The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will not host a Formula 1 race next year as it begins a new alternating agreement with the Belgian Grand Prix.
This Sunday will mark the first race staged under the specific Barcelona Grand Prix moniker.
The name change comes after the official Spanish Grand Prix title was transferred to a new street circuit in Madrid.
New rotational calendar
Formula 1 confirmed earlier this year that the Catalan venue has signed a contract extension until 2032.
However, the famous track must now share its slot on the calendar with Spa-Francorchamps.
The historic Belgian circuit will host the event in odd-numbered years starting in 2027.
Consequently, the 4.6-kilometre Montmelo course will only welcome the paddock back in 2028, 2030, and 2032.
End of an era
This season represents the first time since 2012 that Spain has hosted two separate Grands Prix.
The facility has been a cornerstone of the motorsport calendar since opening its doors in 1991.
It hosted the Spanish Grand Prix for 34 consecutive years and served as the traditional home of pre-season testing.
Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali previously praised the region’s enduring commitment to the sport.
“Barcelona is an incredible city, and the Formula 1 fans there always welcome us with such passion, so I am delighted that we will continue to race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for years to come.”
“The team have invested heavily in the circuit and hosted fantastic fan festivals in recent years, so we look forward to seeing how they continue to develop the experience, both for attendees at the race and for the city as a whole.”
Mercedes marvel leads the pack
On the track, Kimi Antonelli will look to defend his lead in the drivers’ standings during Sunday’s farewell race.
The young Italian has been a revelation for Mercedes during the current campaign.
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton is also expected to challenge for victory following consecutive runner-up finishes in Canada and Monaco.
Meanwhile, McLaren will hope to replicate their success from last season when Oscar Piastri secured the win ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.
Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari can reach a “magical place” and challenge for the 2026 Formula 1 championship following a strong start to the season.
The seven-time world champion arrives at this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix aiming to build on the best results of his 17-month career in red.
He has finished as runner-up to Mercedes’ title-leading Kimi Antonelli in each of the last two races.
Chasing the dominant Silver Arrows
Following a difficult 2025 campaign under the previous regulations, the Maranello-based squad currently sit second to unbeaten Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.
They have successfully secured podium finishes in all but one of the six grands prix held so far this year.
Despite clear mechanical improvements from the Italian outfit, the reigning champions remain an immovable force at the front of the grid.
“It’s going to be tough to beat Mercedes and we’re just working on trying to focus on ourselves and improve each weekend,” said Hamilton.
A rejuvenated force in the paddock
The British driver recently moved ahead of former team-mate George Russell to claim second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
He insists his current racing approach is centred on full attack and continuous commitment to galvanising the team.
The Formula 1 veteran feels the garage now shares a clear vision to guide their development over the coming months.
“If we’re all rowing in the same direction at the same strength, I think we can potentially get to a magical place,” he added.
Working towards pure performance
Hamilton noted that fixing complex technical issues requires immense alignment rather than rapid, overnight solutions.
He believes the early signs in 2026 are highly positive, but stressed that their current form is merely a baseline for future ambitions.
“This is just the beginning really for us as a team. We’ve got more to come; we’ve got more improvements to make.”
“We exist to win and I think we don’t exist to win by default. It’s to win by pure performance and commitment and that’s what we are working towards.”
Max Verstappen has revealed that Red Bull are holding discussions with Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, after surprisingly being named the sport’s benchmark power unit manufacturer.
Under the new Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system for 2026, the Milton Keynes-based team was judged to possess the best engine on the grid.
As the benchmark constructor, they will not receive any development upgrades this season.
Instead, rival manufacturers will benefit from extra development allowances to close the calculated performance gap.
Surprise over benchmark engine ruling
A leaked document shows that Mercedes are deemed more than two per cent behind the class leaders, granting them one engine upgrade this year.
Meanwhile, Ferrari, Audi, and Honda will receive two upgrades as they are considered more than four per cent adrift.
The ruling has caught the reigning constructors’ champions off guard, particularly as this is their first season producing their own power units.
“I think we were all a bit surprised in the team with that,” Verstappen admitted ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
“I think we can be proud of the job we have done but it never felt like we were, let’s say, the best.”
“That’s why we were surprised and that’s why I think we’re discussing with the FIA to understand what happened there.”
Overcoming pre-season reliability fears
There were initial concerns that the newly formed Red Bull Powertrains division would struggle to remain competitive against established manufacturers.
