Barcelona is one of the staples for the Formula One calendar. First hosting a Grand Prix in the early 1990s, it’s hardly changed since. It’s a track that the teams and drivers know like the back of their hands thanks to many years of pre-season testing at the venue, but it very rarely serves up a thrilling Grand Prix.
Even so, it’s in the F1 22 game, and we here have a setup guide to help you get the most out of Barcelona’s circuit for the Spanish Grand Prix.
To get more of an explanation for each F1 setup component, refer to our complete F1 22 setups guide.
These are the best wet and dry lap setups for Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Best F1 22 Spain (Barcelona) setup
- Front Wing Aero: 35
- Rear Wing Aero: 41
- DT On Throttle: 50%
- DT Off Throttle: 53%
- Front Camber: -2.50
- Rear Camber: -2.00
- Front Toe: 0.05
- Rear Toe: 0.20
- Front Suspension: 1
- Rear Suspension: 3
- Front Anti-Roll Bar: 1
- Rear Anti-Roll Bar: 1
- Front Ride Height: 3
- Rear Ride Height: 7
- Brake Pressure: 100%
- Front Brake Bias: 50%
- Front Right Tyre Pressure: 25 psi
- Front Left Tyre Pressure: 25 psi
- Rear Right Tyre Pressure: 23 psi
- Rear Left Tyre Pressure: 23 psi
- Tyre Strategy (25% race): Soft-Medium
- Pit Window (25% race): 5-7 Lap
- Fuel (25% race): +1.6 laps
Best F1 22 Spain (Barcelona) setup (wet)
- Front Wing Aero: 40
- Rear Wing Aero: 50
- DT On Throttle: 50%
- DT Off Throttle: 60%
- Front Camber: -3.00
- Rear Camber: -1.50
- Front Toe: 0.01
- Rear Toe: 0.44
- Front Suspension: 10
- Rear Suspension: 1
- Front Anti-Roll Bar: 10
- Rear Anti-Roll Bar: 1
- Front Ride Height: 3
- Rear Ride Height: 3
- Brake Pressure: 100%
- Front Brake Bias: 55%
- Front Right Tyre Pressure: 25 psi
- Front Left Tyre Pressure: 25 psi
- Rear Right Tyre Pressure: 23 psi
- Rear Left Tyre Pressure: 23 psi
- Tyre Strategy (25% race): Soft-Medium
- Pit Window (25% race): 5-7 Lap
- Fuel (25% race): +1.6 laps
Aerodynamics setup
Barcelona is quite the tricky beast to tame when it comes to aero levels. Some of the faster corners and the long start-finish straight mean that you need a decent amount of straight-line speed for the car to perform at its best.
Get the aero levels wrong, and you will either be too slow down the straights or not have enough downforce to get through some of the circuit’s tricky corners. At least in the wet, you can afford to crank those aero levels up a little bit to avoid sliding off of the road in the risky conditions.
Transmission setup
As we saw in 2021, it is actually touch-and-go whether Barcelona is a one-stop or two-stop race, and it’s certainly a bit of a tyre killer in F1 22
Our advice would be to keep things neutral for on throttle differential, hitting around 50% per cent for both the wet and the dry. We’ve increased off throttle on wet to around 60%. Doing this should keep that tyre wear as low as possible.
Given that some of the corners are relatively long in Spain, you will want to maintain traction throughout. So, once again, opening up the differential will really help you handle the corners.
Suspension geometry setup
You don’t want to go overboard with the negative camber due to the high tyre degradation at the Circuit de Barcelona-Cataluña. Still, you need plenty of response on turn-in to hook up the corners, especially from Turn 1 to the end of the first sector.
Finding the right camber balance is tricky, but it will help keep those tyre temperatures down whilst providing good responsiveness from the front end. Front stability is also key on this track, as is a sharp turning response.
To get both, balance the toe at the front and the rear with the camber to find the optimum settings for both; they will work in unison to get the car through some of the track’s fastest corners as quickly and as stable as possible.
Suspension setup
There are a few bumps along the road of the Spanish Grand Prix. So, you will want to go more on the softer side of things to ensure that the car absorbs those properly. On wet you’ll need to avoid going too soft so that the car doesn’t lurch violently under some of the heavy braking forces around the circuit.
Equally, it’s best to have a relatively soft anti-roll bar setup to stop the car from being too harsh on its tyres. When it comes to the ride height, you need it to be as close to the ground as possible in both the wet and the dry. That said, leave some room for error so that the car doesn’t stall its airflow to the diffuser, making it a tricky beast to handle in any conditions.
Brakes setup
You will need plenty of braking power to stop into Turn 1 at the end of the main straight, but as with a lot of these setups, braking isn’t something that you necessarily want to be fiddling around with too much.
The brake bias is your friend when it comes to avoiding those dreaded lockups, and you will find that you may need to bring it in towards the front a little bit more for the wet conditions.
Tyres setup
Like Bahrain, Barcelona is incredibly tough on the tyres – and you will certainly know when the grip is going away from you – but a one-stop strategy can hand you a potentially massive advantage.
While you will want to eke some straight-line speed out of the corner in the wet and the dry, try to keep those front tyre pressures close to 25 psi and the rear close to 23 psi because this track is not friendly to those sets of rubber taking you around the circuit.
That is how to get the most out of your car for the Spanish Grand Prix. It is a bit of a tyre killer, and it’s not a circuit to be taken lightly, but it’s a flowing, enjoyable, and unique challenge. It might not provide the best racing in real-life Formula One, but it certainly does in F1 22.
Have you got your own Spanish Grand Prix setup? Share it with us in the comments below!
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