After Monaco, the Formula 1 World Championship’s European tour moves on to Spain for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the seventh round of the season, held at the circuit of the same name in Montmeló. The venue has hosted the Spanish Grand Prix continuously from 1991 to 2025, but this year Spain’s national race moves to the new Madring circuit in Madrid, which is currently under construction and is set to host the event in September.
The benchmark track. The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit is well known to all teams and drivers and was used for the very first test of these new 2026 Formula 1 cars at the end of January, which provided teams with their first opportunity to gather data on these all-new cars. It features a combination of high, medium and low-speed corners, as well as a long main straight.
A new opportunity. Scuderia Ferrari HP heads into the weekend encouraged by the positive momentum shown in recent races. Dino Beganovic will also take part in Friday’s first free practice session, replacing Lewis Hamilton, in accordance with the regulation requiring each team to field a driver with fewer than two Grands Prix starts on four occasions during the season, twice replacing each race driver. For the 22-year-old Swedish Ferrari Driver Academy student, currently competing in Formula 2, it will be another valuable opportunity to gain experience behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, as well as his first outing in the SF-26, which he has so far only driven in the simulator.
Timetable. Track action begins on Friday with the first two free practice sessions at 13:30 and 17:00 CEST. The third and final practice session is scheduled for 12:30 on Saturday, with qualifying getting underway at 16:00. The Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 15:00. The race is run over 66 laps of the 4.657-kilometre circuit, for a total distance of 307.236 kilometres.
"We arrive in Barcelona after two race weekends in which we have shown encouraging signs in terms of competitiveness. In Monaco and Canada we got good results, but we know there is still a lot of work to do and that we must continue to focus on ourselves. As always, our objective will be to maximise the car’s potential and continue making progress".
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
