The start of the second European leg of the championship, the Spanish Grand Prix takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend.
Although this track has been on the F1 calendar every single season since it first joined back in 1991, this may be one of its last grands prix.Ferrari have won two races so far in 2024, including the home round for one of their drivers, Charles Leclerc. But they followed that with a frustrating, point-less weekend result two weeks later, and arrive at Carlos Sainz Jnr’s home track needing to bounce back.
Meanwhile much attention is being focused on Williams, who are rumoured to be considering an change in their driver line-up to accommodate Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli, followed last week’s confirmation of a change in the super licence rules which would allow him to race before he turns 18 in two months’ time. But the team has not officially indicated any changes for this weekend.
Can Ferrari bounce back at Sainz’s home race?
Sainz has plenty of support at his home track, which features a dedicated grandstand in his honour, but is yet to appear on the podium here. His best ever finish in Barcelona is fourth place in 2022, having started from third on the grid.
As well as winning the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari were only eight seconds away from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Imola. But given the close competition expected at the front of the field, Ferrari have to assume they will have a tough fight with McLaren and Mercedes to challenge Red Bull for victory. The latter, however, are widely expected to perform better as F1 returns to a more typical permanent circuit.
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Will Mercedes build on Montreal promise?
After Mercedes’ third difficult start to a season in as many years, Montreal appeared to be a turning point. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell showed promising pace throughout practice and the latter pipped Verstappen to pole position by the smallest margin possible.
Although they were unable to convert that pace into victory in the race itself, Russell did secure the team’s first grand prix podium of the season. With the team’s heavily revised new front wing having a clear impact on the confidence that both drivers have behind the wheel, Mercedes must now build on this.
After Montreal, Toto Wolff said that Mercedes were excited for Barcelona so they could “truly understand where we are, performance wise.” At a circuit that all drivers know better than any other, this weekend could show what Hamilton can expect for the remainder of his final season with the Silver Arrows.
One of the last Barcelona races?
But while F1 has secured its future in Spain, it looks like Catalunya’s days are numbered. Earlier this year, Formula 1 announced a 10-year deal for the Spanish Grand Prix to move to a brand new street circuit in Madrid, signalling the end of a three-decade tenure for Barcelona in hosting the race.
However, while Madrid’s first race will happen in 2026, the Circuit de Catalunya’s final race is due to take place the same year. What it will be called, and whether any further visits will follow, remains to be seen. Spain previously held two rounds of the world championship between 2008 and 2012, when F1 visited this track and an unloved street course in Valencia.
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Aston Martin on the ascendency?
Compared to their remarkable success in the early part of last season, it’s been a disappointing start to 2024 for Aston Martin. However, heading into driver Fernando Alonso’s home race, there is finally some reason for optimism.
The Silverstone-based team enjoyed their best weekend of the season so far in Montreal last time out, with Alonso leading team mate Lance Stroll across the line to take sixth and seventh as well as 14 points – the team’s highest haul at a round in 2024 so far.
“I think we can be more optimistic heading into Barcelona,” said Alonso after the Canadian Grand Prix. The many thousands of fans who will be cheering him on from the grandstands this weekend will hope that does not prove misplaced, though after their impressive 2023 campaign they no longer look like challenging the top four teams.
Rising temperatures
This year’s Spanish Grand Prix will take place three weeks later than the previous edition of the race. Teams can therefore expect a greater chance of higher temperatures.
Pirelli will again bring their hardest selection of compounds, as the many medium-to-high speed corners place severe demand upon tyres. With hotter temperatures forecast, drivers can expect tyre management to be more challenging, and F1’s official tyre supplier has even suggested they may need to use three-stop strategies during the race.
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Can Perez return to Q3?
Despite making a stronger start to the 2024 season in several respects, Perez has failed to reach Q3 in each of the last three qualifying sessions. Although he successfully progressed out of Q1 here last year, that was as far as he got. In mixed weather conditions, he was eliminated from Q2 in 11th place.
His dip in form has had tangible consequences for Red Bull, who have been out-scored by at least one rival in all of the last three rounds. But the stakes aren’t high for Perez – Red Bull handed him a two-year contract extension before the last round.
Sargeant’s last stand?
Now, there has been a major development that could spell that the end is nigh for F1’s only American driver. The FIA has officially amended its International Sporting Code to allow it to grant an exemption and give a super licence to an eligible 17-year-old driver at its discretion. Only one driver in the world has the potential to benefit from this – Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Could this be Sargeant’s final weekend as a Williams driver and his last in Formula 1? Time will soon tell.
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Are you going to the Spanish Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to Spain for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Spanish Grand Prix? Have your say below.
