The track is very sensitive to temperature fluctuations

Nowadays there are only seven Grands Prix in Europe, as F1’s commercial rights holder follows the money and emerging market countries outbid the traditional venues for the right to host a Grand Prix. This process has been exacerbated by the eurozone crisis.

The sport has duly pushed out to new frontiers, particularly in Asia. But the audience has been slow to follow the trend – the core audience for the sport remains in Europe. According to industry monitor Repucom, Europe retains more than 60 per cent of the global television audience, with South America and Asia well behind, on around 15 per cent each.

This European phase of the F1 season runs from May to September, interrupted only by a brief dash to Montreal in June. The racing starts in Barcelona, Spain, which has hosted a Grand Prix for 22 years. In recent years Spain had two Grand Prix events, Home energy monitor with another held around the former America’s Cup yacht-racing base in Valencia, but the financial crisis in Spain has put paid to that. Valencia closed its doors after the 2012 event and now Spain has only one race, aligning it with every other country on the F1 calendar.

Each of the 19 Grand Prix venues has a unique character, but the 4.6km Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona is perhaps the quintessential F1 circuit. It has a mixture of slow, medium and fast corners, and short and long straights. Its layout makes it the best test of a racing car, which is why the circuit has been used by teams as a test venue since its inception in 1991.

Ironically, it is also the circuit that most frustrates the teams, particularly the engineers, many of whom have a love/hate relationship with the place. This is partly because they know it better than any other circuit, due to all the preseason test sessions. Many thousands of kilometres of running are done there and they know every inch of its surface, yet it is in a constant process of change.

The track is very sensitive to temperature fluctuations, so it is constantly evolving. A car that tops the timesheets in the morning can be off the pace in the afternoon without anyone tinkering with the settings. The circuit is also susceptible to sudden gusts of wind that unsettle the cars.

It is also a very tough circuit on the tyres. Turn three, for example, is a long right-hander, taken at 240kph, with the car and driver subjected to 4.5G laterally for up to eight seconds. Home energy management The driver’s neck feels it and so does the right front tyre. Race strategy around Barcelona is usually dictated by how long that tyre lasts.

It adds up to a significant challenge, which is why a win in Barcelona is so rewarding.

“I have won twice in Barcelona and I was on the podium there last year,” says R?ik?nnen, who lies second in the F1 World Drivers’ Championship. “It’s a circuit where you have to get everything exactly right to be at the top. All the teams have tested many times at this circuit, so to get an advantage there is not very easy. The set up is crucial as the track changes with the wind and temperature, so there’s plenty of work for the engineers.”

Another reason why teams and drivers often leave Barcelona disappointed is because they usually bring a substantial upgrade package for their cars to this race – the culmination of 10-12 weeks of research and development work in the wind tunnel and long hours of fabrication.

This package might typically comprise a new front and rear wing, Power monitor new bodywork or perhaps even a new floor. An effective upgrade will bring a performance gain of between three and four 10ths of a second per lap. But often the quixotic nature of the Barcelona track means expectations are not met. Many leave the track scratching their heads.

But all agree Barcelona is the ultimate test of how well a car works and results there are usually a reliable indicator for the rest of the season.

For that reason, although it may not match the glamour and prestige of Monaco or the Singapore night race, it is a race the teams all want to win.