Following last weekend’s event from Monaco, there is a quick turnaround as the sport travels south to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Traditionally a venue that F1 visits during pre-season testing, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a facility that is familiar to the grid.
But what are the key areas of focus ahead of the race weekend?
How will the new final sector affect racing?
One of the major talking points for the upcoming race weekend is the removal of the final sector chicane, which was detested by drivers and fans alike.
Introduced in 2007, it was originally intended to increase overtaking opportunities – but many of Spain’s races have been processional and the decision to remove the chicane has been heavily supported.
F1 cars will now blast through the high-speed double-right-hander to lead onto the start/finish straight. It may well offer a better chance for cars to overtake if they can follow closely, as the slipstream will be picked up much earlier.
Can Ferrari show greater race pace?
Ferrari is enduring a dismal period, scoring just a single podium result in the first six rounds of the 2023 campaign. Its qualifying pace has been more positive, and it even scored a pole position in Baku.
But it’s the Sunday form that has let it down. Upgrades are expected to be unleashed at the coming races, including the upcoming grand prix from Barcelona.
Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur recently detailed that there is a lot of potential to be unlocked from the car, offering hope that the SF-23 car isn’t inherently uncompetitive. Perhaps now, with several races under its belt, it can start to reel in the dominant Red Bull squad.
Will Mercedes’ upgrades be further realised?
The highly anticipated upgrades that Mercedes was originally meant to introduce at the cancelled Imola round broke cover in Monaco.
The revised package was heavily scrutinised throughout the race weekend, but Mercedes was cautious over its performance due to the unique layout of the Monaco circuit.
In Barcelona, it will be able to gather more concrete data about its performance and at a more traditional track, the potential gains from the package will be more obvious. But after Monaco, there were positive remarks all around – suggesting that the Brackley-based squad is steering itself in the right direction.
Can de Vries continue his forward momentum?
Under pressure to perform, Nyck de Vries enjoyed a positive Monaco Grand Prix weekend, which threatened to be his biggest challenge in the sport yet.
He was able to lap much closer to Yuki Tsunoda and avoided a shunt with the barriers, a situation that is easy to befall any driver on the grid. De Vries’ future in F1 was called into question on the build-up to the race, which he acknowledged was of little surprise to him.
But Monaco offered a boost to the Dutchman, who was publicly praised by Dr Helmut Marko after the Monaco weekend. With a strong event in his back pocket, de Vries will look to use the momentum and continue to show growth and adjustment in the F1 field.
Can Alonso pull off a dream home result?
It’s been over 10 years since Fernando Alonso took to the top step of the podium, and it occurred at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2013.
Having scored a number of third-place results at the start of the season, Alonso went one better in Monaco by taking second, behind race-winner Max Verstappen.
Toppling the Dutchman who is in electric form will be difficult, especially around Barcelona where Red Bull is expected to be out-and-out favourites once again. But Alonso will be dreaming of that long awaited return to winning ways, and in front of his home fans, a victory this Sunday would arguably be the sweetest of his career.
