Tell us about your experiences of visiting the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.
You may wish to include:
- When you visited the track
- Where you watched from
- How easy it was to get to
- How much of the track you could see
- What support races there were
- What you liked and didn’t like
- How much it cost and whether it was good value
Please use the reply box below to leave your comments.
- 2006
- Formula 1 Paddock Club, Renault VIP Guest (We got food, guided tours of the paddock and Renault facilities)
- 20 minute drive from centre of the city, another 20 to get through traffic and into Paddock Parking
- Starting grid/Endline/Last & first corner
- GP2 and a couple others, can’t remember name
- 0€ (Sponsor invitation. No luck this year)
- 2007
- Turn 1 grandstand F — all around the track on Friday
- Quite good — Subway from Las Ramblas to train station, 45 minutes of train journey and 20 minutes walk.
- Pit exit 1,2,3 corners + Turn 5,6,7 and 8. I think the best grandstand in regards to a large area of sight is grandstand L
- GP2 which I watched and Porsche Supercup
- The compact size of the track was great, and the atmosphere was very good. I also think the grass areas of general admission was very good and we hung a lot around there. That’s the ticket I would be next time. The track side food was horrible, and the prices of beer was too high.
- The ticket was as alway too high priced, but Barcelona is a very nice city and both the hotel and flight was very good value. We stayed in Las Ramblas and payed 360 Euros for the race tickets and 260 Euros grand total for hotel and plane tickets. Too bad the race was boring, at least the saturday GP2 race and F1 qualifying was a hoot.
* When: Spanish Grand Prix, late April 2008
* Where: Grandstand J, between pit exit and turn 1
* Easy to get to: 40 minute bus ride from hotel to track
* How much you could see: pit exit, turn 1 (Elf) and part of turn 2 (Renault), exit of turn 5 (Seat), turn 7 and entry of turn 8 (Campsa).
* Support races: Formula BMW, Porsche Supercup, GP2
* What you didn’t like: reaction of Spanish fans towards L.C. Hamilton: very childish
* How much it cost: don’t remember; probably too much.
2009 Spanish GP
Grandstand H
Good event as far as what is happening on the track. As far as logistics around the cricuit…organisation was extremely poor. Very few people to give information. No shuttles from Montmello to the track. Shuttle from the “track” to station non existant after the race. Taxi drivers only taking fares to Barcelona for 100euros. When you pay 400+ euros for a ticket you expect better organisation. F1 should set standards for service. You wouldn’t see this in Aus, Japan, etc. Pick up your act F1 and Circuit de Catalunya.
When: Spanish F1 GP 7-10 May 2009
Where: Main grandstand opposite Brawn garage for Friday practice. Then for quali and race we had seats in stand G.
View: From Stand G you get one of the best views of any circuit, as you get to see the cars as they snake their way through the “stadium” complex before entering the chicane and final turn/pit entry.
Access: We camped on the campsite next to the track for 45 Euros per car (our car contained 5 people & 3 tents) for the whole 5 days. Apparently if you turn up on foot you get in for free!! Access to the track was a 5-10min stroll. However if you want to sample the hospitality of Montmelo, which is the nearest town approx 1.5 miles from the circuit, be prepared to walk. There are no buses/shuttles from the circuit to Montmelo and the Taxis only want to do the big money trips to Barcelona. However at the end of the night, if you can find one, the taxi’s will do shorter runs.
Support races: Formula BMW, Porsche Super Cup, GP2
Liked: The pit lane walk and driver’s autograph session available to all those with a 3 day ticket on the Thursday afternoon. The campsite atmosphere.
Disliked: The lack of transport and the extortionate prices of food & drink especially inside the track. Finding out that friends we had made on the campsite had had belongings stolen from thier tents whilst they were sleeping in them!!
Cost: Ticket prices are high but if you book early enough big discounts are available. 40% off 2010 prices if you book before 31/07/09. As i have already mentioned the cost of food & drink inside the circuit is nothing less than daylight robbery: 4.50 Euros for water/soft drinks, beer 330ml 6 Euros, 500ml 8 Euros & 1 ltr 12 Euros. The only food available as far as i could see were “frankfurters” for 6.50 Euros!!!
If you do head into Montmelo prices are cheaper, but shop around as prices do vary considerably. If you can find the local Lidl supermarket you can pick up a case of 24 500ml cans of beer for 8 Euros. As we had a hire car for the weekend we stocked up with plenty of these. A taxi from Montmelo back to the circuit camp site will cost you 15 Euros.
Value for money: Certainly not, especially in this current economic climate. It was noticeable how many empty seats there was this year compared to last year.
Having said this we will no doubt be returning once again next year for the friendly atmosphere as we met some really nice people from all over Europe.
does anyone have the actual dates for Barcelona next year please ?