2024 Spanish Grand Prix
- Russell ensures Norris has still never kept his lead from pole position
- Williams repeatedly switch floors in search for Sargeant’s missing downforce
- “Why’s he not defending?”: How Russell sank to fourth after stunning start
- What radio calls reveal about Verstappen’s controlled pace and Perez’s struggles
- 2024 Spanish Grand Prix weekend F1 driver ratings
Stephen Taylor
18th June 2024, 8:50
Racefans please stop pedalling the wrong narrative that Antonelli can race in a Grand Prix when he is 17 . The FIA ISC still states that a driver must be at least 18. to compete. The rule changes only allow him to partake in Free Practice sessions before then.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th June 2024, 8:55
As I explained in a previous reply, yes, the FIA can grant a dispensation for him to race at the age of 17:
https://www.racefans.net/2024/06/14/is-the-fia-right-to-relax-the-age-limit-for-formula-1-drivers/#comment-4993949
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
18th June 2024, 9:22
No, a Super License, which FIA can now give to drivers at 17 if they so choose, entitles them to both FP1 driving, and actual races, just like every other super license holder over 17 years old. Not sure why you refuse to accept this, but there you go.
Stephen Taylor
18th June 2024, 10:52
I honestly doubt they will do it yet anyway . Especially as Spain is the start of a triple header. Also unless Williams can get Sainz signed up soon there is no benefit to. them effectively training Antonelli up for a 2025 Mercedes drive
SteveP
18th June 2024, 15:41
Why does Stephen not believe that stance? Quite likely because it isn’t true.
Nothing in the added sentence in 13.1.2 negates the age restriction on competition made in the first sentence.
MichaelN
18th June 2024, 16:11
It does. Note the heading, which states this is a list for issuing a license. Once a driver is issued a Superlicense by the special FIA procedure, the age-requirement becomes irrelevant as the driver then already has said Superlicense.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
18th June 2024, 16:17
It’s literally an exception, for excepting the rule of having to be 18. Which is indeed still a rule, for those that do not get an exception.
notagrumpyfan
18th June 2024, 16:28
SteveP (and Stephen Taylor),
What you are probably misreading is the first sentence of 13.1.2.
The first sentence does NOT determine who/what/when somebody can join an F1 competition, but merely what the age requirement is to successfully apply for a Super Licence.
Now let’s read it again:
Thus the general age restriction to apply for a SL is 18yo (at the start of the first F1 competition). But the FIA can award in special circumstances a SL to drivers who are 17yo.
SteveP
19th June 2024, 0:01
Wrong. determining the age that the holder of a licence MUST be at the start of the event of their first competition is exactly what the first sentence does.
There might be considered to be some degree of slack if the word MUST was replaced with SHOULD, but it isn’t, so the competitor MUST be 18.
The following sentence merely says what age they can be to get a Super Licence. It does not in any way add variance to the minimum age of a competitor.
notagrumpyfan
19th June 2024, 9:36
SteveP
“determining the age that the applicant of a licence MUST be at the start of the event of their first competition is exactly what the first sentence does, but this can be waived for 17yo by the FIA.” FTFY
You still fail to understand that the whole appendix, and the various clauses therein, only determine what is required to obtain (apply for) a licence, rather what is required when you have a licence (holder) and want to compete.
This appendix does not determine who can ‘compete’; that is covered somewhere else in the rules.
And don’t confuse yourself with ‘must’ and ‘should’; both are meaningless if the next sentence defines an exception (which it does in this case).
SteveP
19th June 2024, 21:14
I’m not the one that is confused.
The exception is to the defined age at which you can obtain a licence, nothing more, nothing less.
The first sentence defines the age which must have been achieved and passed. I can keep repeating it until you begin to understand what it says:
“The driver must be at least 18 years old at the start of the event of his first F1 competition.”
Red Andy (@red-andy)
18th June 2024, 10:41
I don’t think this interpretation can be correct. The modified Appendix L has added the same wording to both articles 13.1 (full super licence) and 13.2 (free practice only super licence). If the intention was that 17-year-olds can participate in free practice, but not in qualifying or the race, then there would have been no need to amend article 13.1 at all.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th June 2024, 12:55
People should once & for all accept that this whole alteration is about being able to ‘compete’ in F1 before turning 18 under given criteria, which any driver can start doing immediately after receiving a standard super license anyway.
MichaelN
18th June 2024, 14:41
There is nothing wrong about it. The updated appendix to the Code says: a driver has to be 18, unless the FIA gives them the OK at 17.
SteveP
18th June 2024, 15:42
No, that is NOT what it says.
Nothing in sentence two negates the age restriction in sentence one.
Basic English comprehension.
MichaelN
18th June 2024, 16:02
The default (need to be 18 at the first race) is superceded by the exception (the FIA gives dispensation to a 17-year-old).
