Formula 1 road show comes to Passeig de Gràcia boulevard on June 19
Questioned exhibit by environmentalists to mark week-long activities ahead of Spanish Grand Prix race in Barcelona
Barcelona will host a Formula 1 road show on June 19 on Passeig de Gràcia boulevard going from Plaça de Catalunya square to Aragó street, just in front of Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló. The event will be part of a week-long activities program ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
F1 cars will drive along Passeig de Gràcia boulevard in the city center, past Art Nouveau landmarks, such as Gaudí's Casa Batlló. The wide avenue allows enough space for the drivers to do donuts and for spectators to watch the spectacle.
There will also be a Fan Village installed in Plaça Catalunya, at the bottom of Passeig de Gràcia. The site will accommodate a stage, fan zone and food and drink stands.
Activities will begin on June 15 until June 22, just the Saturday of the Grand Prix which will take place on June 23 at the Montmeló race track.
Authorities announced the event from Casa Ametller’s one of the landmarks located on Passeig de Gràcia on Tuesday afternoon with an immersive experience.
The event will be a “link between the race and the city, briniging the passion of the Formula 1 race championship to the city center with lots of activities,” Kate Hodgkinson, head of race and market development at Formula 1, said during the event.
Sitting Catalan business minister Roger Torrent announced the Barcelona Formula 1 Fan Festival as it will be a “fantastic show, as the city will intensively live the Grand Prix.”
Barcelona will be able to “live with the emotion that Formula 1 carries,” Torrent said as residents “will see Formula 1 cars driving through the city center, an historic event.”
”We will be able to enjoy it right in front of our eyes, the event is open free for all, as well as F1 fans,” Torrent added.
The road show is something that “has not been lived before in Catalonia,” the sitting minister added.
Madrid and Barcelona?
The Spanish Grand Prix will take place every year on Circuit de Catalunya, north of Barcelona, until 2026.
In January, Formula One announced that the Spanish Grand Prix will be held in Madrid from 2026 to 2035. An agreement was reached with IFEMA Madrid to build a new circuit, incorporating street and non-street sections.
The Catalan government said they were continuing negotiations over extending the contract with F1 for the Circuit de Catalunya.
Meanwhile, Hodgkinson said that there are conversations and “there is still very much on the table,” as there are a “lot of requests for destination races around the world,” she added during the road show presentation event.
”We have to consider every aspect, as it is very important to stress that F1 brings very much to the Spanish market, also in Madrid, but we will continue the conversations,” she concluded.
Air pollution concerns
Eixample Respira, an organization battling air pollution in the Eixample neighbourhood, where Passeig de Gràcia boulevard is situated, asked back when it was first reported that the Formula One roadshow to be canceled, calling it "absurd" on X, formerly Twitter.
Environmentalists said that citizens are "suffering from a public health crisis caused by poor air quality and noise," a statement reads.
"It is absurd to plan a Formula One exhibition in the city centre, where thousands of people live, many of them are particularly vulnerable to the effects of pollution," they added.