What to expect of the 2019 Chinese F1 GP?
F1 will celebrate their 1.000 Formula 1 Grand Prix race this Sunday in Shanghai. But will it be a race to remember?
The Shanghai International circuit will host the event for already the 16th time this year. We have had some very entertaining races in Shanghai. I think we all can remember last years venue with Ricciardo's great win?
The first two race in Australia and Bahrain of 2019 have generated some very entertaining races. In Australia everybody thought Ferrari would crush the competition. But Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc had to settle for 4th and 5th behind both Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. Even Max Verstappen's Red Bull Honda was quicker and passed Vettel on track.
In Bahrain we saw a complete different picture. Ferrari was dominating all sessions and both Ferrari qualified on the front row. Leclerc even scored his maiden pole position in F1. Vettel had trouble with the back-end of the Ferrari SF90 and even spun coming out of turn 4 during his fight with Hamilton for P2.
Leclerc had a great second race for Ferrari and was able to pull a gap to Hamilton and almost won his 2nd race for Ferrari. He limped home with a power unit problem and finished 3rd. Hamilton got his 74th race win as a present, just by being there, like he always seems to be.
Mercedes was quite upset by the speed of Ferrari. Although they won their second 1-2 of the 2019 F1 season, they don't think they will close the gap very quickly to Ferrari. Red Bull seems to be lacking down force for the first time in a long time. Adrian Newey will have that problem solved in no-time. Pierre Gasly seems to have hard time getting used to the RB15 and hopefully will do a better job in China.
The battle of the quickest team behind the 3 top teams is very close. On P4 in the championship we see Alfa Romeo with 10 points, McLaren and Haas both have 8 points, while Renault has 6 points. Reliability seems to be the most important reason for McLaren, Haas and Renault for being behind.
This weekend we can see the 20 fastest cars and drivers of the world competing in Shanghai for the so called 1.000th F1 race. What to expect of the 2019 Chinese F1 GP?
2019 Chinese GP facts & Figures
The first Chinese Grand Prix was held in 2004 and won by Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari F2004. The area around the circuit was empty back in those days. The race then was held in September when it was much warmer around the track near Shanghai.
Driver Victories
Lewis Hamilton won the most races in China. He won 5 victories and 1 second place and two 3rd places. He scored 6 poles here. Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso are the second most successful drivers with 2 wins and 5 podiums in Shanghai.
Sebastian Vettel did win the first race for Red Bull in China back in 2009. The strange thing is that he never won it again. Vettel did score 3 2nd and finished 3rd once. With 8 podiums Hamilton also won the most podiums in China, but hasn't got the highest average grid position. That honour belongs to Kimi Raikkonen. The Finnish driver scores a 4.2 on grid postiion, while Hamilton has an average score of 4.7.
Team Victories
Most team victories are scored by Mercedes in China. They won 5 times, but Ferrari won most podiums with 10. The mean reason for this is that Mercedes only took part in 9 races, while Ferrari drove all 15 races until now. Ferrari won here 4 times, McLaren 3 times, Red Bull twice and Renault once.
All this info can be found on our Chinese Grand Prix info page.
Chinese International Circuit
The Chinese circuit is driven clock-wise. It has 2 DRS zones to make overtaking more easy on the twisted 5.451 km long track. The track has 16 corners, 9 right-handed and 7 left-handed corners. The slowest corners are turn 14 with 75 km/h. The fastest corner is turn 7, which is a corner that drivers take flat-out with 280 km/h!
The official lap record of 1:32.238 min is set in the first race back in 2004. Again by the legendary Michael Schumacher. Last year the fastest lap was driven by Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull RB14. He drove a 1:35.785 min. The old lap record will probably not be broken during the race.
2019 Chinese Grand Prix Infographic
What happened in last years 2018 Chinese F1 GP?
2018 Chinese GP podium: 1. Ricciardo, 2. Bottas, 3. Raikkonen
Daniel Ricciardo won the 2018 Chinese F1 GP. It was his 6th race win and the first time he won a podium at the Chinese F1 race.
He won the race with a bit of luck and a great tyre strategy. The 2018 Chinese Grand Prix started without any incidents.
