2018 Spanish Grand Prix – facts and figures from one of the oldest races in the world. Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Facts.

The Spanish Grand Prix, first contested over 100 years ago, is one of the oldest motor races in the world. Since 1967, it has retained a spot on the Formula One calendar at a variety of venues including Jarama, Jerez and since 1991, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya outside Barcelona. Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is also regularly used for testing sessions in the Formula 1 off-season and in-season. The current race contract is in place until 2019, but Liberty Media hopes to sign a new agreement and continue the event at the Spanish track.

The Spanish F1 Grand Prix was a favourite of seven-time Formula One world champion and Scuderia Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher, who won the race six times in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Other multiple winners include Jackie Stewart, Mika Hakkinen, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, each with three wins apiece. In recent years, the spoils have been more evenly divided. In fact, between 2007-2016, the Spanish Grand Prix was won by ten different drivers! That goes some way to explaining why none of the current crop of F1 drivers has more than 2 wins at the circuit. Kimi Raikkonen (2005, 2008), Fernando Alonso (2006, 2013) and Lewis Hamilton (2014, 2017) all have two Spanish victories to their name. In 2012, the Spanish race produced an upset when Pastor Maldonado took pole position and went on to win Williams’ first race in eight years.

Spanish Grand Prix: did you know?

– Max Verstappen became the youngest winner in F1 history (18 years, 228 days) when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix

– Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona also hosts a round of the MotoGP championship. Known as the Catalan Grand Prix, the race was won four times between 2010-2015 by Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo.

-a second Spanish round in Valencia (known as the European Grand Prix) was held for five years between 2008-2012.

– Lella Lombardi is the only woman to have scored a top 6 finish in the F1 World Championship. She recorded half a point for sixth place in the shortened 1975 Spanish Grand Prix on the treacherous Montjuïc circuit in Barcelona.

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Facts

2017 Spanish Grand Prix: Race Highlights