As a lot because the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a well-liked take a look at venue with difficult format drivers take pleasure in, its ageing services and traditionally poor accessibility have lengthy been a thorn within the aspect of each individuals working within the F1 paddock and the followers who pay for the privilege to attend.
The circuit was inbuilt 1991 as a part of Barcelona’s bid for the 1992 Olympic Video games, which utterly revitalised the port metropolis and helped it change into a serious vacationer vacation spot.
And from the primary race in 1991, Barcelona’s custody of the Spanish Grand Prix has seen it change into a yearly staple of the collection, whereas additionally internet hosting a plethora of different two and four-wheel championships.
Like different European venues, the F1 race too struggled for attendance in recent times till Fernando Alonso returned from his hiatus to rejoin Carlos Sainz, and Netflix collection Drive to Survive handed a number of poorly attended races an injection of contemporary curiosity.
However that reputation increase additionally put rising strain on a facility that was largely left unchanged for many years. With weekend attendance creeping up in direction of 288,000 followers in 2024, visitors has lengthy been an issue, with lengthy queues clogging up the roads main from Barcelona’s metropolis centre to the Montmelo outskirts and the commercial estates surrounding the venue.
The occasion reached its nadir in 2022, when unexpectedly massive crowds had been queuing within the warmth for hours to get into the circuit or purchase drinks at its concessions, with the circuit quickly working out of water. Montmelo’s small prepare station, a 30-minute stroll to the monitor and served by a single commuter line, was additionally utterly overwhelmed.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures
That yr’s collection of unlucky occasions prompted an apology from the promoters and a requirement from F1 to enhance its fan expertise. Dissatisfied with Barcelona’s lack of urgency to convey its occasion as much as fashionable requirements, F1 started wanting elsewhere and has since carried out a deal to take the Spanish Grand Prix to Madrid from 2026 onwards, the identical yr Barcelona’s present contract expires.
However proper as Madrid appears to be like poised to change into Spain’s solely F1 vacation spot sooner or later, issues now look like lastly shifting in the best path in Barcelona.
In October 2022 the circuit and the regional authorities offered a 50m euro renovation plan, which included improved fan services, new hospitality buildings and a extra strong mobility plan.
The fruits of that labour had been beginning to be seen at this yr’s occasion, which by most accounts ran a lot smoother. A brand new visitors plan sorted cross holders from followers way more effectively and extra prepare capability and shuttle buses meant extra followers had been ready to make use of public transport with out an excessive amount of disruption.
“Proper after final yr’s grand prix we began engaged on a brand new mobility plan and adjusted the system to keep away from visitors jams,” circuit director Josep Lluis Santamaria informed Motorsport.com.
“This yr it is working very effectively. We’re additionally working with the authorities on public transport, and we have now extra individuals coming by prepare. Then we have now shuttles that convey down the individuals from Montmelo station to the circuit.
“For the long run, we’re engaged on having a prepare station near the circuit and use it for races, concert events and different massive occasions.”
The circuit additionally invested closely in new hospitality areas, headlined by a 35-metre-high rooftop terrace spanning the again straight, overlooking the third sector of the circuit. Many of the paddock buildings themselves nonetheless date again to 1991, though the pit constructing and primary grandstand have now acquired over 5,000 sq. toes of photo voltaic panels that permit the occasion to run on 70 per cent sustainable power, with the goal to go as much as 100 per cent.
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing RB20, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photograph by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Pictures
The organisers additionally hosted a well-liked fan occasion within the central Placa Catalunya that attracted round 120,000 followers, and a roadshow on Wednesday afternoon on the adjoining Passeig de Gracia that includes a Ferrari F1 demo from house hero Carlos Sainz, attended by 40,000 followers.
The occasion was successful, though it additionally drew criticism from environmentalists and from native residents who felt the favored vacationer vacation spot does not want any extra disruptions and guests that it already has to take care of.
On the eve of the race, the town introduced a plan to ban short-term rental flats by 2028 as a measure in opposition to it groaning below the burden of the almost eight million vacationers that go to the cosmopolitan metropolis every year, with hovering housing costs driving many locals out of the centre.
However the authorities are nonetheless eager on the race’s enhance to the native financial system and employment, and Santamaria revealed that it was truly the town council itself that pushed for a extra bold plan to shut a 600-metre stretch of one in all Barcelona’s primary arteries, all the best way as much as Gaudi’s iconic Casa Batllo.
If nothing else, it was an announcement of intent of how eager the town and the regional authorities are to maintain F1.
“The concept was to convey System 1 to the town and to the followers that can’t afford a ticket for a grand prix,” Santamaria defined. “We had been working with the town and after we began fascinated with what to do, they informed us to do it proper in the course of the town. F1 are very proud of it, that is what they had been asking for.”
However whereas it’s simple that Barcelona’s grand prix is making steps, there stays frustration up and down the paddock that it has taken this lengthy to attempt to get on par with the remainder of the standard European races, and whereas huge progress has been made in some areas, there are nonetheless a number of different operational features the place Barcelona is lagging behind.
The proposed prepare station behind the principle grandstand is an efficient instance. Not many F1 circuits can boast a prepare line to a serious metropole a mere 200 metres from the start-finish straight. However frustratingly, the station is about to be accomplished after the ultimate race of Barcelona’s present F1 contract.
Followers invade the monitor to look at the Podium ceremony
Photograph by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Pictures
If there had been a extra proactive method to bettering its infrastructure and heeding the warning indicators, then possibly Barcelona would have remained an undisputed pillar of the European F1 season. As an alternative, it has misplaced the Spanish Grand Prix title to Madrid and – like Italy – it’s thought unlikely that the nation can hold on to each races.
However whereas Barcelona’s place has been severely weakened by F1’s enthusiasm over its Madrid undertaking, and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali informed Spanish media that it might be troublesome for each to co-exist, Santamaria does not really feel the monitor’s overdue overhaul has come too late to save lots of the race.
“It isn’t too late,” he mentioned bullishly. “I believe we’re doing the issues on the proper second. After we began with this plan 4 years in the past, we determined to begin working another way, make investments some huge cash and put the circuit on the proper degree.
“We at the moment are in a greater place than two or three years in the past and we preserve working. What we mentioned we might do, we have now carried out, and we have now carried out extra issues that weren’t deliberate at first.
“We contributed to System 1 for 34 years and I believe we have now sufficient expertise to proceed with System 1 right here in Barcelona, in addition to with MotoGP and World Superbikes. Our thought is to increase the contract for a few years.”
Barcelona appears to have gotten F1’s message loud and clear, and it’s now on track to host its most profitable occasions but in 2025 and 2026. Within the quick time period, that’s excellent news for followers who’re planning to go to the town and the race however had been delay by 2022’s horror tales.
However long run, indicators pointing in direction of its rescue operation being too little too late.
