Official 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Piginapoke]

After an Antonelli masterclass in Monaco- amazing for a 19 year old- we’re in Barcelona, a circuit where F1 cars can stretch their legs.

This will be more of a test for the power units with Barcelona’s fast corners and straights to use up the battery, and it will be a good examination of the tweaked regulations.

Last year Spain was the start of Antonelli’s tricky European races, and Russell will be hoping for something similar. I can’t see it though and you’d be brave to bet against Antonelli here. Interesting to see if Lewis continues his Indian summer and if McLaren can get the tyres to work, unlike Monaco.

Here’s to a great race.

Date(s): Friday 12 to Sunday 14 June 2026

UK Broadcast Timings (and track time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1. Channel 4 is showing highlights of all competitive sessions.





2025 Highlights: Oscar win

https://youtu.be/ATlMK7ln5Dc?si=YttB7PKh01C1oWpJ

Tyres:

Medium compounds: C2 C3 C4



2025 Result:

[Big Nanas]

Thanks, PiaP!

Who can forget last year's 'Max Meltdown' against George.

I can't see passed Kimi here, he's got some momentum behind him for sure, and I really hope McLaren get on topic of their variety of technical issue. There's a lot of races in the next few weeks.

[HocusPocus]

Thanks PiaP

After the maturity shown in Monaco, I expect the teen sensation to contine to shine.

Can't help contrasting the nascent talent of Max and Kimi, and the influence of their strikingly different respective tutelages.

[Big Nanas]

This is a quote from Alonso from an interview in Motorsport magazine:

said:

“We've been racing in very different circuits so far this year, all of them were clear for us in terms of understanding some of our weaknesses. In Australia we found our engine was very down, in China we found our energy was very down, in Monaco we found our chassis is down and in Canada and in Miami we found that our gearbox was very bad.

“I think every circuit exposed some of our weakness in the car.”

Ouch.

[Still Mulling]

Cheers’en PiaP! Roll on 18:30 on Sunday evening

[RZ1]

Seems late for a European race are the timings correct?

[RZ1]

RZ1 said:

Seems late for a European race are the timings correct?

Ignore I was looking at the channel 4 times instead of the real times

[miniman]

Big Nanas said:

This is a quote from Alonso from an interview in Motorsport magazine:

said:

We've been racing in very different circuits so far this year, all of them were clear for us in terms of understanding some of our weaknesses. In Australia we found our engine was very down, in China we found our energy was very down, in Monaco we found our chassis is down and in Canada and in Miami we found that our gearbox was very bad.

I think every circuit exposed some of our weakness in the car.

Ouch.

I think every circuit exposed the weakness of our driver lineup.

[Petrus1983]

Thanks as ever PiaP.

I see that I'm now not the only one voting for Kimi.

[TheDeuce]

Hesitated to vote for Kimi because all winning streaks have to end... But only GR is likely able to challenge him and Im not sure he's in the right place mentally to do that.

I don't particularly like this circuit for racing, and I expect it's going to remind us all how awkward these cars still are after the reprieve of Monaco. If Catalunya was bad in previous years, it's likely to be really bad this time.

But who knows, random occurrences can spice up any weekend so fingers crossed I'm proven wrong.

Kimi to win, Max to be be really on it assuming the team feel letting him down twice is pushing their luck. The Ferraris probably won't go as well as the RBR here.

[suffolk009]

It's a largely intuitive guess, but In think this will boil down to Kimi vs Max.

[Piginapoke]

Petrus1983 said:

Thanks as ever PiaP.

I see that I'm now not the only one voting for Kimi.

He’s a popular boy now… what people forget is that he had Russell on pace from the last third of last season, so it has been coming.

[Gad-Westy]

I’ll miss this one. At LM 24. Good excuse. Not my favourite circuit to watch to be honest and I suspect we’ll see some heavy clipping on the start/finish straight here but hopefully I’m wrong. Have voted for GR but mainly in hope of some sort of title battle this season. AKA is going to be out of sight soon!

[Sandpit Steve]

RZ1 said:

RZ1 said:

Seems late for a European race are the timings correct?

Ignore I was looking at the channel 4 times instead of the real times

Live session times are definitely correct, double-checked them this morning. Thanks @PiaP as always for the thread starter.

Back to a proper circuit after three temporary tracks. Momentum clearly with the Boy Wonder at Mercedes, but George, Max, and the Ferraris will all be in the mix at least for the podium places.

[SpudLink]

TheDeuce said:

I don't particularly like this circuit for racing, and I expect it's going to remind us all how awkward these cars still are after the reprieve of Monaco. If Catalunya was bad in previous years, it's likely to be really bad this time.

I never look forward to this race. Probably my least favourite in this run of races from Canada to Hungary.

However there is enough going on this season to keep me interested. Can Russell stop his teammate’s run of wins? Can LeClerc find his form and beat Sir Lewis? Will the Mercedes powered McLaren move ahead of the Ferrari and Red Bull on this energy starved circuit? How far off the pace will Aston Martin be?

[Craigyp79]

Boring race, with Antonelli winning is my prediction, hopefully I'm wrong about the boring bit!

[PRO5T]

Thank God, a new thread to put an end to the circle of pit lane speed limit posts!

Barcelona is a perfect test of the new regs, usually one of the most boring races of the year if they can make an interesting race of here all the super-clipping in the world will be worth it.

I'm going to say we'll see a George resurgence, we could do with it for the championship and he needs it now more than ever. Unfortunately, as in 2014 everyone else will be dependant on who else has problems.

[paulguitar]

Piginapoke said:

He s a popular boy now what people forget is that he had Russell on pace from the last third of last season, so it has been coming.

It's not surprising that they forget that. In the last six races of 2025, George qualified ahead of Kimi 5/1 and finished ahead of him 6/0.

[jimmsy]

Bold prediction: Kimi vs. George at the front romping away at over 1s a lap and then coming together, with the rest really close but aero and battery meaning it's a rubbish battle.

More realistic: one Merc has issues, the other runs away, ends up with a 1:2 with a big gap between 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Boring procession.

[SmoothCriminal]

Not strictly about this race but Bernie gets a lot of praise and has great insight doing her job.

But

If she is so good why hasn't a team snapped her up surely her expertise for one of the newer teams would have been invaluable.