Home of the Chinese Grand Prix, the Shanghai International Circuit has been a regular fixture in Formula 1 since 2004.
The track layout has several challenging features. Its two 270-degree right-hand corners place enormous stress on the front-left tire and the 1.1km back straight is the longest of the entire season, along which straight-line speed is at a premium. Following track temperatures of 62 degrees at Sepang two weeks ago, the teams can expect much cooler conditions in China. The ambient and track temperatures are usually around 20 degrees and, as was the case last year, Pirelli are taking their Medium (Prime) and Soft (Option) compounds to the race to deal with the challenges. The first sequence of corners on the track have been described as one of the hardest in F1 as fast entry speeds are quickly discarded under heavy breaking due to a tightening track for almost 270° before quickly changing direction. “On the back of a very hot race in Malaysia, we head to China where we are expecting considerably different conditions,” said Rob Smedley, team Williams’ head of performance engineering.
“It is often a struggle to get the temperature in to the tires for qualifying, and you then have to manage front left tire degradation in the race. That struggle will be even tougher this year with the improved rear Pirelli construction. It’s a challenging circuit, with a tough left-hander before one of the longest straights on the calendar. “The turn 1, 2, 3 complex is also very interesting and offers a good technical challenge. There are two different techniques here for a quick qualifying lap and a quick race lap, so we will work through these early in the weekend to be prepared. We have a few upgrades coming to the FW37 that we are expecting to deliver an increase in performance. There is always a high probability of rain, so we will also need to be prepared for this possible curveball,” Smedley added. Recent Articles
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