Despite ongoing reliability issues, the Dutch driver described his team’s efforts behind the scenes as highly impressive.
“Of course, we still have some reliability things, but overall, it’s honestly nice to be a part of it, and seeing the drive of the people, and what they want to do,” he added.
The three-time world champion noted that both he and the factory staff share a relentless drive and are equally disappointed when operations do not run perfectly.
He explained that while the squad feels a sense of pride, there remains significant confusion over suddenly being portrayed as the dominant force.
Track performance contradicts findings
The ADUO findings contrast sharply with track performance during the opening six rounds of the 2026 season.
Mercedes have dominated the early stages of the championship, building a commanding 79-point lead over Ferrari.
The Silver Arrows have clearly possessed the fastest car and demonstrated superior straight-line speed.
This early dominance makes the governing body’s engine assessment even more perplexing to the majority of the paddock.
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli insists he still has plenty to prove despite building a commanding 66-point lead in the Formula 1 championship after winning five of the opening six races.
The 19-year-old Italian currently sits comfortably ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings heading into the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
His team-mate George Russell, who claimed victory in the season opener, has endured a recent slump and trails the championship leader by 68 points.
But the teenager remains grounded about his blistering start to the campaign.
“There are questions that still need to be answered on my side – how much further I can go in a short period of time, how much I can push myself even further and how much I can grow and how big is the potential?”
Overcoming early career struggles
The rising motorsport star admitted that a mid-season dip during his debut campaign last year severely knocked his confidence.
He struggled for pace and suffered multiple incidents throughout the European leg of the calendar.
However, the Mercedes prodigy now views that turbulent period as a crucial factor in his rapid development.
“Last year I would doubt a lot myself, especially during that difficult period in Europe.”
“This year it’s a different story and you mature a lot after one year in F1 not only as a driver but also as a person.”
“Considering how bad it was in the moment, I am very grateful it happened because it made me grow a lot and taught me a lot about myself. This year I haven’t been questioning or doubting myself.”
Turning the tables on Russell
The contrasting fortunes within the Silver Arrows garage this year represent a drastic shift from the previous season.
The Italian finished his rookie year seventh in the standings, trailing his British stablemate by a massive 169 points.
He managed just a single podium finish in Canada last season, while his more experienced colleague secured two grand prix victories.
This year, the momentum has swung firmly in favour of the young title contender.
He currently leads their qualifying head-to-head battle with a 5-4 advantage and an average gap of 0.110 seconds.
Embracing the championship pressure
Russell has undeniably suffered from misfortune, including a botched pit stop that triggered a penalty in Monaco last weekend.
Yet the British driver openly conceded in the principality that he is struggling to extract maximum performance from the car.
Meanwhile, the championship leader attributes his own success to a deeper understanding of the sport and better energy management.
“The experience, being able to come back into the weekend and having done it the year before plays a massive difference.”
“You become more aware of your potential and you know better the team, it’s all little things that play a massive role.”
Despite carrying the weight of a title charge, the current frontrunner insists the mounting pressure has not derailed his focus.
Alpine have successfully advanced their Right of Review over two pit-lane speeding penalties handed to Pierre Gasly at the Monaco Grand Prix, raising the prospect of a late change to the final race results.
The French manufacturer cleared a demanding initial threshold with the governing body after providing fresh evidence regarding faulty timing loops in the Monte Carlo pit lane.
Gasly crossed the finish line in third position on Sunday but was relegated to seventh after stewards applied two separate five-second time sanctions.
Both infractions recorded the 28-year-old at less than 0.5kph above the mandatory 60kph limit.
Faulty timing loops provide crucial new evidence
To trigger a formal review, competitors must present significant and relevant new information that was unavailable to race officials at the time of the original decision.
The Enstone-based outfit successfully argued that Formula One Management and the FIA were already aware of systemic issues with the pit-lane timing infrastructure prior to the race.
Crucially, the race stewards themselves had not been informed about these technical discrepancies before penalising drivers during the prestigious street race.
Driver maintains innocence over pit-lane entry
Telemetry data submitted during the hearing confirmed the former AlphaTauri driver had engaged his pit limiter well before crossing the mandatory entry line.
A witness statement detailed how engineers had previously warned him about the timing issues, prompting a deliberate and cautious approach during his pit stops.
The sport’s official timekeepers eventually furnished evidence proving the distance between the measurement loops was inaccurate, resulting in multiple drivers having their speeds overestimated.
Wider grid implications for Monaco standings
The dispute will now progress to a decisive second hearing where team representatives will formally request that the time penalties are completely quashed.
