Chinese Grand Prix Preview - Round 4 Formula 1

The Shanghai Circuit:

2004 saw the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello leading home Jenson Button for the win. In the subsequent five visits to the world’s must populace country the circuit has shown the potential for close racing and exciting finishes with the average winning distance only seven seconds. Grid position though is as crucial as ever with only one of the six victors coming from off the front row of the grid-Michael Schumacher achieved the win from sixth on the grid in the rain affected Grand Prix of 2006.

The circuit was built in 2003 by the Chinese government to show that the country was ready to be a sporting and financial powerhouse and it raised the standards expected of new F1 venues but even though the drivers praise the layout and the fact that there is ‘a bit of everything’ it is a jack of all trades and a master of none. It pales in comparison to long established circuits such as Spa, Interlagos, Silverstone and Suzuka.

Being designed by Herman Tilke a family resemblance to other new circuits are evident. Bahrain, Sepang, Abu Dhabi and the new Hockenheim all share a long straight and a tight hairpin in a bid to allow for overtaking. In China the cars will reach 320 km/ph as they brake into the second gear turn 14 and before tackling the final corner where the exit is crucial as cars will again be in excess of 310 km/ph before turn 1 and its tightening radius. It is a pretty long lap of 5.5 km and drivers can find a nice rhythm from the exit of turn 4 until the start of the back straight. This is the drivers favourite section of the lap as speeds are quite high for the majority and corners lead into one another. Turns 7 and 8 are very fast and the car is on a knife edge of grip when the change of direction is required.

Setup for the Chinese Grand Prix:

Teams and drivers have to balance the need for straight line speed with the requirement for mechanical grip in the first section of the lap. High speed corners such as 7 and 8 need good rear stability as drivers are constantly making small adjustments to the cars pitch through the turns. The exit of turn 13 is crucial for a drivers top speed down the long back straight so drivers take this high cambered corner into account when setting the car up for the race as the straight and braking zone for turn 14 represent the best opportunity for potential overtaking moves during the race. With five second or third gear corners on this track the need for mechanical grip is crucial for lap time. A high speed, low downforce setting is the last thing a driver needs when tackling a second gear corner such as turn 1 in Shanghai so a balancing act of car setup is used by teams. The driver will search for the least amount of downforce that he needs for the slow corners while still maintaining a high top speed.

McLaren’s innovative F-duct will be of great advantage again this weekend and drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton should once again be able to carry more downforce and achieve similar top speeds to opponents due to the stalling of the rear wing that the device manages to achieve. This will be very advantageous as the two most recent world champions can carry more wing and avail of greater levels of grip and downforce in the slower speed corners that are crucial on this track. The advantage will be two fold for them as they can carry more corner speed through turn 13 onto the back straight and then utilise the duct to decrease drag and increase their potential top speed into turn 14. Expect to see the McLaren’s once more monopolise the top speeds chart and be exceptionally competitive over the weekend.

Strategy for this weekend:

This race has not proved to be exceptionally taxing on cars and drivers with a minimum of 17 drivers finishing the race each year. Historically this Grand Prix has been a two stop race but with Bridgestone’s tyres proving to be exceptionally durable this race will become a one stopper this year, unless it rains.

Grand Prix weekend weather

Three of the six Chinese Grand Prix have been interrupted by rain and this year the weather has the potential to once more inject some unexpected results on the race. Sebastian Vettel won last year’s wet race and the early weather forecast predicts that he will have to contend with rain if he is to achieve back to back wins here. Friday and most of Saturday should be dry but the clouds will roll in during the night and Sunday will have rain with a 65% chance that the rain will fall during the Grand Prix.

Wet weather always creates the potential for increased excitement and this year’s Chinese Grand Prix could be electrified by a storm such as the one during the build up to the second round in Australia.

Past Performances in China

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton both have great form in China. Ferrari driver Alonso will look to bounce back to form after Malaysia and his engine failure. The 2005 winner has also achieved pole position here and has finished on the podium on four occasions and prior to last year had always finished in the top four.

Alonso’s former teammate Lewis Hamilton has been the pole sitter twice but crashed out during the rain of 07 before winning in 08 and will seek his first win of the year this weekend with an updated McLaren expected to incorporate a ride height control mechanism.

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has consistently been the pace setter of Formula 1 in 2010 and after winning from pole last year will look to repeat that performance and place himself firmly at the top of the world championship. Felipe Massa currently occupies that lofty position but the Brazilian has had mixed fortunes in Shanghai. He was very impressive for Sauber in the first Grand Prix here when he qualified 4^th and finished 8^th and has had two podiums in 2007 and 2008 but with two retirements and a sixth he will have to perform at his best to maintain his slender world championship lead.