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The Chinese
Grand Prix is back on the calendar after a five year break. 2019 was the
last year Formula 1 raced in Shanghai, on that occasion hosting celebrations
to mark the 1000th event in the history of motorsport’s most prestigious
world championship. The long break was down to the slow return to normality
following on from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and China is now back
on the calendar, having made its first appearance a few months short of
twenty years ago. The first edition of this Grand Prix was held in September
2004.
All 16 editions have been run on the Shanghai International
Circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke, its outline loosely based on the Chinese
“shang” character, meaning “up above.” The 5.451 kilometre-long track boasts
16 corners, many of them very slow, for example the section through turns 1
to 3 and 6 to 14, while others are high speed such as the esses through
turns 7 and 8. There are two long straights, both used as a DRS zone, with
one on the start-finish straight and the other on the over a kilometre long
back straight, from turn 13, which is slightly banked into turn 14.
Based on simulations and past data, the tyres are subjected to lateral and
longitudinal forces here that fall into the medium category, with the
outside of the tyre, especially on the left hand side of the car, wearing
the most. The trio of tyres chosen back in the winter for Shanghai is in the
midrange, with the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft.
Nominally, that’s the same selection as in 2019 but the scenario is very
different. Five years ago, the 13 inch tyres were still in use, fitted to
the previous generation of car, which had a flat floor and completely
different aerodynamics to the current car. In fact, for the drivers, the
teams and indeed for Pirelli, it’s pretty much a matter of starting from
scratch, given that the references are very vague.
Further
complicating the situation is the fact that the Chinese Grand Prix is the
first of six events this season running to the Sprint format, which itself
has been slightly modified for this year in terms of the running order of
the sessions. Free practice and Sprint qualifying are on Friday, the Sprint
race and qualifying on Saturday, with the Grand Prix, as always, on the
Sunday. Parc ferme has also been changed, so that it is now split into two
parts: one which covers qualifying and the Sprint race and the other that
starts before Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.
That means there is
only one hour of free practice on Friday to find the right set-up for the
cars and, above all, to evaluate the tyres over a long run on a track that
will inevitably be in far from optimal condition. It is likely that, in
terms of grip, evolution of the track that has not changed since 2019 and
has only been used very infrequently since then, will be very significant,
as bit by bit the cars rubber-in the surface. This means that work in the
simulator takes on even greater importance for the drivers and engineers,
both in the run up to the event and during it.
The Sprint format also
means a different dry tyre allocation, dropping from 13 sets to 12 (two
Hard, four Medium and six Soft) while the number of wet weather sets remains
the same (five Intermediate and two Extreme Wet). April in Shanghai can see
a marked change in temperatures with variations of around 10 °C, which adds
another variable to the puzzle that the teams and drivers must piece
together. Usually, the Chinese Grand Prix is a two-stop race, partly because
there are several places where overtaking is possible, such as braking into
turn 14 and then on the main straight and braking into turn 6. Just as it
was in Suzuka, the undercut is usually very effective in Shanghai.
Of
the 20 drivers that make up the grid this year, just three have stood on the
top step of the Shanghai podium: Lewis Hamilton (six times), Fernando Alonso
(twice) and Daniel Ricciardo (once). Hamilton also has six Shanghai poles to
his name and has scored 204 points here. Of the teams, Mercedes heads the
field with six wins ahead of Ferrari with four, while Red Bull has won
twice. In fact, it was here in 2009 that Sebastian Vettel gave the maiden
victory to the team that, then as now, is run by Christian Horner. |
