In common with many other new Formula One circuits, it was designed by Hermann Tilke, and also features his trademark track feature: a long back straight followed by a hairpin turn. Current-generation F1 cars can easily surpass 300 km/h (186 mph) on the long straight between corners 13 and 14. The track layout also resembles the Chinese character shanglong straight between corners 13 and 14. Other events held at the circuit include a round of the MotoGP world championship, the Australian-based V8 Supercar championship in 2005, attracting crowds of over 250,000 spectators, and also the final round of the A1 Grand Prix in 2006/2007.
The 2008 MotoGP race was the last one on this circuit, as the FIM didn’t select the racetrack for the provisional calendar of 2009. This is due to overcrowding problems in the circuit.
The Chinese Grand Prix will be third race of the 2009 championship, a change from recent years when it has featured towards the end of the season. However the addition of Abu Dhabi as the season finale means that Shanghai has been moved to April to help ensure a balance of ‘flyaways’.
The event is held at the ultra-modern Shanghai International Circuit, a track designed by F1 circuit designer du jour, Hermann Tilke, on former swampland. The overall shape of the circuit is similar to the Chinese ’shang’ symbol,although Tilke insists that was a co-incidence. However, he did design some corners to represent ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ with the tightening section at the start of the lap being ‘bad’ and its mirror image later in the lap - where the track opens up on to the straight - being ‘good’.
Thus far nobody has won the Chinese GP twice, with victories going to Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso,Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.
ADRIAN’S View
China can be a tough race as the humidity is high and it can get very hot in the car. There are some long straights though so you can recover a bit. The pit straight is not too long but it goes into T1 that is very quick on entry and then tightens up quite a lot. It seems like a neverending corner as it gets tighter and tighter, changing down the gears until you get down to second and tight left that is very difficult to accelerate from as it’s a long turn and the car tends to oversteer. From there, there is a little straight up to sixth gear then a hairpin you take in first or second gear depending on whether you are qualifying or racing. Following this there is quite a good section that flows really well before a tricky right hander. You get a lot of understeer in the mid corner and there are a few bumps that give a tendency to understeer. One of the most difficult turns is from T11 through to the longest straight. That straight seems to last forever: you reach 310kph before a very tight second gear hairpin that you need to brake very late for. The last corner before the pit straight is a nice kink, very simple but blind, with a bump. The key point is to take it easy in the exit as you can overcook it and run wide. If you have a perfect lap you can lose everything there.
