1. The last wet Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona was in the year 1996. Subsequent to that time, the races haven’t been conducted during rains.
2. The first time the Spanish Grand Prix was held at the Circuit de Catalunya, was the year 1991. The racing track is actually located in Montmeló, not in Barcelona, in spite of being called the Barcelona track. The circuit serves as an important testing ground, and hence a lot of drivers are very familiar with the track.
3. Olivier Panis, an active driver in the sport of circuit racing, scored his last podium position in Spain, before retiring. The last team to score its last podium position in Spain was Tyrrell (Mark Blundell in 1994).
4. In 1986, Ayrton Senna finished the Barcelona GP a tiny fraction of time, exactly 0.014 seconds ahead of Nigel Mansell, making it the smallest winning margin in F1 history. This nail biting race took place on Circuito Permanente de Jerez.
5. In the time period between 1968 and 1973, Ford, the engine manufacturer, scored 6 Barcelona Grand Prix wins in a row.
6. Two famous mishaps that took place after pit stops were firstly the one with Bertrand Gachot in 1995, where there were tongues of flame coming out of his car. The second one, also in 1995, happened with Johnny Herbert, when Benetton forgot to remove the rear jack from his car.
7. Ferrari introduced their periscope exhaust system in 1998, in the Barcelona Grand Prix.
8. Nigel Mansell retired from F1 racing after the 1995 Spanish Grand Prix. The last Grand Prix race that he has won was the Australian Grand Prix race. He had briefly retired from racing, making a comeback of sorts in 1994.
9. In all, since its inception, the Spanish Grand Prix has been hosted on 5 different racing circuits – Barcelona, Jerez, Jarama, Montjuich and Pedralbes. As a matter of fact, the Barcelona Grand Prix didn’t start as a Grand Prix at all, but used touring car rules for their races.
10. In the 1994 Barcelona Grand Prix Michael Schumacher pulled off quite a feat in finishing the race in second place, in spite of driving for over half of the race in fifth gear. Subsequently, two years later, Schumacher scored the first win as a member of the Ferrari team. The performance was exceptional since it took place during a rainstorm.
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