Next weekend, F1 will stop at the Shanghai circuit for the Chinese GP. Shanghai returns to the calendar after five years when things within and beyond F1 were very different. Any examples? The single-seaters were very different from the current ground-effect cars introduced in 2022.
The three-time world champion Max Verstappen had just five victories to his credit, Guanyu Zhou raced in F2, Yuki Tsunoda in F3 and Oscar Piastri in Formula Renault Eurocup. Sprint races had not even been introduced in the World Championship. On this occasion, China will host the first short race of the 2024 season.
THE NEW FORMAT OF SPRINT WEEKENDS
The choice to hold the first Sprint of the year during the weekend of the returning Chinese GP presents the teams with new challenges. The format of weekends of this type has changed compared to last year.
Now a free practice session is scheduled on Friday followed by qualifying for the short race. Then on Saturday, the Sprint takes place in the morning, and the qualifying for the grand prix in the afternoon.
This means that teams and drivers will only have one hour to set up their cars before entering the competition. Parc fermé, which will begin with the start of qualifying on Friday, will then reopen before qualifying on Saturday, and this should allow you to at least approach the grand prix with good preparation behind you.
Andrew Shovlin, director of Mercedes track engineering, summarizes the situation this way:
“It’s a nice challenge that, as not only have we not raced there for a while, but we’re going straight into a Sprint race, and the format has also changed.
“Now you have two parc fermes, so after Sprint qualifying and Sprint race, you have the opportunity to modify the car and then do qualifying and the main race.
“We are reviewing the historical data. We have never been there with this generation of the car. So the tyres are different, the aerodynamics are very different. There is a lot of work that we need to do, and most of it is done in simulation.
“But there’s also a bit of rereading old notes, looking at how the tyres behaved in terms of wear and what caused the degradation to try to build that picture.”
So many unknowns, therefore, and very little time to work on the track. This can also represent an opportunity to overturn the traditional balance of power between the cars:
“We only have an hour of free practice before moving directly to qualifying, so it’s definitely a big challenge,” adds Shovlin.
“But it’s quite fun and ‘it’s a good motivation because, if you can work well, the opportunities in the Sprints are always greater because someone else might have made a mistake .”
THE UNKNOWN TRASK SURFACE
While the drivers can become familiar with the layout with long sessions on the simulator, an unknown is represented by the asphalt, as highlighted by Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur:
“I think it will be difficult. But it will be difficult for everyone because we will find ourselves in the same situation. The biggest question mark for me will be the asphalt.
“Furthermore, compared to the last grand prix, we will probably also have colder conditions, and we are not familiar with the asphalt. This will be the key to the weekend, not only in terms of tyre management but also an outright performance on this circuit .”
The difficulties will be exacerbated by the Sprint format of the Chinese GP. Fred Vasseur outlined the potential for risk:
“What is a bit difficult in the format is that with the tyre allocation and only one session available, you have to choose which compound to try on Friday.
“It means that preparation for the weekend will be fundamental. It’s true that last year, the Sprints went well. But we don’t know if it was due to the format or the layout of the tracks.
“So far, we have always had a good start to the weekends. In Japan, we had four teams in a tenth. This means that you shouldn’t think that what you did one weekend will be true the following weekend. We will start from scratch, and we must maintain this mentality throughout the rest of the season .”
LAYOUT WITH FAST CURVES AND SLOW SECTIONS
The Shanghai International Circuit is one of Hermann Tilke’s most appreciated creations. It contains several notable corners, including the long right-handed before the main straight. The left front tyre is the most stressed, as Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, underlined:
“It’s a nice circuit. It’s been a long time since the last time. The first corner goes on forever, so the front left is under a lot of stress there…
“It is a track that has always been very hard on the left front tyre, and we will also have a Sprint race. It will be the first Sprint of the year, so this will be another challenge. There are a lot of points up for grabs. It will be interesting to see how it goes .”
The layout of the circuit is very varied. Alongside high-speed sections, there are many low-speed corners. Team principal Andrea Stella is cautious about the team’s objectives for the Chinese GP weekend:
“I’m cautious about China. There are so many low-speed corners and so many hairpins that it definitely shouldn’t be the best track for us at the moment. Hairpins and curves at low speeds seem to be where we sometimes lose time. So I think in China, we will have to limit the damage.”
Even according to Stella, the weekend format can provide otherwise impossible opportunities. Still, the choice to contest a Sprint on a circuit where it hasn’t been raced for five years remains less than ideal:
“The difficulties in China will certainly be linked to the fact of not having been there for a lot of time. Difficulties can also be seen from the side of opportunities because everyone will have them. This means you can get an advantage. You wouldn’t have wanted China as a Sprint event anyway.
“Seen from the team’s perspective, it just adds a lot of complications. At the same time, it’s not something we are able to influence. So we will focus on doing a good job and looking at the weekend positively.
“Since we have some inherent limitations with our car, I prefer that others don’t have a lot of free practice to extract what we wouldn’t be able to do.”
