Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix!
?? RACE WINNERS
There have been 28 Spanish Grands Prix held at the Circuit de Barcelona since its inaugural race in 1991. During that time, there have been sixteen different drivers who have won a Formula 1 race at the track.
Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most wins here, having taken victory six times, while Ferrari are the team with the most wins with eight. German drivers have been the most successful here, with eight wins in total – six Schumacher’s, one for Sebastian Vettel and one for Nico Rosberg. British drivers could equal that tally this weekend. Renault are the engine manufacturer with the most wins at the Catalunya circuit, having powered eleven victories.
Four drivers have taken back-to-back wins at this track. They are Nigel Mansell, Michael Schuamacher, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton. Of those, only Schumacher and Hakkinen have taken more that two consecutive Spanish Grand Prix victories. Hakkinen won three in a row between 1998 and 2000, while Schumacher took four in a row from 2001 to 2004. Lewis Hamilton could take a third consecutive win here this weekend.
There are four previous winners of the Spanish Grand Prix on the 2019 grid. Lewis Hamilton has the most wins of the current field here, having won three times, Kimi Raikkonen has won twice, while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have each taken a single victory.
The longest streak of different winners at this track came between 2006 and 2016, when there were no repeat winners for eleven years.
The smallest win margin here came in 2016, when Max Verstappen took his maiden Formula One victory by finishing just 0.616 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The largest win margin at the Catalunya circuit is 51.988 seconds, which Michael Schumacher achieved in 1995.
The Spanish Grand Prix at this track has been won by less than five seconds on six occasions, and has been won by less than a second three times.
From the last ten Spanish Grands Prix, the average win margin at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is 9.317 seconds.
?? ON THE PODIUM
Thirty different drivers have finished on the Spanish Grand Prix podium since the event moved to the Catalunya circuit in 1991.
From those thirty, Michael Schumacher has taken the most podiums here with eleven top three finishes. Ferrari are the team with the most podiums at the track with 25, while German drivers have taken the most podiums at the track with nineteen. British drivers have taken eighteen, so may equal that tally in 2019.
On the current grid, there are six previous Spanish Grand Prix podium finishers. Lewis Hamilton has the most, with seven, while Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have each finished in the top three five times in Spain. Former team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have both finished on the Catalunya podium twice. Valtteri Bottas is the other driver on the 2019 grid to have finished in the top three here, having finished as runner-up last season.
The polesitter has gone on to finish on the podium at this circuit 22 times.
The lowest grid slot a podium finish at this track has come from is twelfth, which has happened twice – Olivier Panis finished second in 1997 after starting twelfth, and Juan Pablo Montoya did the same thing in 2001.
The 2013 and 2016 Spanish Grands Prix are the only two races here where none of the top three qualifiers finished on the podium.
The top three qualifiers have finished in the order they qualified at this track only twice, in 2014 and 2015.
Just eleven podium finishes at this track have come from outside the top five on the grid.
?? POLESITTERS
There have been fifteen different polesitters at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Michael Schumacher has had the most pole positions here, with seven, while Ferrari are the team with the most poles here, with the same tally. German drivers have had the most poles of any nation at the track, with eight – a tally which British drivers could equal this year.
Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen are the only drivers on the current grid to have taken pole here. Hamilton has taken four pole positions in Spain and Raikkonen has started from the front twice.
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 at the track. He took pole in every season between 2000 and 2004.
The track record for the current configuration of the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya is a 1:16.173, set by Lewis Hamilton in qualifying last season.
The difference between the fastest and slowest session-topping qualifying laps at this track is 10.584 seconds. The fastest qualifying time at this track was Fernando Alonso’s fastest lap in Q2 in 2006, 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 2.250 seconds, which occurred in 2009.
The smallest pole margin at the Catalunya circuit is 0.017 seconds, which is the gap Pastor Maldonado took his only Formula One pole by in 2012. The largest margin pole was taken by at this track came in 1992, when Nigel Mansell set the fastest time by 1.005 seconds.
Pole has been taken by less than a tenth on seven occasions at this track.
From the last ten Spanish Grands Prix, the average pole margin at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya is 0.152 seconds.
?? SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The polesitter at this track has gone on to win the Grand Prix 21 times. Michael Schumacher’s second place in 1994 is the only time the polesitter has gone on to finish on the podium without winning the Grand Prix.
The Spanish Grand Prix at this track has been won from the front row of the grid 25 times. Meaning 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 Formula One victory.
?? SUNDAY STATS
The most number of drivers to finish on the same lap as the leader at this track is ten, which happened only once – in 1997. Conversely, the least number of drivers to finish on the lead lap is three, which has happened in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2017. On average, six drivers finish on the lead lap at this circuit.
The Safety Car has been deployed at just six Spanish Grands Prix at this track. The most Safety Car appearances at this circuit is two, which has happened in 2008 and 2018.
Three races at this track have been affected by rain, but no Grand Prix at this circuit has been affected by rain since 1996.
Michael Schumacher is the driver to have set the most fastest laps in races at this track. He’s set the fastest lap of the Spanish Grand Prix seven times.
From the 616 cars which have started a race here, 404 have made it to the chequered flag. On average, 66% of the drivers who start the Grand Prix at this track reach the end of the race.
The highest number of finishers in a race at this track is 21, which happened in 2011. The least number of drivers to reach the end of the race came at the 1996 event, when just six of the twenty starters crossed the finish line.
There has never been a red-flagged Spanish Grand Prix at this circuit.
Since 1991, there have been 1833 racing laps at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya. That means, should it take place, the first lap of the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix will be the 1900th lap of the circuit.
?? CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
A World Champion has never been crowned at this track. The winner of this race has gone on to win the title in the same season on sixteen occasions.
The leader of the Drivers’ Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix has gone on to win that year’s title on 23 occasions since 1991.
