Barcelona offers a level playing field because it's familiar to all the drivers who test there extensively but demanding fast corners and a long high-speed straight make the race a real test. Find out more about the Circuit de Catalunya and its history...
* The Spanish Grand Prix is the fifth round of this year's 19-race Formula One World Championship and the race weekend runs from the 5th to the 8th of May 2005
* The city of Barcelona (population approximately 1.8 million) lies in the northeast of Spain and has transformed itself from smug backwaters into one of the most dynamic and stylish cities in the world
* Barcelona's enviable position between the mountains and the sea ensures year-round outdoor fun and is aptly described in Red Bull Racing's preview as "a city that is inconceivable until you get there, unbelievable while you walk its streets and unforgettable after you've gone"
* Since the official inauguration of Formula One in 1950, Spain has played host to 34 grands prix, the first two having been held in Pedralbes. Subsequent venues include Jarama (nine), Montjuich (four), Jerez (five) and now the Circuit de Catalunya
* F1 has been staged at the Circuit de Catalunya each year since 1991 - that very first race is best remembered for a stunning 200mph game of chicken involving Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell that took place down the start-finish straight. The 2005 event therefore marks the 15th Spanish GP to be held here
* However, the circuit is actually located in a small industrial town called Montmelo, which is several kilometres outside of Barcelona. Getting to the venue can be an arduous task as the public transport network is extremely busy throughout the duration of the GP weekend and particularly the small train station at Montmelo. And expect even more chaos this year, as the race is a sell-out thanks to Spanish driver Fernando Alonso's current dominance
* The circuit and its facilities have been constantly upgraded since becoming the home of the Spanish GP. Last year enlarged run off areas were built at several locations, together with a modification at Nissan, while as recently as December/January the track was resurfaced
* Demanding fast corners and a long high-speed straight make the race a real test. The layout of the track incorporates four high-speed corners, a short straight and an 880metre pit straight
* A single lap distance is 4.730kilometres and as the race is run over 65 laps it brings the total distance the drivers will cover on Sunday to 307.323kilometres
* Michael Schumacher holds the race lap record, a 1:17.481, which he set in 2004
* Of the 20 drivers who'll line up on the grid this Sunday, Schumacher has the best qualifying record at Barcelona. He claimed pole position for the last five GPs (2000; 2001; 2002; 2003 & 2004) as well as in 1994 and 1995. The Ferrari driver started an additional four times from a top-four grid slot
* But he's not the only one of the current batch of drivers who's grabbed the P1 position in Spain. Jacques Villeneuve achieved the feat in 1997, the year he won the Drivers' Championship title with Williams, improving on his P2 from the previous season
* Schumacher will start Sunday's race as the defending Spanish Grand Prix Champion as he beat his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli, who was driving for Renault at the time, in 2004
* That win was Schumacher's sixth Spanish triumph. He won the GP for the first time in 1995 and again a season later (1996) - that race produced one of the most extraordinary drives from the German who, in appalling conditions, took the chequered flag almost a full lap ahead of Jean Alesi. A four-year break followed before he returned to the top step of the Spanish podium, which signaled the beginning of a four-year winning streak (2001; 2002; 2003 and 2004). Since 1993 Schumacher has completed all but two Barcelona GPs on the podium - in 1997 he was fourth and in 2000, fifth
* Villeneuve joins Schumacher as a past winner of the event. He captured the trophy in 1997 having started the race from pole position - it was his second of three podium results in Spain. In 1996 - his debut season in Formula One and ergo his first competitive outing at the track - he claimed third place and five years later (2001) repeated it - it was Villeneuve's penultimate F1 podium appearance
* Aside from Schumacher and Villeneuve, five other 2005 drivers have sprayed the post-race champagne in Barcelona: David Coulthard; Barrichello; Juan Pablo Montoya; Alonso and Trulli. Coulthard has clinched four top-three results (1998; 1999; 2000 & 2002); Barrichello three (2000; 2003 & 2004) and Montoya two (2001 & 2002). Alonso (2003) and Trulli (2004) have one podium finish apiece
* But you can bet the capacity crowd will be rooting for Spain's lone driver, Alonso, to add a second podium - or even better, a first Spanish win - to his tally come Sunday afternoon. The Renault driver will be chasing his fourth consecutive victory - only his fifth overall - as he sets about extending his lead in the title fight
* Alonso, who is the very first Spaniard to lead Formula One's Drivers' Championship standings, scored 36 points in the opening four races of 2005, while second-placed Trulli bagged exactly half that amount.