Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has been the host of the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991. Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about the track ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix!
Track length: 4.657km
Race length: 307.236km
Laps: 66
Turns: 14
Circuit opened: 1991
F1 first visited: 1991
Races held: 34
Track Record: 1:11.383, Lando Norris, 2024
Lap Record: 1:16.330, Max Verstappen, 2023
RACE WINNERS
The Spanish Grand Prix has been held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya 34 times since its inaugural race in 1991. During that time, there have been 16 different drivers who have won a Formula 1 race at the track.
Schumacher and Hamilton share the Spanish Grand Prix win record
Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton share the record for the most wins here, having taken six victories each.
Five drivers have taken back-to-back wins at this track. They are Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Of the back-to-back winners, Schumacher, Hakkinen, Hamilton and Verstappen have taken more than two consecutive Spanish Grand Prix victories. Hakkinen won three in a row between 1998 and 2000, Schumacher took four in a row from 2001 to 2004, Hamilton took five successive wins between 2017 and 2021 and Verstappen is currently on a streak of three wins at the circuit.
There are three previous winners of the Spanish Grand Prix on the current grid. Lewis Hamilton has the most wins of the current field here, having won six times, while Max Verstappen has four victories and Fernando Alonso has two.
The longest streak of different winners at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya came between 2006 and 2016, when there were no repeat winners for 11 years.
British drivers have been the most successful here, with ten wins. Britain’s tally includes wins for Lewis Hamilton, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jenson Button.
Three drivers have recorded a Grand Slam at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Nigel Mansell did so in 1992, Michael Schumacher did so in 2002 and Max Verstappen became the latest driver to record a Grand Slam at the track in the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix.
Ferrari have won the most races at Catalunya, but Mercedes have powered the most wins
Ferrari are the team with the most wins at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with eight – one more than Mercedes.
Mercedes set a new record for most wins for an engine manufacturer at the circuit in 2021, powering their 12th Spanish Grand Prix victory.
Mercedes hold the record for most consecutive team wins at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. They won for a fifth consecutive year with Lewis Hamilton in 2021. Williams and Ferrari are the other teams to have had long winning streaks at the venue. Williams took four victories in a row between 1991 and 1994, while Ferrari won four in a row between 2001 and 2004.
There have been 12 occasions on which a team has recorded a 1-2 finish at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Red Bull became the most recent team to do so in 2022. Mercedes hold the record for most 1-2 finishes here, with four.
Schumacher holds the record for the biggest winning margin
The largest win margin at the Catalunya circuit is 51.988 seconds, which Michael Schumacher achieved in 1995.
The smallest win margin here came in 2016, when Max Verstappen took his maiden Formula 1 victory by finishing just 0.616 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
The Spanish Grand Prix at this track has been won by less than ten seconds on 14 occasions. It has been won by less than five seconds on eight occasions and by less than a second three times.
The average win margin at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is 15.862 seconds. From the last ten times that the Spanish Grand Prix has been held here, the average win margin has been 12.572 seconds.
ON THE PODIUM
33 different drivers have finished on the Spanish Grand Prix podium since the event moved to the Catalunya circuit in 1991.
Schumacher and Hamilton have taken the most Spanish Grand Prix podium finishes
Michael Schumacher’s record of 12 top three finishes at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was equalled by Lewis Hamilton in the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.
On the current grid, there are seven previous Spanish Grand Prix podium finishers. Lewis Hamilton has the most, with 12, Max Verstappen has finished in the top three eight times, while Fernando Alonso has had seven home podiums. Valtteri Bottas has recorded four podiums here, George Russell had two and Sergio Perez and Lando Norris scored his first Spanish Grand Prix podiums in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
British drivers have the record for most podium finishes at Catalunya, with 26.
Ferrari have 25 podiums at Catalunya
Ferrari are the team with the most podiums at the track, with 25.
Mercedes have powered the most podium finishes at the track, with 33.
The polesitter has failed to finish on the podium only seven times
The polesitter has gone on to finish on the podium at this circuit 27 times.
The lowest grid slot a podium finish at this track has come from is 12th, which has happened three times: Olivier Panis finished second in 1997 after starting 12th, Juan Pablo Montoya did the same thing in 2001 and George Russell finished third from 12th on the grid in 2023.
The 2013 and 2016 Spanish Grands Prix are the only two races here in which none of the top three qualifiers finished on the podium.
The top three qualifiers have finished in the order they qualified at this track three times: in 2014, 2015 and 2021.
Just 12 podium finishes at this track have come from outside the top five on the grid.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX
POLESITTERS
There have been 19 different polesitters at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Schumacher has recorded the most Spanish Grand Prix poles
Michael Schumacher has had the most pole positions at the Spanish Grand Prix, with seven.
Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris ae the six drivers on the current grid to have taken pole at the Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton has taken six pole positions in Spain, while Alonso, Bottas, Leclerc, Verstappen and Norris have taken one pole each.
Four drivers have taken back-to-back poles at this track. Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton are the drivers who’ve achieved this.
Schumacher is the driver with the most consecutive poles in Spain. He took pole in every season between 2000 and 2004. Meanwhile, Hamilton is the only driver to have taken consecutive poles on multiple occasions at the track. He did so in 2016-18 and in 2020-21.
Lewis Hamilton gave British drivers the outright record for most poles at the circuit in 2021, recording the nation’s ninth pole here. Lando Norris secured Britain’s tenth pole at venue in 2024.
