After a two-week hiatus, Formula One fires up again as China and the Shanghai International Circuit play host to the third round of the 2013 FIA F1 World Championship.
The opening two rounds of the 2013 Championship have provided intrigue rather than a definitive form guide for the season ahead. Kimi Räikkönen’s win for Lotus in Australia was an assured performance but the much different conditions of track and temperature in Malaysia saw Red Bull return to dominance. The Shanghai International Circuit will be different again, equally capable of providing a strong indication of form or shuffling the pack further.
Sebastian Vettel is the current leader of the championship. Followed by Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen. While Vettel more likely to be curious about what awaits him with Mark Webber in the race, after the Controversial Malaysian Grand Prix. McLaren will aiming to boost their failing MP4-28. Meanwhile, Mercedes will be providing upgrades to their cars and hoping for a repeat of last year's Chinese Grand Prix, in which Nico Rosberg claimed pole and the chequered flag. Lotus will be hoping for a repeat of Australia after the weekends forecast predicts similar weather to that of the Australian Grand Prix.
The Chinese Grand Prix is a true test of skill and patience combined with positioning yourself for the vital DRS boost's down the long straights on race day - this is no easy track. The un-forgettable 'snail' corner complexes leading onto the also, un-forgettable long back straight, followed by heavy breaking, before negotiating the car around two corners and heading down the long Start/Finish Straight. Before heavy braking to tackle the tedious first two corners - which on race day are the ones to watch! - The driver must open up the throttle and guide the car down a long corner, then coming out of the corner at a high speed having to line the car up to apply heavy breaking for the next tight right hander, he must then be preparing to line the car up to guide the car gently but quickly around three big sweeping corners, whilst doing all of that the driver must exit the corners cleanly to apply the breaks for two more left handers. Welcome to Shanghai!
Let's take a detailed look at the Grand Prix weekend information.
Schedule
Free Practice 1
Date: Friday 12th April 2013
Time: 10:00am Local Time (2:00am GMT)
Results:
here
Free Practice 2
Date: Friday 12th April 2013
Time: 2:00pm Local Time (6:00am GMT)
Results:
here
Free Practice 3
Date: Saturday 13th April 2013
Time: 11:00am Local Time (3:00am GMT)
Qualifying
Date: Saturday 13th April 2013
Time: 2:00pm Local Time (6:00am GMT)
Results:
here
Race
Date: 14th April 2013
Time: 3:00pm Local Time (7:00am GMT)
Laps: 56
Tires
As was the case in 2012, Pirelli will bring the white-banded medium and yellow-banded soft compounds to Shanghai. While the medium tyre has been used already this year both in Malaysia and Australia, this weekend is the first time the new soft compound has been seen at a race. While this tyre was used extensively during testing, the differences of temperature, track configuration and surface construction render that data largely irrelevent: teams will need to develop their understanding over the weekend.
Shanghai International Circuit
Distance: 5.451 km (3.387 mi)
Corners: 16
Lap Record: 1:32.283 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)
Built: 2004
Last Year's Grand Prix
Winner: Nico Rosberg - Petronas Mercedes
Pole: Nico Rosberg - 1:35.121
Fastest Lap: Kobayashi (Lap 40): 1 min 39.960 Secs
Fastest Speeds: S1: Perez 290 kph (181 mph); S2: Vergne 276 kph (173 mph); S3: Hulkenberg 262 kph (181 mph); Speed Trap: Perez 326 kph (204 mph)
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Chinese Grand Prix Facts
- Seven different constructors finished in the points in the 2012 race
- The nine Chinese Grands Prix held to date at the Shanghai International Circuit have produced eight different winners. Only Lewis Hamilton (2008 and 2011) has triumphed more than once.
- Only three times has the winning constructor in China gone on to lift the Constructors’ Championship trophy at the end of the season (Ferrari 2004, 2007, Renault 2005), and only three times has the winning driver gone on to win the Drivers’ Championship (Fernando Alonso 2005, Kimi Räikkönen 2007, Hamilton, 2008).
- Defending champions have faired even worse: McLaren’s Jenson Button is the only driver to win in China with the number one on his car; Ferrari (2004) are the only defending constructors’ champion to win the race.
- Ferrari (2004, 2006, 2007) and McLaren (2008, 2010, 2011) share the honours as constructors, they have each won three times in Shanghai. Red Bull (2009), Renault (2005) and Mercedes (2012) have each won the race on a single occasion.
- Nico Rosberg’s maiden pole and first victory were the standout performances of the 2012 race. Rosberg became the third Mercedes works driver to win in the F1 World Championship, following in the footsteps of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. It was Mercedes’ first (and to date only) victory since returning as a manufacturer in 2010, and therefore their solitary F1 win since 1955.
- Rosberg was the first new entry for three seasons on the list of grand prix winners. For the previous top-step debutant one has to look back to the German Grand Prix of 2009, won by Mark Webber. Both Webber and Rosberg took their first victory from their first pole position, a distinction shared in the current field by Sebastian Vettel (Italy 2008), Hamilton (Canada 2007), Felipe Massa (Turkey 2006) and Pastor Maldonado, the latter joining this select group in Spain, two races after Rosberg – albeit thanks to Hamilton’s demotion to the back of the grid.
- Despite SIC providing good overtaking opportunities, only once has a podium finisher started from outside the top ten (2011, Webber 18th to third).
- The braking zone for the hairpin at turn 14 sees drivers experience the highest g-forces of the year. With around three seconds on the brakes, the cars decelerate from maximum speed down to around 60kph for the slow corner.
- SIC is built on reclaimed marshland. It is supported by a buoyant polystyrene sandwich, which sits atop more than 40,000 concrete pilings, some of which go 80m deep into the soft earth.The circuit has been vulnerable to subsidence, requiring extensive resurfacing work over the years to even out bumps in the track.
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