10 June 2026 11:00 (UTC)
"It’s a great opportunity to support the team with their preparations"
New name, same great track. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is one of those familiar locations we love to visit - a sunny setting with great food, plenty of good memories, and a real sense of comfort.
After the intensity of the Monaco Grand Prix, where we celebrated our 1000th F1 race, a slightly quieter weekend away from the track will be welcome. On track, though, it will be as busy as ever, with the team focused on bouncing back from a difficult couple of rounds and making the most of Barcelona’s varied demands to complete some key tests across Free Practice, after back-to-back Sprint events were followed by the unique challenge of Monaco.
To preview the weekend, we spoke with Development and F1 Reserve Driver Leo Fornaroli, who is set to make his competitive Formula 1 debut in Free Practice 1. We’ve also explored the key sections of the circuit, looked back at an iconic race here from our past, and put another quickfire question to Lando and Oscar.
"I'm very excited to drive the MCL40 this weekend in the Barcelona-Catalunya FP1 session.
"It's going to be a great opportunity to help the team with their preparations and to work through the planned Friday programme. This is going to be a very important mission for me because it's going to be my first official Formula 1 session. It's something I've worked through for a long time, so very excited for it.
"All the experience I've gained through the previous TPC days so far were very important for my development, so a big thank you to Zak, Andrea, and Alessandro, and to all the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team. Can't wait for this weekend!"
It's less about one specific section of Barcelona and more about the circuit as a whole. The all-rounders tend to excel here because, unlike tracks such as Japan or Monaco that present more specialised and unique challenges, Barcelona tests almost every aspect of a car's performance. That's what makes it such a valuable venue at the start of a new era, providing teams with a strong benchmark for where they stand in the pecking order.
The circuit features a mix of high- and low-speed corners, changes in direction and elevation, and a long main straight that allows drivers to really stretch the car's legs. While overtaking hasn't been particularly easy here in the past, it'll be fascinating to see whether Formula 1's new generation of cars can race a little more closely than in recent years.
Last weekend’s Grand Prix in Monaco was a race of two halves, as Oscar scored a strong fourth place, gaining three positions from where he started, while Lando, unfortunately, was forced to retire from the race. We’ll look to bounce back this weekend on a circuit we hope will better suit the characteristics of the MCL40. Six rounds into the season, we are third in the Constructors’ Championship, 47 points off second.
12 - 14 JUNE
2005 feels like the season that got away. The MP4/20 was the quickest car on show, and won more than half the races… but mechanical fragility took a toll, with DNFs and frequent 10-place grid drops giving the team too large a mountain to climb… but Round 5, the Spanish Grand Prix, was one of the weekends where everything fell into place, with Kimi Räikkönen giving the team the first of 10 victories across the 19-race season.
“Barcelona 2005 was only my fourth race with the team,” says Paul Barnes, F1 Operations & Commercial Liaison Senior Director. “At the time I was at the on-car electrician and data working across Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya’s cars.”
It really wasn’t what the crowd had come to see. Fernando Alonso led the Drivers’ Championship by 16 points from Jarno Trulli, and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was awash in a sea of Renault turquoise. This was peak Alonso-mania, with the roads to Montmeló gridlocked well before dawn. Enter Kimi, all too happy to spoil the party.
“We had a good weekend with Kimi putting the car on Pole," recalls Paul. "Over the first 20 or so laps, he was posting fastest lap after fastest lap and built a huge lead. I remember thinking: this could be a race win.”
With Mark Webber and Fernando behind him, Kimi lit the jets, setting fastest laps on Laps 3 to 8, and again on Laps 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, and 20. It was a mesmeric stint, certainly a contender for the greatest of all time, and built him a lead of 26 seconds over a highly-motivated Alonso, meaning he was able to pit and re-emerge with his lead intact. After this it was station-keeping: Alonso attempted a response but had to back off to look after his tyres. That year, pit stops were for refuelling purposes only, meaning that tyres needed to last the entire race. Having led every lap of the race, Kimi’s final margin of victory was 27 seconds.
“Personally, it was my first win, and the feeling of celebrating with my teammates was amazing," Paul says. "Winning in Formula 1 is not easy. Some people who work in the sport for many years may never get to experience a race win, so it should never be taken for granted, but it’s the most incredible feeling seeing everyone’s hard work over a race weekend finish with a race win. It’s a huge privilege to be in Formula 1, especially with this team and the history that has been created over many years, so to experience that and add to the legacy of the team so early in my career was amazing.”
The result launched Kimi from P11 to P3 in the Championship. The hunt was on.
Each race week, we’ll be putting the same question to Lando and Oscar to find out just how similar (or different) they really are. The question could be anything: from their favourite corner on the F1 calendar, to their ultimate pre-race anthem, or even the one food they absolutely refuse to eat on race week.
This week, off the back of their special 1000th Grand Prix helmets in Monaco, we asked them to choose their favourite previous limited-edition lid. Oscar: The throwback helmet I wore at the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, inspired by my championship-winning RC [remote control] car, is probably the one that’s received the most attention and compliments. There have been a few bright ones - like the one I wore in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, with the chrome diamond-effect, but the RC car design definitely stood out the most.
Lando: My favourite limited-edition helmet is probably the one I used in Monza in 2019, inspired by Valentino Rossi. It was my first year in F1 and my first time doing something in that style, so it meant a lot. It was really simple - blue and yellow with a sun and moon design - but that’s what made it so special. Rossi was my hero growing up, so that one still stands out as the most meaningful to me.
Follow all of the action this weekend via the McLaren Racing App, available to download on Android and iOS.