The 2012 Spanish Grand Prix – in which Lewis Hamilton set the fastest qualifying time but was later disqualified from the session – is the only time that the fastest qualifier has not started from pole position at Catalunya.
Mercedes have held the record for most Catalunya poles since 2020
Mercedes overtook Ferrari as the team with the most poles here in 2020 – their tally now standing at nine.
Mercedes hold the record for the most consecutive pole positions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. They started from pole in all nine seasons between 2013 and 2021.
There have been 16 occasions on which a team has locked-out the front row at Catalunya. It has happened in seven of the last 12 Spanish Grands Prix.
Nigel Mansell took pole here by over a second
The largest margin pole was taken by at this track came in 1992, when Nigel Mansell set the fastest time by 1.005 seconds.
The smallest pole margin at the Catalunya circuit is 0.017 seconds, which is the gap by which Pastor Maldonado took his only Formula 1 pole in 2012.
Pole has been taken by less than a tenth on ten occasions at this track, including five times in the last eight seasons.
From the last ten Spanish Grands Prix, the average pole margin at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is 0.217 seconds.
There’s a different of ten seconds between the fastest and slowest pole laps at Catalunya
The difference between the fastest and slowest session-topping qualifying laps at this track is 13.849 seconds. The fastest qualifying time at this track was Lando Norris’ pole lap in 2024, while the slowest was Lewis Hamilton’s pole lap in 2014.
The largest gap between the pole lap and the slowest qualifying lap in a session at this track is 14.138 seconds, which happened in 2003. Meanwhile, the smallest gap between the fastest and slowest laps in a session is 2.126 seconds, which occurred in 2024.
SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The polesitter at this track has gone on to win the Grand Prix 24 times.
In 2024, Lando Norris became only the third polesitter at the track to fail to win the race but to go on and finish on the podium. Michael Schumacher and Valtteri Bottas’ second places in 1994 and 2019 are the only other times that has happened.
The Spanish Grand Prix at this track has been won from the front row of the grid 31 times. This means that just three victories here have been taken from third or further back.
The furthest back a Grand Prix at this track has been won from is fifth on the grid. That happened in 2013, when Fernando Alonso took his final victory with Ferrari.
SUNDAY STATISTICS
Since 1991, there have been 2,229 racing laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Fernando Alonso has raced the most laps of any driver in Barcelona, touring the track 1,281 times in total during Grands Prix.
19 drivers have set the fastest lap of a race at this track. Michael Schumacher is the driver with the most fastest laps here. He set the fastest lap of the Spanish Grand Prix seven times during his career.
There have been 11 occasions on which the polesitter did not lead at the end of the first lap at Catalunya – including in five of the last nine Spanish Grand Prix weekends.
There have been four occasions on which the polesitter has not been in the top two positions at the end of Lap 1. Damon Hill was third at the end of the first lap in the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix, Mark Webber was third at the end of the opening lap in 2011, Lewis Hamilton collided with his team-mate and failed to finish the first lap in 2016 and Lando Norris was third by the end of Lap 1 in 2024.
The overall finish rate here is just over 70%
760 F1 cars have been entered into a Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. From those 760 cars, 742 cars have qualified for races. 736 of those cars have started a race here, while 518 have reached the chequered flag. Of the cars which have started races here, the finish rate is just over 70%.
The highest number of finishers in a race at this track is 21, which happened in 2011. However, the 2023 and 2024 Spanish Grands Prix have seen the highest percentage of finishers at the track, with all 20 of the 20 starters finishing the race.
The fewest number of drivers to reach the end of the race came at the 1996 event, when just six of the 20 starters crossed the finish line.
The higher number of drivers to finish on the same lap as the leader at this track is 16, which happened in 2019. 1997, 2023 and 2024 are the only other occasions on which the number of drivers who completed all the laps in the Grand Prix was into double figures. Conversely, the fewest number of drivers to finish on the lead lap is three, which happened in 1993, 1994, 1996, 2017 and 2020.
Schumacher has led the most laps at Catalunya
Michael Schumacher has led the most laps at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, having led 411 Spanish Grand Prix laps in total.
17 drivers have led laps here without ever winning the race. Rubens Barrichello holds the record for most laps led at the track without a win, having spent 41 laps in the lead at the track.
There have been only eight occasions on which the winner has led every lap of the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya. Max Verstappen became the latest driver to do so in 2023.
There have been four Catalunya races in which the winner was not the driver who led the most laps of the race. The fewest laps led en-route to victory at the track is 12, which is how many laps Lewis Hamilton led on his way to winning the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix.
Red Flags and Safety Cars at the Spanish Grand Prix
There has never been a red-flagged Spanish Grand Prix at this circuit. The 2007 Spanish Grand Prix is the only race at this track which did not run to full distance. The race was shortened by a single lap, due to an aborted start.
Nine Spanish Grands Prix at Catalunya have featured a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car period. The most Safety Car appearances at this circuit is two, which happened in 2008. There was also a Safety Car and a VSC delpoyment in 2018.
Three races at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya have been affected by rain, but no Grand Prix at this circuit has been affected by rain since 1996.
CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
A World Champion has never been crowned at this track. The winner of the Spanish Grand Prix has gone on to win the title in the same season on 20 occasions since 1991.
In the past 19 seasons, the polesitter at the Spanish Grand Prix has gone on to win that year’s title on only seven occasions.
The leader of the Drivers’ Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix has gone on to win that year’s title on 27 occasions since 1991.
The team leading the Constructors’ Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix has gone on to win the title in every season since 2011.