1. The Spanish Grand
Prix
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain
~ The First European Race of the Season ~
Taking a Lap in a Formula One Car Around

2. the 4.655-kilometre Barcelona Track
The start line …
Turn 1 is the main overtaking
point at Catalunya, as it is a
braking zone at the end of a
long DRS straight.
The inside and outside are just
as difficult as each other for overtaking; if you can hold
it around the outside of turn one, then you get the
inside for turn two.
The corners themselves make up a medium speed
chicane — you brake rather late for turn one and shift
down to gear two, and turn two is almost full throttle as
you try and gain as much exit speed as possible.
Turn 3 is a long, flat out (in some cars) right-hander that
has a g-force of about four, and it leads onto a short
straight before turn 4, curve.
Another right-hander, turn four is similar to Monza's
Curva Parabolica — you brake and take an early apex

3. (in third gear), before carrying lots of speed out of the
exit.
Turn 5 comes immediately
after and is a slow left-hander
taken in second gear which
drops rapidly downhill towards
the left kink of turn 6 which is
ignored by F1 cars.
Turns 7 and 8 make up a medium-speed, uphill, left-
right chicane.
Drivers brake and shift down to gear three, and must
not run too wide as turn eight has a large kerb on its
apex which could potentially damage cars' suspensions.
Turn 9, Campsa Corner, is a very fast, sixth gear right-
hander which is made incredibly difficult due to the fact
that it is completely blind to the drivers.
It is initially quite steep uphill but the exit is then
downhill, making it blind, so it is quite easy to run wide
onto the astroturf.

4. The long back straight leads into turn 10, a second-gear,
left-hand hairpin, then turns 11 and 12, a left kink
before a long, slow, third-gear right.
The next section has been
redesigned by German
engineer Hermann Tilke to
lower speeds onto the pit
straight — which in turn
increases overtaking
opportunities and safety.
Turn 13 is a tight, third gear right-hander and drivers
have to quickly cross the circuit to take the racing line
through the slow left-right chicane of turns 14 and 15,
taken in second gear.
Good traction is needed here as it determines speed
down the pit straight.
Turn 16 is a flat-out right-hander which takes you
across the line.

5. Click here for more details on the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix.

6. Click here for more details on the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix.