What To Watch For: The storylines to look out for in Barcelona

The 2026 FIA Formula 2 action continues at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona this weekend, a track that is very well known to both the drivers and teams.

With pre-season having taken place at the Spanish venue earlier this year and with both championships extremely close, this weekend promises to be one you will not want to miss.

So here are some storylines you must keep an eye on…

CAN ANYONE BEAT THE TOP FOUR

All five race winners this season have come from the four teams that currently occupy the top four spaces in the Team Standings.

Campos Racing have taken five wins this season, with three coming from Nikola Tsolov and two from Noel León.

Rodin Motorsport has one victory courtesy of Martinius Stenshorne, while MP Motorsport and Invicta Racing have each won once through Gabriele Minì and Joshua Duerksen respectively.

But can any other team put their name into the 2026 winners’ circle?

There are a few teams who will be confident of doing so, especially DAMS Lucas Oil who already have three podiums this season and are fifth in the Standings.

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ART Grand Prix have been on pole with Kush Maini in Miami, the same weekend where TRIDENT, who have shown great pace this season, nearly won the Sprint with Laurens van Hoepen.

The likes of Hitech, PREMA Racing, AIX Racing and Van Amersfoort Racing have also impressed at times this year. So while the top four teams have been the ones on top of the podiums, the gap is not as big as the statistics suggest and this weekend could be anybody’s game.

HITECH NEED THE TOP 10

In 2025, Hitech had their best season in Formula 2, finishing second in the Teams’ Standings, and at after four rounds last year they already had six podiums as a group.

So far in 2026, they are sixth with 46 points and are yet to achieve a podium, but the statistics once again might not tell the full story.

As a team their race pace has been impressive, with both Ritomo Miyata and Colton Herta consistently able to move forward in the races.

The problem has admittedly from Miyata come in Qualifying, with neither driver yet able to qualify inside the top 10 this season. As a result, they are always left with an uphill task to score points.

While they have had the pace to do this so far this season, they will know that if they can improve their qualifying form, it could lead to a huge points payout on Saturday and Sundays, and even some silverware to take home.

TRIDENT’S WEEKEND HOPES

After a difficult 2025 season where they scored just two points, TRIDENT’s form this campaign has been one of the stories of the season.

Both Laurens van Hoepen and John Bennett have impressed with the former already having two podiums and a pole position on his 2026 resume.

The problems have come in the last two rounds with various incidents meaning that they have not been able to capitalise on their potential – even going point-less in Monte Carlo.

Their form around Barcelona in pre-season testing was strong and they team and their drivers will know that a clean, incident free weekend could see them back fighting at the front.

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THE FINE MARGINS OF BARCELONA

Barcelona is familiar to drivers and teams having hosted pre-season testing earlier this year and with the venue having featured regularly throughout many of their single-seater careers.

So there is a lot of knowledge and data stored away for both team and drivers and it often means that the margins, especially in qualifying, can be incredibly tight.

For example, in 2022, Jack Doohan beat Juri Vips to pole by just 0.022s, with the top 17 drivers all covered by a second.

The next year, Oliver Bearman took pole by just 0.077s and on this occasion the top 19 drivers were all within one second.

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In 2024, we had the closest one yet with Paul Aron beating Jack Crawford and Franco Colapinto by 0.002s and 0.006s respectively. Once again, the first 19 drivers were within one second.

Last season, the gap between the top two was bigger than usual around Barcelona, with Arvid Lindblad on pole by over two-tenths to Sebastián Montoya.

So could we see a repeat of that this weekend? History at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, especially pre-season testing earlier this year says it could be tighter than ever.