This is the history of the Spanish Grand Prix

The Spanish Grand Prix is one of the oldest races that is still contested today, taking place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya since 1991. Before then, it also took place at Guadarrama, Sitges-Terramar, Lasarte, Pedralbes, Jarama, Montjuïc, and Jerez.

Its first race took place in Guadarrama in 1913, but after being held ten more times until 1933, the Spanish Civil War brought an end to racing in the country. However, the race was successfully revived in 167, and it has regularly taken place in the World Championship ever since at a variety of venues, except between 1982 and 1985. The Spanish Grand Prix celebrated its centenary in 2013 at Catalunya, and racing will stay there until 2026 when it will run at a new circuit near Madrid from 2026 to at least 2035.

Facts and figures

The drivers with the most Spanish Grand Prix wins are Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, with both of them winning the Grand Prix six times in their illustrious careers. Max Verstappen will be looking to add to his three wins and make it four victories in Spain in 2024, breaking away from the group of Sir Jackie Stewert, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Mika Häkkinen, who have all won it four times.

When it comes to constructors', Ferrari holds the most wins with 12. However, their last win has not come since 2013. Mercedes have nine wins, and McLaren have eight, so they will be hoping to join the German team on nine by taking victory around Catalunya this weekend. Red Bull sit on five wins, two behind Lotus.

Iconic wins

Last year, Verstappen romped to victory in a dominant weekend, finishing ahead of Hamilton by 24 seconds in P2 and George Russell by 32 seconds in P3. However, in recent years, there have been some iconic wins that have graced the Spanish Grand Prix.

2012 is certainly one that sticks in the memory, with Pastor Maldonado's win for Williams being his one and only Grand Prix victory. He also became the first Venezuelan to win in F1 after he was able to drive to victory after starting in P1. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen finished in P2 and P3, respectively, and the image of Maldonado being held aloft on the podium will be a famous photo in the world of F1.

A year later, there may not have been much of a surprise winner, but it was the most popular winner possible in Catalunya. Celebrating the centenary of the Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso was able to send the Spanish crowd into a frenzy by taking victory at his home race. That victory is the latest race that Ferrari has won in Spain, and it is the latest race that the Spaniard has won too, with the two-time World Champion still yet to stand on the top step of the podium since.

Then, in 2016, the Spanish Grand Prix was part of yet more F1 history, as a young Max Verstappen earned victory for Red Bull on his debut for the Austrian team, becoming the youngest-ever winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix, aged 18 years and 228 days. After the dominating Mercedes of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed into each other on the opening lap of the race, Verstappen jumped ahead of his then-teammate Daniel Ricciardo by protecting his tyres superbly, holding on to take a famous race win.