Barcelona remains a jewel in the F1 crown - but there need to be changes

Circuit de Catalunya, in the parched hills above Gaudi’s Barcelona, is the circuit best known to the bejewelled cockpit superstars of F1.

It has been on the calendar since 1991 and the wide variety of corners also make it an ideal annual pre-season testing venue, as it was in February.

What there is to be learnt about the circuit was done so long ago by drivers pounding around it until sunset.

So this race, above all others, has always been an ultra-tight affair in which gigabytes of accumulated testing data can be bought to bear.

Since the onset of the hybrid era this has been a Mercedes track, Lewis Hamilton winning six times in the past eight years – five times from pole.

Fernando Alonso has triumphed (at his home race) twice and Sebastian Vettel once.

Then there is Max Verstappen’s victory on his Red Bull debut at 18 thanks to Hamilton and Nico Rosberg skidding into the kitty litter on the first lap while scrapping over the lead. But surprises are rare.

F1 arrives in Spain with the new ground-effect formula still very much on public trial.

The racing is definitely closer this year but there is no indication it has improved overtaking.

Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium after the Spanish Grand Prix on August 16, 2020. AFP

Maybe then tracks need to change, too. Circuits like Barcelona, where one corner flows into the next, mean cars naturally criss-cross the tarmac, legitimately preventing overtaking bids from their pursuers on the shorter straights.

Lining up the everlasting bend that is T3 to overtake down to T4 doesn’t work, as Hamilton and Rosberg proved in 2012. Ditto T5, which dips to the apex. Dive down the inside and you’ll lose on the exit. T6 is effectively a straight. T7 is challenging but just too