Ditching Barcelona’s final chicane earned F1 drivers’ approval at Spanish GP

The actual geometry of Barcelona’s final corner was unchanged. But its nature had been transformed from a third-gear acceleration zone to a near-flat-in-seventh blast by the changes made preceding the corner. Missing out the slow chicane had reverted the final corner back to how it had last been in 2006. The grip and power of current cars has made it incredibly impressive, turning the cars 90-degrees at around 170mph. “It’s a lot more enjoyable to drive,” said Max Verstappen after qualifying. “I mean, going into that last corner brings a smile on my face because that’s where an F1 car really comes alive.”

There was speculation that with the low fuel loads of qualifying it might be taken flat-out. “It wasn’t flat for me,” reported Verstappen, whose throttle trace show a brief lift down to 62% throttle mid-corner. “I never really got to try it… It sometimes just comes up when you get into the corner you’re like ‘maybe it’s flat’. But I think in FP2 I was quite close. Over time cars are improving so I think next year, if we come back, then probably it’s flat.”

The nearest anyone came to taking it flat was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on his way to sixth on the grid. He had just the tiniest mid-corner lift, the throttle dropping to 92% for a blink-brief moment. But the highest mid-corner minimum speed was reached by Oscar Piastri who lifted to 80% throttle but got through there with visibly less tyre-scrubbing understeer than Stroll.