» A problem finally admitted after 20 years…

It seems that the bosses of the Circuit de Catalunya have finally fessed up to the fact that the track’s layout is fundamentally flawed – that is, if the new-for-2011 rules don’t produce a decent amount of overtaking at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, then a wholesale layout change is in order.

Aside from weather-interrupted races in 1991, 1992 and 1996, the Spanish Grands Prix held at the Barcelona circuit over the last twenty years have generally been a great cure for insomnia, with all but four of the races being won from pole position.

Those not in the know might want to blame Hermann Tilke, but he wasn’t responsible for this sad excuse for a Formula 1 track, which has all the right ingredients – a hugely long straight, gradient changes, fast and slow corners – but the completely the wrong recipe for Formula 1.

The track makes a spectacular venue for motorcycle racing – some truly spectacular two-wheeled races have been held on the track – but the minor revisions to the circuit have not helped to improve the show, and that chicane that acts as the track’s penultimate corner is (in our opinion) one of the worst corners to have graced the sport.

Speaking with the La Vanguardia newspaper, circuit boss Salvador Servia is pinning his hopes on the new rules will finally make his race interesting.

“If it [a layout change] really is needed, we will make the necessary investments because we want to lead,” he is quoted as saying.

It’s such a shame it’s taken them twenty years to figure this out…

[Image via LAT]