© Getty ImagesRace Recall: Barcelona 🇪🇸The top moments from the Team’s time in Barcelona
TheCircuitdeBarcelona-Catalunyaneedsnointroduction.Itwasbuiltaspartofthe1992BarcelonaOlympicsandhasenjoyedhostingtheSpanishGrandPrixeveryyearsincewithanunbrokenrun.
The track has also been the site for many pre-season tests meaning that every team has a lot of data about the circuit from which to draw on, so it’s always a very competitive race. Adrian Newey, the Team’s Chief Technical Officer, is one man who knows the circuit very well. He explains what makes it a great place for a pre-season test: “Barcelona has a huge variety of corners: There’s lots of long corners, tight and twisty turns, and highspeed areas, so you can check a lot of things. However, It’s very difficult to gauge if you’ve got a good car. Each team will be running different fuel loads, which make a difference. 10kg of fuel adds 0.3s to a lap and you’re also testing different engine modes so you can only compare your car to previous models.”
Adrian believes what is essential in testing is getting the drivers’ feedback. “What is often useful is if the drivers like the car. If they’re complaining about lack of rotation, a lack of balance or poor ride, that is a concern.”
With the entire paddock collecting an abundance of data on Barcelona, it’s always going to be difficult claim the top step of the podium.
It wasn’t until the Team’s fifth season that we claimed our first podium in Barcelona. That honour went to Mark Webber who finished third, with teammate Sebastian Vettel one spot behind in P4.
Even in the midst of winning four double championships in a row, the Team only collected three trophies in Barcelona. In 2010 Mark won with Seb in P3 and a year later Sebastian was able to claim the win – his only one in Spain.
In 2016, Max Verstappen had begun his Formula One career with Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) and after just four races he had claimed three top-10 finishes earning a deserved promotion to Red Bull Racing.
The 17-year-old Max was able to claim the win in his first race for the Team and along with it several records, including the youngest driver to lead a lap and the youngest driver to win a Formula One race.
Adrian remembers the race fondly and knew then they had a future World Champion on their hands. “What Max did in that first race was extraordinary considering he’d only done one year in Formula Three and then not many races for Toro Rosso” he said. “Particularly the way he did it. He was under tremendous pressure from Kimi Räikkönen, who was just behind him on fresher tyres. To withstand that pressure he had to manage his tyres. He was using his tyres in the overtaking aeras and then preserved them in the other parts where Räikkönen was unable to overtake. To show that level of maturity so early was astonishing.”
The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix in 2022 saw a one-two finish for the Team. It was the second of six one-two finishes of the year. Max took the win with Checo finishing P2 and collecting the fastest lap. Although that result looked very dominant, Adrian didn’t consider the Team potential champions at that point. “We didn’t realise it was going to be a championship winning car at that point because it was a lucky one-two in Barcelona,” Adrian said. “Ferrari were quicker than us in that race, but they had reliability issues so we felt we’d had a lucky escape. If you look through first half of the season, Ferrari were quicker than us, especially at Austria and Barcelona. It wasn’t until the second half of the season that we managed to start pulling away from the other teams.”
Red Bull Family Photo© Getty Images