The top 4 drivers stated the race on the yellow soft tyres. Both Red Bull's started on the faster ultra soft tyres.
The start of the race was clean and without any collisions. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen who started on P5 passed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in the first 4 corners to go to P3.
In lap 32 the safety car was deployed because the debris on the track after the collision between Toro Rosso drivers Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasley had to be cleared.
Red Bull took this opportunity to pit Ricciardo and Verstappen to get new soft compound tyres to try and move up some places. They both lost a place by doing this, but had a major advantage on the cars in front.
Max Verstappen was in front of Ricciardo but was to brave to try and pass Hamilton on the outside in turn 7. He drove on the rubber marbles and lost control of is car, drove of the track and lost 2 to Ricciardo and Raikkonen.
A few laps later he collided with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in the hairpin at the end of the long straight. Both drivers spun and lost a lot of places. Verstappen lost the podium by this manoeuvre and also received a 10 sec. penalty.
Ricciardo passed all 5 cars in front and took the lead in lap 45 to win the race and also drove the fastest lap.
Chinese F1 GP 2019 Tyres
The hard tyre choice will be the C2, the medium C3 and the soft C4: right in the middle of Pirelli’s range of five compounds. These are well suited to the varying demands of the enormous Shanghai International Circuit, which is well known for producing some interesting races where tyre strategy is key.
- The wide track is renowned for its long straights and corners: the straights can cool down the front tyres in particularly, causing a risk of front locking.
- Weather is always a big question mark: cool temperatures are common, which increases the possibility of graining – especially in free practice.
- There was a wide variety of different strategies in China last year: Daniel Ricciardo won for Red Bull with two stops, although the race was affected by a safety car.
- The track has a medium abrasive surface and is quite demanding on tyres, with the front-left tyre working hardest.
- Lateral forces (cornering) are quite balanced with longitudinal forces (acceleration and braking) in China. Turns 1 and 13 are the most demanding corners.
Selected sets for the 2019 Chinese F1 GP
Chinese GP Weather Forecast
The weather forecast this weekend around the Shanghai International Circuit looks to be dry with a minor change on rain..
Friday, April 12th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Sunny with clear sky
Max. temperature: 19°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Saturday, April 13th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Sunny with partly cloudy
Max. temperature: 21°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Sunday, April 14th - Race
Conditions: Cloudy
Maxi. temperature: 21°C
Chance of rain: 10%
Who will be on the 2019 Chinese F1 GP podium?
1000th Race branding during the Chinese GP at Shanghai International Circuit on April 11, 2019
The 2019 F1 season is still very unpredictable. In Australia everybody thought Ferrari would win, but we saw a very quick Mercedes. In Bahrain everybody thought Mercedes would be very quick, but we saw a very quick Ferrari. Will we see Red Bull Racing as quickest team this time in China? The Honda power unit until now proofed to be very strong and reliable. The Honda engine even scored the highest top speeds in the first 2 races!
Top speed is something you certainly need on the Shanghai circuit. It has one of the longest straights were cars reach over 340 km/h. The most difficult part of the track is turn 1, which can overheat the left-front tyre very easily. Teams have to figure out the best compromise between good cornering and the high speed back straight, which cools down the tyres very much.
Ferrari will probably have the fastest car around the Chinese track. If Ferrari has fixed their reliability on the power unit they will win for sure. Until FP3 we won't know which team did their homework the best on development.
It will be interesting to see were Mercedes found some more speed. Red Bull Racing won last years edition with Daniel Ricciardo, who drives for Renault in 2019. Shanghai doesn't seem to be one of Verstappen's favourite tracks, but after last years shunt with Vettel he has something to fix. Red Bull Racing is able to develop their car very quick and could make it very difficult for Mercedes drivers Bottas and Verstappen.
My podium prediction for the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix is:
1. Sebastian Vettel, 2. Charles Leclerc, 3. Max Verstappen
The race starts on Sunday 14th of April 2019 at 07:10 GMT.
Don't forget to take part in our F1 Poule to win 2 tickets for the 2020 Belgian or British F1 GP. You can change your prediction until the start of the quali.
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