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中国大奖赛

The vision of a Chinese Grand Prix started in the early 1990s. The Chinese government had originally planned for an F1 circuit to be located in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, southern China. The Zhuhai International Circuit was designed and built and was provisionally added to the 1999 F1 World Championship calendar, but the track failed to meet certain standards set by the FIA. However, the Chinese government did not give up and eventually, with assistance from the organizers of the Macau Grand Prix, held the first ever Formula One race in China in 2004.
In 2002, it was announced that the management of the Shanghai International Circuit had signed a 7 year contract with the Formula One Management to host the Chinese Grand Prix starting from the 2004 season until the 2011 season. The Chinese Grand Prix debuted on September 26, 2004, and was won by Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello. The following year, it hosted the final round of the Formula One championship, in which the newly crowned world champion Fernando Alonso won and claimed the constructor's title for Renault F1. In 2006, the Chinese Grand Prix was won by Michael Schumacher - his last victory in Formula One before his initial retirement at the end of the season.
In November 2008 the BBC reported a senior race official, Qiu Weichang, as suggesting that the loss-making race might be cancelled. Following a similar announcement about the French Grand Prix, Qui Weichang said that the race's future was under consideration, and a decision would be made in 2009.
2010 came and went with no formal announcement of an extension to the initial 7 race deal struck in 2004. However, immediately after the 2010 Shanghai race Bernie Ecclestone, who manages the contracts with the various circuits, said of the 2011 calendar, "We are not dropping anything. [It's] 20 races - getting ready for 25,".
It was only in February 2011 that a deal was agreed between F1 and the organisers of the Chinese round of the world championship. Reasons for the delay appear to have been over the fee paid to F1 to host the race. After racking up losses year after year, the organisers of the race refused to pay the fee required, reported to be amongst the highest paid to host an F1 race. F1 bosses appear to have reduced the fee and the new agreement to host an F1 race runs to 2017.




The Track

Coordinates   31°20′20″N 121°13′11″
Capacity      200,000
FIA Grade     1
Opened        2004
Architect     Hermann Tilke
Length        5.451 km (3.387 mi)
Turns         16
Lap record    1:32.238 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)

Schedule (local time)

Fri 12 April 2013
Practice 1    10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2    14:00 - 15:30

Sat 13 April 2013
Practice 3    11:00 - 12:00
Qualifying    14:00

Sun 14 April 2013
Race          15:00

Drivers Championship after two races

1     Sebastian Vettel    German        Red Bull Racing-Renault    40
2     Kimi Räikkönen      Finnish       Lotus-Renault              31
3     Mark Webber         Australian    Red Bull Racing-Renault    26
4     Lewis Hamilton      British       Mercedes                   25
5     Felipe Massa        Brazilian     Ferrari                    22
6     Fernando Alonso     Spanish       Ferrari                    18
7     Nico Rosberg        German        Mercedes                   12
8     Romain Grosjean     French        Lotus-Renault               9
9     Adrian Sutil        German        Force India-Mercedes        6
10    Paul di Resta       British       Force India-Mercedes        4
11    Nico Hulkenberg     German        Sauber-Ferrari              4
12    Sergio Perez        Mexican       McLaren-Mercedes            2
13    Jenson Button       British       McLaren-Mercedes            2
14    Jean-Eric Vergne    French        STR-Ferrari                 1

Constructors Championship after two races

1    Red Bull Racing-Renault    66
2    Lotus-Renault              40
3    Ferrari                    40
4    Mercedes                   37
5    Force India-Mercedes      10
6    Sauber-Ferrari           4
7    McLaren-Mercedes            4
8    STR-Ferrari                1

Boring stadium tilketrack with smog, but damn good races it has provided in last years. Also, chuva.

Its the 10th race here, doesn't seem that long ago that they first ran here.

CHINESE RAIN

I read that last post in my mind in a stereotypical Chinese accent. Does that make me a bad person?

chuuuuva

Acid rain might increase tire wear

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

Apparently the levels of pollution are 'highly dangerous'. Oops.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

What tyres will be used in China?

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"The best decision is my decision!" - Balestre
"Halo is for little babies, not for men" - Jeha

round, black

Medium and Soft.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

Thanks! It will be interesting to see how the softs will deal with the corners, there are 2 very long corners and also a high speed "S", I wonder if the tyre wear is gonna be as critical as it was in Sepang

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"The best decision is my decision!" - Balestre
"Halo is for little babies, not for men" - Jeha

Depends on temperatures imo.

I'm looking forward to this as I'll be there for my first ever Grand Prix. In 4 days I'll be leaving to Shanghai.
Hopefully not too much rain for me :P

Be sure to enjoy the city as well. Shanghai is great!

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remembering Jeff Krosnoff
>>>>>> 1964 - 1996 <<<<<<

I lived in the area for a half year and in my opinion 1 day is enough to see ShangHai. If you have more time, you should definitly go to SuZhou and HangZhou insted. Both accessable via high speed railway in less than 1 hour.

Not sure the Shanghai authorities are too keen on tens of thousands of people congregating in a small area right now.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

China has provided my worst and possibly best viewing experiences. The last couple of years have been brilliant fun. But in 2009 (I think, I am bad at remembering these things) I spent the night watching a terrible film with NEA and we stayed up all the way through to the race. I managed the whole thing by throwing water on my face and he fell asleep for about 20 laps.
I am hopeful for a good race this year, we have some close teams in terms of performance and still some unknowns.

I love the first corner here. Every year I'm desperate to see if someone can brave it all around the outside to make a pass, but it hasn't happened yet.

1 good corner tho...thats it

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley