F1 Event Guide: Round 8 Spanish Grand Prix
After rain caused some mayhem in Monaco, the Formula 1 world will settle down at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The annual trip to the familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya usually marks the start of the European leg of the championship, but it arrives slightly later than usual.
Being round 8 of the season, the 2023 race will be just the second Spanish Grand Prix at the Catalan circuit held in the month of June.
The later start could bring weather into the mix with the forecast predicting a first wet Spanish Grand Prix since Michael Schumacher’s famous first Ferrari win in 1996.
Download the full F1 Spanish Grand Prix event guide here with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.
Not only has the date changed, but also the track with the unpopular chicane created back in 2007 finally ditched.
This means the famously fast double right-handed bends to end the lap return, which should make setting up overtakes down the long main straight easier in addition to rapidly reducing lap times and simply enhancing the spectacle.
The driver who last won a Spanish Grand Prix without the chicane was fittingly Fernando Alonso, and the huge crowd expected to pack stands and banks would love nothing more than seeing their home hero break his victory drought.
Whilst that win arrived during his Renault days, Alonso’s last Grand Prix victory also occurred a decade ago for Ferrari.
Having collected five podiums in six races this year, he has never had a better chance to break the drought than now at Aston Martin.
But challenging the Red Bull at the flowing Spanish circuit will be much tougher than the twisty Monte Carlo.
The track’ style should suit the RB19 down to a tee and the reigning champion’s cruised to a 1-2 last year.
But Max Verstappen’s victory over Sergio Perez was much harder in reality than on paper, with the eventual winner flying into the gravel at Turn 4 and only gaining the lead after an engine blow up for Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen’s 2022 success ended a streak of Mercedes domination at the circuit with the Silver Arrows recording five straight wins and nine consecutive pole positions.
In 2023 Mercedes has not possessed the outright speed to challenge for wins and have started from scratch after bringing a revised aero package to Monaco.
With the “zero-pod” design gone, Mercedes’ new design received the tick of approval from both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell and will be put to the ultimate test in Spain.
If things click, Mercedes could steal second from Aston Martin in the teams championship, while it is also a big weekend for Ferrari.
Last year Spain was the scene for the Scuderia’s title hopes going up in smoke, but 12 months on it is optimistic a potentially season-defining upgrade can find some speed and consistency after collecting just one podium from the first six races.
Alpine could be a dark horse after Esteban Ocon’s podium gave the building team the perfect breakthrough.
Like Monaco, qualifying is critical at Catalunya, with 29 of the 32 winners starting from the front row.
But for the second week in a row, rain could spice things up, which is something highly unusual for Spain.
Download the full F1 Spanish Grand Prix event guide here with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.
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