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Spanish GRAND PRIX
Barcelona Blues
Andrew Frankl
TACH European Bureau
The Spanish Grand Prix will have to be very good to come anywhere near the excitement of Monaco two weeks ago. The race is being held at the Circuito de Catalunya, 20 miles from downtown Barcelona. Until 1975 it alternated between the Jarama circuit near Madrid and the Montjuich circuit on a hill in Barcelona itself. The former was a bit too twisty and slow for Formula One and the spectator facilities were nothing to shout about either. The latter was sheer magic, people could literally get off the underground (metro, subway)and walk to the track which the rest of the year was part of the city, just like Monaco.
Unfortunately there was a horrendous accident in 1975 when severa1 spectators got killed resulting in the cancellation of any further racing at this temporary track. Since then the race has been to Jerez and lately it seems to have settled down at the somewhat boring, characterless circuit of Catalunya.
All in all this will he the 4Oth Spanish Grand Prix and early signs are that only mechanical breakdowns can prevent another Williams-Renault victory. There is always a possibility that the two drivers-Hill and Villeneuve might take each other out handing victory to double world champion Schumacher whose Ferrari sti11 isn't quite right.
Interestingly enough speculation has already started about the vacancies that will await a couple drivers in Jackie Stewart's racing team which will enter Grand Prix racing next year. David Coulthard ,a fellow Scot, has already denied that he is available but as the old saying goes there tends to be no smoke without fire.
The one hour practice session which decided the all important pole position was completely dominated by Britain's Damon Hill. He was nearly half a second quicker than his team mate Jacques Villeneuve and nearly a full second quicker than his arch rival Michael Schumacher. The Benetton drivers-Alesi and Berger occupied fourth and fifth places whilst Irvine in the second Ferrari was sixth.
This is a relatively easy circuit on which overtake, the straight is very long, but it won't help cars which seem to lack the necessary horsepower such as the two McLarens. On paper it promises to be a less than exciting race but I would of course very much like to be wrong.
There is however compensation here regardless of who wins on Sunday.
Barcelona was the scene of the 1992 Olympics and they have done a brilliant job in making the improvements permanent. If Atlanta turns out to be half as good it will be great.
For the musically minded there are concerts, for those interested in arts there are museums all over the city with the works of great artists such as Picasso and Miro.
It may sound strange to those to whom the world starts and ends with the chequered flag but there is an awful lot more to life in Barcelona than Damon Hill's practice times.