The age is just one of the requirements, and it’s good that they added some room for leniency. Even if for no other reason than the fact that F1 seasons all start in March but people are born all year round. Someone who is born in February would be OK, but someone born in April would have to either wait a year or sit out the first two races. That’s not very practical.
Nick T.
18th June 2024, 19:08
Would it kill the FIA to make it absolutely clear in non-legalese what Kimi’s status is?
Regardless, one can only hope he will be allowed to race after Spain. Logan is painful and pointless to watch at this point.
SteveP
19th June 2024, 0:06
It might be useful in some respects if the second sentence did do that, but it doesn’t. What they put in only applies to the age at which you can get a Super Licence, but not the age at which you can use it to compete.
frood19 (@frood19)
18th June 2024, 22:59
SteveP is right, all it now suggests is that you can get a super license at 17. The first part still says you have to be 18 to compete in an F1 race. But I guess we’re meant to assume that having a super license means the same thing (i.e. super license=you can compete in a race) but by a very literal reading of that clause (and how else should regulations be read?) it doesn’t have to mean that at all.
It’s just sloppy writing.
SteveP
19th June 2024, 0:11
Precise and literal, nit-picking reading of the regulations is what the teams do all year, every year. Then when they have identified the grey areas they know where they can develop to get an advantage over the others.
For the FIA it appears to be the norm.
and to answer Nick T’s rhetorical question, Yes, it probably would kill them to write something clear and unambiguous.
notagrumpyfan
19th June 2024, 9:44
No it does NOT!
This appendix, and clause, do not define what is required to compete.
The words ‘F1 competition’ (the clause does not use the word ‘compete’) are merely a reference to a certain date; defining a moment in time when an applicant must be 18.
SteveP
20th June 2024, 7:37
@notagrumpyfan
Actually, the words do define the age you must have reached before you can compete.
That first sentence does that definition of age, and only that definition of age, required for competition.
The “certain date” being the moment in time that is “the start of the event of his first F1 competition” by which time the driver “must be at least 18 years old”
Asd
18th June 2024, 11:48
Catalunya is a great track of MotoGP, but a terrible track for current F1 cars, which I wish wasn’t the case.
It blows my mind they’ve never decided to tighten the first sequence of corners into a tight chicane, which would create great overtaking opportunities. We’re in for a typical festival of boredom.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th June 2024, 12:52
I like the opening corner sequence as it is.
Nick T.
18th June 2024, 19:12
It was always a terrible track when it came to racing. The sole exception came during the new, unpredictable Pirelli era where stuff actually was happening on track (think Maldonado’s win, Alonso’s four-stop Spanish GP win, etc.). So, 2010-2012 or 2013?
Anthony Tellier
19th June 2024, 16:29
Circuit de Catalunya IS nice place to visit, however. Good viewing … at the far end of the course.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th June 2024, 12:52
Can Ferrari bounce back at Sainz’s home race? – We’ll see.
Will Mercedes build on Montreal promise? – Maybe.
One of the last Barcelona races? – Most likely & already getting dropped after next season isn’t entirely impossible, but after 2026 at the very latest in all likelihood.
Aston Martin on the ascendency? – Too early to tell.
Rising temperatures – Although no worse than Le Castellet around June Solstice, not to mention the 2020 Spanish GP occurred in August.
Can Perez return to Q3? – I doubt.
Sargeant’s last stand? – He’ll see out the season in any case, which was already made clear on the Emilia-Romagna GP weekend & debuting during the season was already possible for Antonelli before, so once again, people should stop assuming the age requirement alteration would suddenly change anything regarding the remaining season.
Antonelli may be the only 17-year old driver with at least 40 license points presently, but other such drivers will definitely appear in the future.
Simon
18th June 2024, 22:00
Splinters on your backside from sitting on the fence
Still obsessing over Antonelli’s eligibility, I see…
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
19th June 2024, 0:34
He is not the only one obsessing though, is he.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th June 2024, 16:58
Simon I never claimed anything about his eligibility.
The point is simply & solely about something that was already made clear in Imola & an article about those words also came here at the time, yet people still bother contradicting.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th June 2024, 17:19
For reference: “what I’m talking about is ’25, ’26 drivers. Nothing about the season.”
From an article on May 17th with the title Sargeant “is at risk” of losing Williams drive – Vowles
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2024, 23:00
I’m very curious about sargeant, there’s a lot of people thinking he will get replaced before the season ends, and it’s certainly strange for the fia to change the requirement right now unless they planned on letting antonelli in; I think sargeant is certainly not making a case for himself with his constant mistakes that scream he’s in a harder formula than his ceiling is.