–2004, 2006–2013, 2016), GT World Challenge Europe (2017–present), 24h de Barcelona Trofeu Fermí Vélez, and FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX of Catalunya; 2015–2022). For the latter, the layout included parts of the permanent track near turns 11–15, with two additional gravel sections.
Since 2016, the racetrack hosts the 24h BiCircuit Festival, an ultra-distance cycling event featuring 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour races for soloists and relay teams up to 8 riders.24h BiCircuit Festival official website
Because so much testing is done at this circuit, Formula One drivers and mechanics are extremely familiar with it. This has led to criticism that drivers and mechanics are too familiar with Catalunya, reducing the amount of on-track action. For the 2020 Formula One season Liberty Media expected the calendar would consist of twenty-one Grands Prix and that any new races would come at the expense of existing events, in particular the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort replacing the Spanish Grand Prix on Circuit de Barcelona, but later negotiated an agreement with the teams to allow up to twenty-two Grands Prix, salvaging the Spanish Grand Prix. Before 2021 season, the circuit's F1 deal was extended for one more year.
However, in November 2021, the circuit's F1 deal was extended to 2026, with 2025 as the last year the Spanish Grand Prix was held here. For the 2026 season, the Spanish Grand Prix moved to a new circuit in Madrid around the IFEMA Exhibition Centre in . As a result, the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was held instead. Barcelona-Catalunya signed a multi-year extension to keep Formula One race in 2028, 2030, and 2032, rotating with the Belgian Grand Prix.
The track was resurfaced in 2018 as a result of calls by MotoGP riders to improve the amount of grip on the surface. Previously the track had been resurfaced in 2004.
Barcelona has the 3-star FIA Environmental Accreditation and the ISO 14001 certification. In a 2021 report, it was ranked the second most sustainable racetrack in the world, together with Circuit Paul Ricard and behind Mugello Circuit.Racing towards a sustainable future - A Review of the sustainability performance of international racing circuits - Enovation Consulting Ltd and Right Hub Srl, June 2021
Racing history The circuit has been the site of some memorable moments. In 1991, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell went down the entire front straight side by side while dueling for second place, with Mansell eventually taking the position and ultimately the race itself. In 1994, Michael Schumacher managed to finish in second place despite driving over half the race with only fifth gear. In 1996, Schumacher took his first win as a Ferrari driver, after a dominant performance during a torrential rainstorm. In 2001, Mika Häkkinen suffered a clutch failure while leading the race on the last lap, handing the win to Schumacher. At the 2006 event, Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish Formula One driver to win at his home country's track. In 2016, a crash at turn four took Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg out, allowing Red Bull's Max Verstappen to win the race on his first race for the team. Doing so, Verstappen was the youngest to win a race, the youngest driver to stand on the podium, and the youngest to lead a lap of a race, in addition to being the first Dutchman to win a Formula One race.
In 2008, Heikki Kovalainen left the track at after a wheel rim failure at turn 9. He managed to decelerate to when he hit the tyre barrier. He was temporarily unconscious and suffered a minor concussion, but a few minutes later, spectators were relieved when he gave a thumbs up.
The circuit has been the scene of two debut wins in Formula One. Pastor Maldonado took his first and only Grand Prix victory and podium here in 2012, and in 2016 Max Verstappen won his first Grand Prix. As a result, he became the youngest driver to ever win an F1 Grand Prix race.
At the 2009 motorcycle Grand Prix, teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo fought all race long for first place, culminating in an overtake on the final corner by Rossi. Riders and pundits described the race as "historic" and "genius".
On 3 June 2016, during Moto2 Free Practice for the 2016 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, Luis Salom crashed in turn 12, resulting in the session being red-flagged. After being transferred to the local Hospital General de Catalunya, Salom died of the injuries sustained in the crash. Upon hearing this, FIM decided to change the current layout of the track to the same layout as the one used in Formula One. After off-season discussions, the FIM announced that the track layout would be slightly modified in that the chicane would be moved up a few metres.
On 17 May 2026, during the 2026 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, Álex Márquez crashed at the back of Pedro Acosta's KTM in turn 9, causing his bike to flip over and disintegrate into pieces. The race was red-flagged because of the debris caused by the accident, as one of the tyres from the bike crashed into Fabio Di Giannantonio's bike. After a first re-start, Francesco Bagnaia, Luca Marini and Johann Zarco crashed in turn 1, with Zarco's left leg stuck in Bagnaia's Desmosedici GP26.
Layout
The track is demanding of a car's aerodynamic qualities. The wind direction at the circuit can change drastically during the day, a significant factor given the importance of aerodynamics to modern Formula One cars. It is then difficult to find a good setup since cars can have massive aerodynamic drag and understeer on one part of the circuit in the morning, but suffer oversteer at the same part of the circuit in the afternoon. A given tyre compound can work well when tested, but not so well a couple of months later. These changeable conditions can make for unexpected performances from some teams during the race. The changeable wind conditions have also caused accidents at the circuit, with Fernando Alonso's testing accident in 2015 partly blamed on the severity of the wind.
In Formula 1, Turn 1 is arguably the most popular place for overtaking. When first used, overtaking was frequent as cars could follow closely through the last two corners and slipstream down the long straight. As aerodynamic balance became more critical in the 2000s and 2010s, this overtaking method drastically decreased as the cars were unable to follow each other through the fast final corner due to turbulence created by the leading car.
In motorcycling, riders are known to overtake in at least five points on the track (turns 1–2, 4, 5, 10 and 14).
Layout changes The 2007 season saw the first of the two final sweepers replaced with a slow chicane to reduce speeds through the final corner, where serious accidents could occur, and in an effort to improve overtaking. However, it has been criticised for failing to achieve the latter aim and for causing congestion during qualifying sessions.
From the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, Formula One stopped using the 2007 chicane, therefore reverting the final corners for Formula One cars to a sweeping fast configuration.
Through 2015, MotoGP used the layout used the 1995–2003 version of the Grand Prix circuit. This was originally the same layout as Formula One. For 2004, a new, slower La Caixa turn was built; the motorcycles continued to use the old version, and they also ignored the shorter Europcar turn and RACC chicane. At the 2016 edition, Moto2 rider Luis Salom, had a fatal crash in turn 12. Race control immediately switched to the Formula One layout for qualifying and race.
On 15 December 2016, the FIM announced that a new chicane was to be built ahead of the car chicane, to prevent riders from cutting the pit lane entrance. However, during the 2017 race, the new chicane was deemed dangerous by riders because of a surface change, and the car chicane was used during that event.
In December 2017. grandstands were removed in turn 12 to create additional runoff that allowed the FIM to eliminate that chicane (although the Turn 10 hairpin was kept). Also, the new La Caixa hairpin was used instead of the long sweeper, eliminating the chicane.
For 2021, the La Caixa hairpin was remodelled again, slower than the original one but faster than the F1 one. The alterations were done to improve safety for the drivers.
A lap in a Formula One car