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The Shanghai International Circuit, which will host a F1 race this weekend, was designed as the race circuit for the new millennium.
The sport has come a long way since Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio were waiting for the start of the first World Championship race in 1950 at Silverstone in the UK.
Since then – and over the 998 races that have followed – some of the best drivers in the world have competed against one another, and drivers – the likes of Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher – are still revered to this day.
The 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit is hosting the Chinese Grand Prix for the 15th time and is one of the more striking venues, with its distinctive main grandstand on the pit straight.
The circuit is fairly twisty with a lot of medium-speed corners, although the 1.2km back straight provides some respite for the drivers.
Ferrari have a point to prove after failing to take their front-row lockout after qualifying in Bahrain last week on to the podium.
Although Charles Leclerc, who started from pole for the first time, seemed destined to win his first grand prix he had to settle for third as engine problems allowed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and then the world champions’ team-mate Valtteri Bottas to pass.
This allowed Bottas to take the lead in the drivers’ standings with 44 points – one more than Hamilton.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel, in the second Ferrari, spun while pursuing Hamilton and later ended up losing his front wing for good measure as he finished fifth behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Shanghai was where Vettel gave Red Bull its first win in 2009, but the German has visited the podium on only three other occasions since, in 2011, 2015 and 2017.
Hamilton and Mercedes have a reason to feel more confident with the UK driver holding the record for the most wins in China with five, and Mercedes also has five wins at the circuit.
Hamilton was praised after his unexpected win in Bahrain as he commiserated with Leclerc before celebrating with his team-mates, a sporting gesture from a driver who is now one of the elder statesmen of the series.
Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, the five-time world champion was concerned with his start.
“They [the starts] are what are letting me down,” Hamilton said.
“I did a lot of practice and it still didn’t fricking go well. I don’t really know if I do no practice at the next one [Chinese Grand Prix] and it just goes well. We’ll see, but I’m going to keep working at it.”
Bottas was second in last years’ race and will want to extend his championship lead.
Red Bull don’t have the best win record at the circuit, but Verstappen’s opening lap charge through the field in 2017 from 16th to 7th was a masterclass in overtaking and saw him finish third.
His team-mate Pierre Gasly has had a slow start to life in the senior team since his promotion from Torro Rosso and will be working hard for a good result in China.
Renault has been somewhat struggling compared with where it thought it would be heading into the season.
This means that it’s unlikely Daniel Ricciardo will be able to finish on the top step of the podium as he did last year for Red Bull, although team-mate Nico Hülkenberg would like to just get on to the podium.
McLaren is definitely in a better position than it was last year, thanks to having a car that is now both fast and capable of lasting the duration of a grand prix. Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris will do whatever they can to capitalise on this.
Haas has had good speed from its car over one lap in qualifying, as Kevin Magnussen proved by qualifying sixth from last in Bahrain.
However, they have not managed to take that into the race without some bad luck, as evidenced by Romain Grosjean losing a wheel in Australia.
Torro Rosso had a good run in Bahrain, with Alex Albon becoming the first Thai driver to score points since Prince B Bira in 1954, and Daniil Kvyat has shown good speed.
Racing Point will hope its test in Bahrain went well so Lance Stroll and Sergio Pérez could be fighting for points.
Alfa Romeo has been quick this year, with Antonio Giovonazzi learning well from 2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen.
And, finally, it is worth sparing a thought for Williams, the once mighty powerhouse of the sport, now simply trying to get within a second of the next slowest team.
It’s a task that is proving slightly easier for George Russell than it is for Robert Kubica, although, given the state of the car at the moment, they are looking likely to be fighting it out at the rear of the field.
