Trailblazing and tragedy: the tale of Barcelona's other Formula 1 track

The modern-day Spanish Grand Prix and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya have become synonymous with one another.

However, Formula One's relationship with Barcelona predates the racing around the Montmeló circuit on the outskirts of Spain's second-most populous city.

Teams, drivers, and fans are familiar with the sweeping corners and undulations we'll see this weekend, yet Barcelona hosted the Spanish GP long before Nigel Mansell's FW14-powered 1991 win.

Two circuits, one in the Pedralbes neighbourhood and the other at Montjuïc Hill, welcomed F1 in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Both provided spectacle and speed, but the Montjuïc Circuit in particular has a legacy of tragedy and trailblazing that really stands out.

The anti-clockwise street circuit raced around the hilly Montjuïc's leafy parklands, home to the city's Olympic Park for the 1992 games and built originally for Barcelona's failed bid to host the 1936 Olympics.

A spectacular backdrop overlooking the Barcelona skyline and the Mediterranean Sea beyond were ingredients for a venue that might even rival Monaco, but the ever-present danger eventually proved too much.

First arriving on the calendar in 1969, the track was to hold the Spanish GP in odd years alongside Madrid's Circuito del Jarama, which hosted F1 in even years.

A tiny grid of just 14 racers entered Montjuïc's maiden race as many drivers headed to Italy for the Targa Florio endurance race in Sicily that took part on the same weekend.

The 90-lap event saw just six cars finish its 341 kilometres, with Jackie Stewart eventually emerging victorious with a two-lap margin — the first time this happened in F1 and the only other time aside from Damon Hill's 1995 Australian GP win with the FW17B.

As impressive as Stewart's result was, F1 couldn't ignore that the sport was horribly close to losing the lives of two drivers, as the incredibly high rear wings failed on Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill's Lotus 49Bs.

Hill suffered a heavy crash on Lap 8, just after cresting a track elevation after the pits, with teammate Rindt suffering the same fate 11 laps later.

Rindt, who was leading the race, hit Hill's car, overturned his disintegrating Lotus, and somehow only walked away with bruises and a broken nose from the incident.

Nonetheless, the FIA (under the name CSI, the Commission Sportive Internationale) banned the use of the high rear wings ahead of the next Grand Prix and ruled that the front wings must not protrude past the dimensions of the wheels or bodywork.

Stewart again won the race on F1's return in 1971, this time by just over three seconds rather than by two laps.

Although the dangers of the track that emerged in 1969 didn't repeat, the circuit did witness another piece of F1 history by becoming the location where the sport first used slick tyres.

Perhaps because of their introduction from Firestone – or just the relentless rate of car development – the lap times improved since F1's previous visit, even with the ban on high wings in place to reduce aerodynamic effectiveness.

Montjuïc's return in 1973 didn't bring the same silverware success for Stewart, with the Scot retiring after an early-race brake failure from P2 to end his run of Barcelona victories.

A new car also featured in the '73 race, as a new chassis for Iso-Marlboro IR debuted for the Frank Williams Racing Cars team.

Unsurprisingly, for a debut appearance at such a challenging circuit, both entries of Howden Ganley and Nanni Galli began the race from the rear two rows.

Our founder would be proud that Galli eventually finished P11, though, while Ganley ran out of fuel 12 laps before the chequered flag.

Montjuïc's fourth and final appearance on the calendar was a fateful and, tragically, fatal round for Formula 1 and is the race for which the track is best known.

In just her second Grand Prix start, Lella Lombardi secured a points-scoring finish in the 1975 Spanish GP, becoming a trailblazer for female drivers as the only woman to score points.

This achievement was no flash-in-the-pan result as Lombardi also took a P7 finish in Germany later that season, but only the top six finishers secured points in the 1957 season.

While Lombardi's efforts remain a consequential moment for females in motorsport, her P6 finish did not make Monday's sporting headlines on a dark day for F1.

Her P6 finish netted 0.5 points as the race shortened to 29 laps from its planned 75 tours following a series of horror crashes.

Rumblings that the 1975 Spanish GP would not end well began with Emerson Fittipaldi declaring the track unfit to race on and flying home in the hours before lights out.

Upon arrival for the weekend, all drivers inspected the barriers and catch fencing to find finger-tight bolts, missing parts, and unattached guard rails.

Just two drivers ventured out at slower speeds in Friday's practice session, but despite some hastily arranged workers tasked with fixing the faults that evening, Saturday began with the drivers still unhappy with the progress.

Instead, F1 mechanics, personnel, and even sponsors ventured out to fix the problems, with Ken Tyrrell and Max Mosely even getting around with tools to improve safety.

Qualifying saw Ferrari take a 1-2 start after the stewards erroneously recorded Clay Regazzoni's time after the Swiss driver ran close to teammate Niki Lauda, leading to confusion over which car was which.

Any Scuderia hoping this would result in Italian celebrations would soon be disappointed as a multi-car melee at the hairpin featuring Lauda and Regazzoni set the tone for the race, with the former retiring from the damage.

Lauda wasn't the only one out of action, as Frank Williams Racing Cars' Arturo Merzario and two others became Lap 1 retirees.

Further crashes followed, with some spinning on oil after an engine failure and others making minor collisions with one another.

Although the barriers were safer than they were on F1's arrival, history repeated, and race-leading Rolf Stommelen had his rear wing fail, sending him into the barriers while battling against Carlos Pace.

Despite Pace's best efforts at avoiding contact, the Brazilian nudged Stommelen's car, which continued down the track at high speed, launching over a brow of a hill, skirting over the barriers, hitting a lampost and landing in the crowd.

The incident took the lives of a fire marshall, two photographers, and a spectator, with multiple injuries to others. Stommelen survived with broken bones.

Jochen Mass won the race, his only F1 victory, when the FIA stopped the running four laps after the crash, but Montjuïc would not host another Grand Prix.

Madrid's Jarama took on all Spanish GP duties until 1981 when F1 briefly paused any trips to Spain until heading to the purpose-built circuit at Jerez in 1986.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya took over in 1991 and has become a permanent fixture, not missing a season since.