The changes Barcelona needs to provide a modern-day F1 spectacle

Without Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes throwing a spanner in the works and going for a second stop, which ultimately won them the Spanish Grand Prix, it was looking to be a typical Formula 1 race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

After the field had settled into the rhythm of the race, the customary DRS trains formed; the cars were locked in single file like a tapeworm gliding through the confines of the large intestine. It’s so difficult to mount an assault on a car ahead at the Barcelona circuit, unless you have a very distinct tyre advantage – characterised by Hamilton fluctuating in and out of that crucial second gap behind Max Verstappen in the opening two phases of the race.

Even though Hamilton probably had the pace advantage, sitting in Verstappen’s wake was likely to result in nothing but a deadlock between the two. Mercedes knew that and, having blindsided Red Bull with exactly the same trick at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix (which Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase referenced following Hamilton’s pit call), it saw fit to do so again. After all, the Hungaroring is an expert at churning out yawnfests, and the extra mobility of Hamilton’s stop then meant he could put more of a lid on tyre-saving. This meant Mercedes had previous in dusting off that strategy for Barcelona.

Perhaps that’s the new meta for a circuit that’s difficult to overtake on?

That aside, Barcelona is still a problem venue. Without Mercedes taking a punt to make it interesting, the 2021 race could have been another snorer, with a scarce quantity of overtakes made anywhere other than Turn 1.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The reprofiling of Turn 10, which does appear to have added a sprinkling of jeopardy with its outside gravel trap, really did nothing to enhance the race; if anything, it largely robbed the venue of another overtaking spot. Hamilton was eventually forced to employ it to clear the recalcitrant Valtteri Bottas, who did a phenomenal job of feigning ignorance at team orders, but it otherwise went largely unused.

If anything, the frisson of excitement injected into the 2021 season’s fourth round was despite the circuit, not because of. Infamously, Barcelona’s 1999 F1 race was a mind-numbingly processional affair, leading David Coulthard to suggest post-race that a return to wider cars would spice things up a bit thanks to the increased drag. But now we have that, it’s only the addition of DRS that can be cited as making any moves past the first lap possible. Over two decades later, the circuit is still hardly conducive to producing a battleground ripe for overtakes.

Like Mercedes’ bid to win the race by taking the initiative, F1 and the Barcelona circuit should perhaps take a leaf from the Silver Arrows’ playbook and end its time sleepwalking onto the F1 bill. Annual themes within each story about the F1 calendar include the persistent doubts over the Spanish venue’s place on it, but each time the promoters seemingly find enough money to provide a further stay of execution. Marie Antoinette would surely turn in her grave with envy, albeit headlessly.

With very little space to extend the corners into something more overtake-friendly, widening the track and adding more camber into the equation could potentially yield dividends

If it is to remain part of F1 in the years to come, then the circuit requires some fresh thinking to keep it relevant for modern machinery.

The recent changes at Turn 10 were never really produced with F1 cars in mind, but rather for bike racing. A short, sharp corner with a long straight leading into it provides much more opportunities for cars to make moves under braking, while bikes can more easily run two-wide in a longer-radius corner, while the changes also improved the safety measures by reducing the sharp braking along with extending the gravel trap. With that in mind, any changes would presumably need to be made to satisfy both cars and bikes, which admittedly ties the hands of any would-be architects looking to transform the circuit.

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Be that as it may, Turns 1 through to 3 are largely fine as they are. The long straight into the chicane at the start of the lap has done all of the heavy lifting for Barcelona in the past couple of decades, and Turn 3 does yield opportunities if a driver is feeling brave – Charles Leclerc managed it quite admirably as he rounded Bottas on the first lap, aping Fernando Alonso’s outside move back in 2013 when he dispatched Kimi Raikkonen and Hamilton at the start.

The run to Turn 4, however, provides nothing more than a tease. Every year, drivers look as though they might be able to manage to launch an overtake into the ever un-tightening right hander, but rarely make it work. Turn 5 can, however, provide an overtaking venue in the junior categories - but only cuts the mustard in F1 trim if, again, there’s a tyre advantage.

With very little space to extend the corners into something more overtake-friendly, widening the track and adding more camber into the equation could potentially yield dividends. Turn 5, particularly, could be widened at the entry and yield an incentive for drivers to try and stuff it down the inside. Alternatively, should a driver use the inside line to defend, their opponent could use any added camber to try and hang it around the outside and potentially bring Turns 7 and 8 into play. Potentially, with tiny tweaks, the more unfancied corners can then have more than a supporting role to perform.

But there’s still a dearth of opportunities to get your overtaking skates on in the latter half of the lap. The new Turn 10 probably fits a little bit into no-mans-land between the two paths that previously occupied that particular section of the track. By going back a couple of generations to the wider track, there’s an opportunity to tighten that up by creating a more 90-degree apex at turn-in, introduce a little more camber (again) and benefit from drivers using different lines. By doing that, the length of the back straight is marginally extended which can reward drivers using a slipstream to challenge the car in front.

That way, you can theoretically bring Turn 12 back into play, which Rubens Barrichello once employed expertly as an overtaking spot to dispatch the two battling Schumacher brothers in the year 2000. That leads into the final change that will, undoubtedly, become the most popular in this wish list: consigning the chicane at the end of the lap to the history books.

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A521, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The final chicane has few redeeming features; it’s clumsy, it’s ugly, and in qualifying trim it serves only as a holding bay for drivers to tool around in before setting a hot lap – impeding the faster drivers who happen to stumble upon an absolute casserole of cars arsing about. Although the intent was to improve overtaking when the chicane was introduced in 2007, all it did was to serve as a horrendous anti-climax to a circuit that used to fire drivers out onto the start-finish line at lickety-split speeds.

The problem is that, to enact this glut of changes, the circuit must spend money on doing so. But given the circuit has remained in the same nick for about 15 years, and almost fallen into the financial abyss several times in those years, any changes don’t seem to be entirely forthcoming

Having now been part of 15 grands prix at the circuit, the chicane has rarely proved its worth and serves as nothing more than an annoyance. Its use serves only to provide a platform for a car to showcase its low-speed credentials in testing, but remains entirely incongruous to the rest of the circuit. Surely, it’s time that the chicane must face the scythe’s remorseless swing.

The problem is that, to enact this glut of changes, the circuit must spend money on doing so. But given the circuit has remained in the same nick for about 15 years, and almost fallen into the financial abyss several times in those years, any changes don’t seem to be entirely forthcoming. Short of a rich benefactor throwing money at the circuit, it seems to be frozen in time.

In the current climate, in which F1 is once more chasing money from oil-rich nations who fancy mopping away humanitarian atrocities with global sporting events, Barcelona becomes less of a necessity by the day. Were it to disappear down the back of the sofa and off the calendar, there are few who would miss the venue (save for the select members of the F1 fraternity who keenly anticipate their annual trip to the El Trabuc restaurant in nearby Granollers, as they graze upon its menu of miscellaneous animal parts amid its dated décor).

To that end, Barcelona must contemporise or continue to risk losing its much-coveted space on the F1 calendar, especially when the cast of substitute circuits in 2020 did a much better job of delivering enthralling races. But if F1 does insist on keeping its European core and wishes to retain a Spanish Grand Prix, then there’s an alternative: Motorland Aragon is just down the road.

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 2020 MotoGP Aragon GP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images