Chinese Grand Prix 2014, Shanghai - Race 4/19

Shimmy · 14 Apr 2014 at 12:22

Shanghai

The Shanghai International Circuit was designed as the race circuit for the new millennium. And the modern track, with its stunning architecture, has achieved its goal of becoming China's gateway to the world of Formula One racing since it debuted on the calendar in 2004.

Circuit architects Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl on their creation: “The 5.4 kilometre racing track is shaped like the Chinese character 'shang', which stands for 'high' or 'above'. Other symbols represented in the architecture originate from Chinese history, such as the team buildings arranged like pavilions in a lake to resemble the ancient Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai. Here, nature and technology are carefully used to create harmony between the elements.”

Not only is the course remarkable for its change of acceleration and deceleration within different winding turns, making high demands on the driver as well as the car, but also for its high-speed straights. These offer crucial overtaking opportunities and give an intense and exciting motorsport experience to the spectators. The main grandstand with 29,000 seats provides a spectacular view of almost 80 percent of the circuit.

TV Times

Track Diagram & Information

Live Timing

http://www.formula1.com/live_timing/

Weather Forecast

Technical Changes

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/

China Preview Quotes

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/4/15711.html

WDC Standings

Constructors' Championship Standings

Practice 1

Practice 2

Practice 3

Qualifying

Race

smr · 14 Apr 2014 at 12:35

Wooohoooooooo Formula 1 Weekend

Love this Circuit too, and I think a Chinese sounds good this weekend too!

Cheers Shimmy!

Flibster · 14 Apr 2014 at 12:44

Massive straight. Should be a bit of a walk over for Merc powered cars. They can afford to load a bit aero on and still be quick down the straight. Renault and Ferrari teams will need to ditch the aero to stop being mugged on the straight.

-Ad- · 14 Apr 2014 at 12:45

A pity I'm not there again this year as the last 2 years had some truly epic racing!

Hoping for even more this year, but with the silly long first DRS straight and then finish straight, the Merc cars should nail it!

this_is_gav · 14 Apr 2014 at 15:32

Flibster said:
Massive straight. Should be a bit of a walk over for Merc powered cars. They can afford to load a bit aero on and still be quick down the straight. Renault and Ferrari teams will need to ditch the aero to stop being mugged on the straight.

The Mercedes-powered cars won't quite have the advantage they had at Bahrain, where there were 5 or 6 medium-long acceleration zones. Here there's only really 2 which aren't traction-limited.

Guerrilla · 16 Apr 2014 at 08:23

Thanks Shimmy

That weather forecast looks like it could work out nicely, a wet quali to mix it up a bit

GravyMonster · 16 Apr 2014 at 08:41

this_is_gav said:
The Mercedes-powered cars won't quite have the advantage they had at Bahrain, where there were 5 or 6 medium-long acceleration zones. Here there's only really 2 which aren't traction-limited.

But there is a mile-long straight where they will be gaining 5-8mph.

DiCe! · 16 Apr 2014 at 10:14

I really like this track, lets hope its another good race!
Hope to see McLaren bounce back after the double DNF.

this_is_gav · 16 Apr 2014 at 10:16

Spunkey said:
But there is a mile-long straight where they will be gaining 5-8mph.

It's only 80m longer than the main straight at Bahrain.

Crippled Potato · 16 Apr 2014 at 11:29

This track has my favourite first corner, love it when they all start off the grid and flow down those bends.

~Mike~ · 16 Apr 2014 at 12:02

Going to miss this race, will have to watch the highlights. Hoping McLaren have better luck here than they did in Bahrain.

deuse · 16 Apr 2014 at 18:06

Spunkey said:
But there is a mile-long straight where they will be gaining 5-8mph.

About right. But have you seen any Merc driver go into 8th gear?

Milkybk said:
Think Red Bull will get 3rd and 4th on Sunday. Hopefully will continue to improve this week. As long as we can keep securing decent points I think it's possible to turn things around, especially after the first big updates. Red Bulls development will far out pace their competitors, including Mercedes, as it does every season.

If they stick to the rules they may finish round about 9th. And RBS can't changed to a split turbo like Merc has.
So their development can only be done on the car.

But knowing horner he will find yet another way to cheat.

Glaucus · 16 Apr 2014 at 19:42

Every team eventually loses that edge, usually at a big rule change.
Just look at f1 history, top teams have all dominated for a few years, then lost it.

CaptainRAVE · 16 Apr 2014 at 19:51

Back from holiday just in time to see this. Hoping for another Rosberg Hamilton battle.

Skeeter · 16 Apr 2014 at 19:56

F1, WEC, WTCC and BTCC this Sunday... and I'm at Thruxton all day watching historic F2 and Touring Cars.

this_is_gav · 16 Apr 2014 at 20:00

Milkybk said:
I think they're still in the running and it will be much closer come the end of the season than many people think. It's certainly better than Ferrari have faired as a team after their domination ended.

If you count Ferrari's domination ending when the key staff left (most by the start of 2008), then Red Bull will be going some to get to the final corner of the season.

I agree though - Red Bull will comfortably finish 2nd and will at least close the gap to Mercedes through the season. I'm certainly not writing them off yet, but it'll take one hell of a turn around, and a finish of 1999 proportions from the Mercedes drivers (with both the big players blowing their chances) for Red Bull to pip them.

Duff-Man · 16 Apr 2014 at 20:41

Spunkey said:
But there is a mile-long straight where they will be gaining 5-8mph.

The biggest advantage of the more powerful Mercedes engine comes during acceleration, rather than at terminal speeds. There is still a top-speed advantage, yes, but that's related strongly to the downforce setup.

I think Mercedes will still have a big advantage, obviously, but not quite at Bahrain levels.