Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Racing Circuit

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a permanent road course at Montmeló, roughly 25 km north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Built to bring grand prix racing back to the region, it opened on 10 September 1991 and hosted the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix later that month, with its first event a round of the Spanish Touring Car Championship. Its blend of long straights, fast sweepers and slower technical corners, combined with mild winter weather, made it Formula One's premier pre-season testing venue, to the point that teams and drivers became unusually familiar with every metre of the lap. A long pit straight feeds into the heavy braking zone of Turn 1 (Elf), the circuit's main overtaking point, before the fast right-handers of Turn 3 (Renault) and Turn 4 (Repsol) and the slower Seat and Campsa sections. Turn 9, the blind, uphill-then-downhill Campsa crest, is among the most demanding corners, leading onto the back straight towards the La Caixa hairpin at Turn 10 and the twisting final sector around the Europcar turn. Safety concerns saw the final sector repeatedly altered with chicanes over the years, but for 2023 the circuit was homologated for all categories to run with or without the RACC chicane, and Formula One promptly dropped it from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards. The venue carries FIA Grade 1 and FIM Grade A licences and was known simply as the Circuit de Catalunya until a 2013 sponsorship deal added Barcelona to its name. Beyond Formula One it has staged the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix since 1996, F1 Academy, GT World Challenge Europe, TCR touring cars, endurance events, and the FIA World Rallycross Championship from 2015 to 2022 on a dedicated rallycross layout. From 2026 the Spanish Grand Prix moved to Madrid and the Barcelona round was rebranded the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, retaining a regular Formula One presence under a rotational calendar arrangement.

Operated by: Circuit de Catalunya SA