The Spanish GP is typically a procession due to heaps of data creating perfect setups. Here’s your guide to the perfect Spain setup in F1 23.
Prior to 2023, Formula One teams would conduct their pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, home of the Spanish GP. As a result, when May came around and it was time for the Grand Prix, cars would tend to line up on the grid in team order and parade to the end.
Countless laps on the board and heaps of data meant teams could easily put together the perfect setup for their cars. Furthermore, drivers were better acquainted with the circuit than any other. With little room for improvement or risk of making mistakes, the Spanish Grand Prix was boring.
Therefore, it’s only realistic that you run the perfect setup at Spain in F1 23. If you don’t have time to spend three days practicing at the track, do not fear. I did that for you and have come up with an excellent setup that will get you through the race as quickly as possible.
Table of contents
Spanish GP Aerodynamics
Fast to medium speed corners are everything at Barcelona, especially since the removal of the sector 3 chicane this year. Therefore, aerodynamics are critical to perfecting one’s setup. Thankfully, F1 23 features an easy to understand wing setup page, simply adjust the front and rear independently whilst thinking of the balance.
For the Spanish GP, it’s good for that balance to be slightly more towards the front with more front wing angle than rear. With that in mind, I went for 33 as the Front Wing and to balance it out, 32 at the Rear. This ended up feeling good both on top speed down the main straight and through the bends.
Transmission Settings
In F1 23, it is relatively easy to setup the transmission. It’s all about preventing the rear wheels from spinning, allowing you to get on the power as early as possible. So and open differential does the trick in most cases. In the wet however, you may won’t to lock it up a bit.
Whilst not fully open, I found that an On-Throttle Differential Adjustment of 57% worked well. This can be raised in-car if you need more corner exit rotation. For the Off-Throttle Adjustment, there are even fewer reasons to raise the number as 55% is where it sits happily.
Suspension Geometry
Long radius, never-ending corners and little regard for top speed are a recipe for one thing; plenty of camber. This allows the tyre to have a larger contact patch under cornering load and allows for better long-term grip. Therefore, my F1 23 Barcelona setup feature a whopping -3.30° of Front Camber. That doesn’t drop much for the -1.70° of Rear Camber either as almost every traction zone is out of a long, sweeping corner.
For once, we do focus on straight line speed with the toe sliders. However, this is mainly because F1 23 features an over-powered drag effect from toe. For the Front Toe, just 0.03° is all you need for the turn-in responsiveness. At the Rear, I went for 0.14° which keeps straight line speed high although it can cause slight oversteer on entry.
Spain Suspension Setup
In the real world, the Barcelona circuit would require a very stiff setup in order to keep the wings level with the ground. However, F1 23 prefers for a car to stay soft even in higher speed turns. This dramatically increases mechanical grip and helps on turn-in, corner exit and on the brakes.
I decided to keep the front end stiff however with a Front Suspension setting of 35 as this helps agility especially in the opening few turns. A softer setting of 11 for the Rear Suspension however helps keep the car planted when getting on the power. This offset is a similar story for the Anti-Roll Bars. For the Front ARB, I went for a higher setting of 9 whilst the Rear ARB at 5 allows for good overall grip.
Finally, the Circuit de Catalunya is relatively smooth with very few bumps in the surface and fairly low kerbs. This means you can run the car nice and low to the ground making the most of the underfloor downforce. Set you Ride Height to a lowly 35-38 Front to Rear and you’ll be golden.
F1 23 Spain Brakes
In every F1 23 setup guide we have posted so far, we point out that it’s important to not alter the Brake Pressure. Anything below 100% will just hinder your braking performance, forcing you to extend your braking zones.
Getting rotation early on in a corner is important with this setup, so I’d recommend moving the Brake Bias rearwards. In my case, 60% felt good, but many players will manage with something closer to 55%.
Tyres for Barcelona
With so many long turns building heat into the tyres, Barcelona is a tyre killer. Therefore, one must do all they can to limit tyre wear on longer stints. As ever, this means reduced tyre pressures in the setup whilst conservative driving will be crucial in the race. You can find our guide on preserving tyres in F1 23 here.
As for the setup, the Front Tyre Pressures require less management than the rears, but only marginally. So 22.5psi should be a good fit. Getting on the power whilst turning wrecks the rear axle however so 20.3psi on the Rear Tyre Pressures is more appropriate. These may need changing depending on track temperature and conditions.
What do you make of our F1 23 setup for Spain? Let us know by sending a tweet @OverTake_gg or leave a comment down below!
