F1 Spanish GP circuit plans major change after drivers call it out for 'poor racing'

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya plans to introduce significant changes for future F1 races to improve overtaking opportunities at the track. The circuit had added Turns 14 and 15 chicanes in the 2007 F1 season for safety purposes. Before that, the cars ran flat out through two right-handers before the start/finish straight.

To make these tweaks, it needs to be ensured that the circuit complies with the safety requirements to be granted an FIA Grade 1 license, a prerequisite for hosting F1 races. To make that happen, we could look at an increased run-off area and an improved safety system at the corner.

Currently, the track only has an FIA Grade 1 license to run races with the chicane, but a spokesperson for the circuit told RacingNews365.com that they plan to homologate to Grade 1 without it. The spokesperson said,

"The intention is to homologate the track without the chicane at the beginning of 2023 (end of January-February). But the track with the chicane will remain the same. Once the homologation is done, every promoter will be in position to choose in which layout they want to compete (with or without the chicane)."

The track has come under fire for the lack of racing it tends to produce. Except for the long start-finish straight and the first sector, there aren't many spots on the track where wheel-to-wheel racing is feasible.

Even with the new regulations, the problem was highlighted this season when Max Verstappen, struggling with a malfunctioning DRS, could not overtake George Russell in a Mercedes.

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F1 drivers have spoken out about the track layout in Barcelona in the past

In an interview last season, Russell had notably spoken out about the lack of pure racing at tracks like Barcelona. Talking about what was missing in F1, the Mercedes driver had said that it had to do with tracks like Barcelona that were not conducive for wheel-to-wheel racing. He said,

"An example we have at the moment is Barcelona, the circuit offers pretty poor racing. The races are always pretty dull. On the whole, we think that if the circuit were to return to the last two corners that were there 15 years ago, two fast corners, you'll actually be able to follow slightly closer."

He added,

"You'll be coming onto a straight at higher speed, the slipstream effect will be greater, all the way down to the Turn 1. That's an easy fix to a circuit that is pretty poor. Obviously, then there are safety implications and it's not quite as simple as saying, 'right, let's change this circuit and revert."

It is commendable to see the F1 track bringing in changes to improve the quality of racing, as this would also help the circuit in the long run.