Following the chequered flag last weekend, an incensed Gasly had publicly described the regulatory situation as entirely unfair.
If the original podium finish is restored, the resultant points shift will alter the final Monaco classification and significantly impact rival teams in the constructors’ championship.
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton will miss the opening practice session at this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix to allow rookie Dino Beganovic to take the wheel.
The seven-time world champion enters the Spanish event fresh from a second-placed finish behind Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli in Monaco.
Antonelli currently holds a commanding 66-point lead over the British veteran in the drivers’ championship standings.
Formula 1 regulations mandate that every full-time driver must surrender their seat on two separate occasions each year to provide junior talent with vital track time.
Beganovic gets Ferrari opportunity
Swedish prospect Beganovic has spent several years developing his race craft within the prestigious Ferrari Driver Academy.
The young driver already has two previous first practice outings under his belt and views the familiar Montmelo circuit as an ideal testing ground.
“My aim is to do the job the team requires of me, provide useful feedback, and adapt to the car as much as possible.”
He added that adapting to the new car regulations quickly will be his primary focus during the 60-minute session.
“Putting on the red race suit, getting back behind the wheel, and working closely with the engineers and mechanics is something unique, so I’m really looking forward to Barcelona.”
Aston Martin brace for further pain
Elsewhere in the paddock, Fernando Alonso has warned his Aston Martin team to expect more difficult weekends before significant car upgrades arrive.
The constructor has opted against bringing incremental improvements, choosing instead to wait for one major aerodynamic package to comply with strict cost cap restrictions.
The two-time world champion secured his team’s first point of the season on the streets of Monte Carlo last time out.
That top-10 finish only materialised after Cadillac driver Sergio Perez received a post-race penalty, leaving the Silverstone-based outfit languishing near the bottom of the constructors’ standings.
Aston Martin’s deeply disappointing start to the 2026 Formula 1 season has reportedly sparked a massive behind-the-scenes row between owner Lawrence Stroll and chief aerodynamicist Adrian Newey prior to the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Silverstone-based outfit entered the current campaign with incredibly high expectations following the high-profile capture of the legendary car designer from Red Bull Racing.
However, the anticipated push to the front of the grid has rapidly descended into a nightmare scenario for the ambitious constructor.
The new AMR26 challenger remains overweight and plagued by extreme vibrations, severely limiting the performance of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Stroll feeling the pressure
Former driver Ralf Schumacher has now revealed the extent of the internal friction gripping the struggling racing stable.
Speaking on a podcast following the Monte Carlo race, the German pundit claimed that Newey was forced to attend the street circuit despite suffering from a recent illness.
The team’s billionaire owner reportedly mandated the 67-year-old’s presence as frustrations rapidly boiled over regarding their lack of competitive pace.
“There’s a massive row going on behind the scenes; Lawrence Stroll is, of course, anything but happy. It’s turned into something of a walk of shame for him by now.”
Ralf Schumacher
A glimmer of hope amid the gloom
The troubled engineering project was initially blamed on the team’s new Honda power unit, but focus has recently shifted towards fundamental flaws in the chassis design.
Despite the ongoing mechanical issues and heavy grid penalties, the two-time world champion Alonso miraculously secured the team’s first point of the season with a 10th-place finish in the principality.
That solitary point, however, appears entirely insufficient to ease the mounting pressure on the Canadian businessman’s substantial financial investment.
With six Constructors’ Championships on his illustrious CV, the celebrated British aerodynamicist now faces an immense challenge to rescue the failing campaign.
Formula 1 bosses have agreed to alter the sport’s engine regulations for the 2027 and 2028 seasons to increase internal combustion output.
The 2026 campaign introduced a strict 50-50 division between internal combustion and the energy recovery system.
However, motorsport executives have now approved a move away from this balanced configuration for the V6 hybrid power units.
When the 2027 championship begins, the technical framework will mandate a 58/42 split in favour of the traditional combustion element.
Further combustion increases planned
This regulatory adjustment will be extended again the following year.
For the 2028 season, the combustion contribution will rise to 60 per cent of the overall power output.
Consequently, the electrical component of the hybrid system will decrease to account for the remaining 40 per cent.
These technical directives mark a swift recalibration for the pinnacle of motorsport following the major regulatory overhaul implemented in 2026.
Modifying the specifications so rapidly suggests an ongoing effort by the governing body to refine on-track performance and address complex engineering challenges.