Fast facts ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Spain, Circuit de Catalunya

Today's Spanish Grand Prix will be the 51st race in Spain with Barcelona set to play host to the race today for the 31st consecutive occasion. With the close fight between Mercedes and Red Bull, the thrilling fight is expected to continue today afternoon.

Long history – Today’s Spanish Grand Prix will be the 51st Formula One race to take place in Spain. The event first appeared on the calendar in 1951, and has been held at five venues. The 1951 and 1954 races took place at Barcelona on the Pedralbes street circuit before the race moved to Madrid where the Circuito del Jarama hosted the race between 1968 and 1981.

The third venue was Barcelona’s Montjuic Park, playing host to event in 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1975. The Spanish Grand Prix had a short stint at Jerez between 1986 and 1990 before moving to the Circuit de Catalunya in the following year.

Stewards – Tim Mayer, Enzo Spano, Derek Warwick and David Domingo will form the group of FIA stewards at today’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The most successful team – Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful constructor at the Spanish Grand Prix with 12 victories. The Italian team recorded its most recent triumph in 2013 when Fernando Alonso took a popular home win.

Less information than usual - For the first time since 2014, the sport did not hold a pre-season test at Barcelona this year, and thus the teams arrive with less information than would usually be the case.

Average length – The Circuit de Bacelona-Catalunya features a layout that has a length of 4675m. The start line-finish line offset is 126m. Drivers will need to rack up a total of 66 laps at today’s Spanish Grand Prix, which is equivalent to 308.424km.

Pit lane – Drivers will need to adhere to a speed limit of 80 km/h in the pit lane.

Michael Schumacher – The German is the most successful driver at the Spanish Grand Prix with six victories beginning in 1995 with Benetton, followed by five victories for Ferrari (1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). Should Hamilton win today's race, the Briton would equal the German's record.

Two DRS zones – Today’s Barcelona race will feature two DRS zones. The first one will have a detection point of 86m before Turn 9 and an activation point of 40m after Turn 9. The second zone will have a detection point at the Safety Car 1 line and an activation point of 57m after Turn 16.

Modifications – The track has been updated since the field last visited the venue last August. The sequence of yellow combination bumps at the apex of Turn 8 has been extended back toward the exit of Turn 7. The rear of the Turn 13 combination kerb has been back filled to provide a gradual transition.

Rebuilt Turn 10 – Next to the changes to the bumps and kerbs, Turn 10 features a completely new configuration. The reprofiled La Caixa corner is now similar to the faster contours used before 2004 when a hairpin was installed to promote overtaking.

Two-stop strategy - For today’s 66-lap Barcelona round, Pirelli expects a two-stopper, especially if it’s warm as was the case in qualifying yesterday. This is down to the relatively high levels of tyre wear and degradation seen at the Barcelona circuit, with its abrasive asphalt and high-energy corners. Another reason is the fact that not so much time is lost in the pits, which makes a two-stopper much more viable, as well as the fact that the hard tyre is slower here.