This circuit was built in 1991, after the Spanish Motor federation decided to stop sharing the Spanish Grand Prix between four other tracks. The 4.627KM circuit is situated just north of Barcelona and is used frequently for testing by the F1 teams.

Nigel Mansell won in 1991 in his Williams Renault, after Gerhard Berger's Ferrari engine failed, and Ayrton Senna chose the wrong tyres for the changing conditions. 1992 saw Mansell winning again, with then rookie, Michael Schumacher taking second in the Benetton. Senna came to grief once more, spinning off into the wall with only a few laps to go.

Alain Prost dominated for Williams in '93, ahead of Senna, and in '94, Damon Hill helped raise morale in the team following Senna's tragic death, taking the win, with Schumacher second.

Michael Schumacher won in '95 in his Benetton, and dominated '96 in the Ferrari, in very wet conditions; rising from sixth to the lead by lap 12, and '97 saw Jacques Villeneuve winning for Williams. Mika Hakkinen took the win here three years in succession, '98 and '99 and 2000 with Michael Schumacher victorious for Ferrari in 2001 and 2002.

Michael Schumacher continued his Spanish dominance in 2003 as he took the victory ahead of local hero Fernando Alonso in 2003 and ahead of Ferrari team-mate Barrichello in a crushing one-two result in 2004.

For 2005, the circuit underwent a few safety modifications but significantly was completely resurfaced for the first time since the circuit opened. Kimi Raikkonen dominated the event in his McLaren Mercedes, taking the chequered flag nearly half a minute clear of Alonso.

2006 saw Alonso make history as he became the first Spanish driver to win his home event, taking the chequered flag in the Renault nearly 20 seconds ahead of Schumacher.

The 2007 event was a pretty tedious affair with Felipe Massa dominating from the pole position. It was not all so easy however as the Brazilian and Alonso clashed on the run into the first turn with the latter taking a wild ride through the gravel trap. Hamilton took the runner-up position with Alonso recovering to finish third.

Ferrari raced to their third straight one-two result in a processional 2008 Spanish Grand Prix as Jenson Button scored Honda's first points of the season with sixth position. The race will be remembered for Heikki Kovalainen's massive crash following a front left wheel failure on his McLaren. The Finn speared off the circuit at Campsa striking the tyre wall head on and sliding under the retaining ribbon and tyres. After being checked at the circuit, Kovalainen was airlifted to hospital by thankfully had not sustained any serious injury.