The Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona has been on the F1 calendar for nearly 35 years, and any half experienced sim racers will know this track like the back of their hand just due to the sheer number of laps done round here.

That said, you’ve only got this F1 game and the next to enjoy it, as the Spanish GP is switching to the Madrid Street circuit from 2026 onwards.

 

For a race setup round here, high downforce has normally been the way to go. But on F1 24, you need to trim off even more wing than normal to avoid being a sitting duck on the straights with the insanely over-powered ERS/DRS model. So you need move down to medium-high downforce.

Here’s a general baseline dry race setup for Catalunya for a pad user:

• Wings – 28/30
• Diff – 10/40/50
• Camber/Toe – -3.30/-2.20/0.00/0.05
• Suspension – 41-4-11-21-27-56
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/55% Bias
• Tyre Pressures – Maximum pressures all tyres.

This is still a work in progress as I got stung badly using too high wings in my first career mode race round here. But it’s something to get started with (update – the 11/21 roll bars are the latest meta handling update as of late 2024 – gives better cornering. Before, was using 18/21 roll bars).

Additional Setup Considerations

There’s a lot you can play with in the setup for this track, and there’s still some tweaking needed with the baseline above.

Wing levels – First career season round here, I used 32/34 wings, which was excellent in qualifying but still left me a sitting duck in the race. Too easy for the AI to overtake me. So next time I tried 28/30 wings and it worked much better for defending – you need lower wings to ward off the AI on the straights on this game.

Wing spacing – This is where pad users are at a disadvantage to wheel users, who can run 40/30 wings or something like that. I can’t make this work on a pad over longer runs as the tyres wear, but try it if you want. Setting the rear wing 2 clicks above the front gives me optimal turn in and traction in the dry, but it’s not as aggressive as TT or wheel setups (pad users can’t really get near the speed of fast wheel users anyway on F1 24 though).

Anti-Roll Bars – With all the patches this game has had, the handling “meta” of what works best seems to be shifting a bit. And it’s the anti-roll bars that seem to be the key setting. So whereas before I was using 18/12 or 16/12 for the ARBs, I’ve tried 11/21 in my latest race at Spain. It does help the car grip into longer corners better, and delivered slightly better lap times for me at least (but it wasn’t a massive difference). Worth testing – if it’s too unstable, go back to 18/12 or 16/12 ARBs.

Tyre Pressures – This is one rare track on F1 24 where you do need to use maximum pressures all tyres to prevent overheating. It’s the front and rear left tyres that overheat the most due to the successive right handers You can lower the front right pressure a little to 28.0 or so if you want as it gets a lot less stressed, but the rest need to be at max pressures to it to keep the temps down.

Intermediate Conditions – When it’s light rain conditions, traction is king on this circuit. Set the rear wing 3 clicks above the front for better stability, and perhaps add 1-2 clicks of wing to your dry setup, as well as softening the suspension and raising the ride height 1-2 clicks.

Full Wet Conditions – For heavy rain, you can add quite a bit more wing and tweak the suspension more as DRS is disabled.

Here’s a suggested wet race setup for Spain for a pad user:

• Wings – 35/38
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.05
• Suspension –  37-2-15-9-29-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 24.0, Rears 22.5

More Setup Resources For Spain

There’s usually a lot of variability in the wing levels especially for Catalunya setups. If you’re wanting more aggressive setups with the wings inverted or TT setups, here’s a few more sites to check out:

• My generic starter setup that I usually begin testing with also works OK as a baseline round here, just with the wing, Diff and tyre temp settings ported over from above. But honestly, I found it to be a couple of tenths per lap off the setup I posted above for race pace.
• F1laps.com Spain page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Paid for setups with a much more aggressive eSports style configuration. Can buy for one track or all tracks as one pack. Designed mainly for wheel users so will likely need some tweaking and practice to work on a pad. Higher level option.

Extra Racing & Strategy Tips

Races here can be interesting and more strategic than being full of overtaking, but here’s some extra tips for racing at Barcelona.

ERS Use (Qualifying) – You’ve got about 6-8 seconds of Overtake ERS to use to boost speed round Quali laps here. I always use a blast going onto the start-finish line going onto the flying lap, and then a few more bursts on the smaller straights and the last bit going back to finish the lap. Keep an eye on the yellow ERS bar and look to use it all up just as you finish any flying lap.

ERS Use/Defending (Race) – Your battery does drain faster here than other circuits, though it recoups faster than on the last game. But when racing against AI, you need to save your ERS for defending on the pit straight or you’ll get blown past like you’re not there. When you’ve got chasing cars close behind, make sure you’ve got enough battery to deploy at least halfway down the pit straight to defend, and recoup the rest of the lap by not using it. And save even more for going onto the very last lap, as that’s when any chasing AI will deploy literally everything they have to get a move done.

Tyre Temps & Wear – It’s the front left you need to watch out for here. It both heats and wears much more than the other 3 tyres, which can make the handling weird towards the end of tyre stints.

Tyre/Pit Strategy – Because of the high tyre deg, the undercut can work if you come in 1-2 laps early and smash a good out-lap on fresh tyres. I’m not sure coming in super early (3+ laps early) works though – I tried this on my first career mode season race here and it didn’t really work. The red soft tyre isn’t really usable in longer 50% races; it’s a medium-hard strategy. And I find it’s barely even usable for 25% races when using a controller, unless you’re really smooth or want to do just 1-3 laps and then pit onto the hards, but that’s not usually an optimal strategy as you fall out the DRS train too early. Realistically, it’s a M-H strategy for all races that require a pit stop round here.

Last 2 corners – Those two fast right handers that now finish the lap can be taken at really high speed – the penultimate one sometimes flat (take a wider entry and avoid the inside kerb) and the last one almost flat with a very slight lift with a good setup. Work on nailing these two to get a fast exit onto the pit straight, which helps with overtaking/defending when DRS is enabled. It’s more difficult on a controller than a wheel, but you can do them both with only a very slight lift of the throttle or flat with some practice.

Mastering Barcelona – Detailed Track Guide