Its been five long years since Formula One rolled into China and as the teams arrive at the Shanghai circuit some appear perplexed at the “painted” asphalt. The organisers of the Chinese Grand Prix had reportedly resurfaced the track which joined the F1 calendar in 2004, but it seems this is not the case and instead a new form of sealant has been applied.

The track has in fact been given a bitumen surface treatment intended to seal the gaps between the stones and the asphalt, its purpose to reduce the wear and tear and eliminate dust.

 

 

 

First outing in China for ground effect F1 cars

“With the new cars, it will be a bit of an unknown. From the track side, it looks like they have repainted it, rather than resurfaced it,” said Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver enters the fifth round of the 2024 F1 championship with three wins under his belt and a 13 point lead in the title race to team mate Sergio Perez. Only brake failure in Australia prevented Max from a clean sweep over the opening rounds this year.

Verstappen questions how this repair work will play out when the cars finally hit the track tomorrow. “I don’t know what that does to the grip of the track, so that’s something we have to get on top of. 

“It’s the same for everybody but we just have to have a good FP1 and hopefully we don’t have to fine tune too much with the car. That will help hit the ground running for the rest of the weekend.”

Toto Wolff contradicts Hamilton assessment 

 

 

 

Verstappen predicts chaos

The new breed of ground effect F1 cars have never run at the Shanghai venue which means the teams lack the data and knowledge of how to set up their cars, unlike at other circuits they visited over the past two seasons.

Added to this difficulty facing the teams is the fact this is the first F1 Sprint weekend of 2024. So each driver has just one hour of practice on Friday before they attempt Sprint qualifying in the afternoon session. The previous Sprint format had been criticised because the cars were deemed in parc ferme for the weekend after the Friday morning session which then locked in a team’s setup direction for the rest of the event.

Now with Sprint qualifying and the shortened version of the race being held on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, the team will be allowed to adjust the cars before the Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

“I think overall with the Sprint it’s always a bit more of a question mark and always a bit more chaos involved, which I guess in a way is a good thing for F1,” said Verstappen.

“From my side at the moment it’s just quite unknown. We haven’t driven here with these new cars so I don’t really know how we are going to perform here. Time will tell and I’m not too worried about it.”

Horner update on RBPT 2026 engine

 

 

 

Max not a fan of F1 Sprint weekends

Max has been highly critical of F1’s decision to include Sprint weekends on the calendar. At the most recent United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Lelcerc were disqualified following the race because the plank under the floor had worn to less than 1mm.

Verstappen was incandescent saying, “we should just get rid of the sprint weekend and then everyone can just set up their cars normally. It wouldn’t have happened that we would have had a normal race weekend.

“These things only happen when you have a sprint weekend where everything is so rushed into your in-between FP1 and qualifying.”

With Grand Prix qualifying now moved from Friday afternoon to Saturday and the restrictions on parc ferme relaxed, Max believes this is a step in the right direction.

Hamilton has “had his time” says F1 driver

 

 

 

Verstappen approves format shift

“The new format makes more sense. The most annoying thing about it before is after FP1, you could go into qualifying and if you didn’t nail the setup, you were stuck with it for the rest of the weekend.

“That can really hurt your weekend and now we have another opportunity to make it perfect and I think that’s better for racing overall.”

Verstappen leads the nearest non-Red Bull driver by 18 points after four rounds of the 2024 season, a much reduced gap on this time last year where his lead over Fernando Alonso was 33 points. And with Ferrari getting on top of their excessive tyre wear issues they are now much closer to Red Bull than for a number of years. Something Verstappen addresses:

“Overall, so far they’ve been really close to us at most of the races,” he said. “We really need to be on top of our own game to be able to win the races and I definitely think it’s closer than last year, and of course that naturally makes it a bit harder.”

Horner hits back at Wolff

 

 

 

“Strange” track surface says Leclerc

Ferrari however are not expected to bring any upgrades this weekend, though their driver Charles Leclerc does not believe this will be costly.

“I think in the race we will be closer yes. But let’s see. It’s been a very long time since we drove here,” he said.

“I saw the track was painted or there was something strange on it, so we will have to see how our car behaves on that and what the main limitations are in the race but on paper I think we should be closer to them.”

Since the announcement Carlos Sainz is leaving Ferrari, he has finished each Grand Prix ahead of Leclerc where both made the chequered flag. However the Monegasque driver is not concerned, believing an improved qualifying performance can rectify the situation.

Sainz 2025 options narrow further

 

 

 

Charles to up his game in qualifying

“I think the level of confidence is quite stable since the beginning of the season,” says Leclerc. “On paper, I think it’s a track where we could be a bit stronger compared to Suzuka but we will just approach it the same way.”

Historically Leclerc has been the stronger of the Ferrari pairing in qualifying although his is 3-1 down this season to his team mate. He identifies this as an area for improvement something he confirmed he would be working hard to rectify last time out in Japan. 

“So it’s going to be very important, especially with a Sprint weekend, we have got two qualifying sessions this weekend to extract the maximum out of the car in qualifying. Then in the race, I think we are quite strong this year,” concluded the Ferrari driver.

Mercedes come into the weekend puzzled over the performance of their car in Suzuka. Toto Wolff claimed they had “podium pace” in the second and third stints in Japan but were mysteriously slow after the lap one red flag.

Worrying news for the Chinese GP

 

 

 

Lewis: “we would have done things differently”

Like Ferrari the former world champions have no upgrades on the W15 in Shanghai, but Lewis Hamilton believes the team can now begin an upward trajectory.

“Nothing’s changed with our car, so it’s going to be the same car this weekend,” Hamilton said. “But we understand it a little bit more. On the last weekend, we did make improvements and so [we’re] bringing some of those learnings into this weekend and then, on top of that, some new direction again” said Hamilton.

Lewis was unhappy with the Mercedes strategy in Suzuka where they saved two sets of hard tyres for the race, while Ferrari opted for the medium compound.

“I think if we could go back we would have done things differently. That’s the benefit of hindsight and experience. So we’re trying to bring that here this weekend and see if we can implement some of those changes we would have perhaps done further in Suzuka, and hopefully that can find us a bit of performance,” the seven times champion revealed.

Steiner back in F1?

 

 

 

Can Mercedes beat McLaren?

Mercedes find themselves adrift of McLaren in third place currently, with the customer team having accumulated almost twice as many points. George Russell hopes his team can turn things around, given the circuit layout may not suit the McLaren 2024 car.

“I think this will be a really good test this weekend to see where we fall out, let’s say compared with McLaren as well,” remarked Russell.

“They seem to be exceptionally strong in the high-speed corners and a bit weak in the low-speed corners. I think there is a lot more potential to be shown. I don’t think we have optimised car and its setup at the last couple of races, so that’s what we’re homing in on.”

Lando Norris who pressed the Ferrari drivers in Japan accepts his team’s expectations are lower than at other tracks because of their car’s inherent difficulties through the slower corners.

Marko explains reason for Perez improved performance

 

 

 

Honda have never won in China

“We have got some things to try and we are constantly trying to improve these areas,” Norris said ahead of the China weekend. “But it’s an area we know is one of our biggest weaknesses. Maybe we kind of get away with it in qualifying, but especially into the race it becomes a bigger problem for us.”

Red Bull have claimed victory in China just twice in the sixteen years the race has been held with their last win coming for Daniel Ricciardo in 2018.

Verstappen has never won the Chinese Grand Prix and will be keen to add this to the ever growing list of F1 venues where he has triumphed astride the top step of the podium.

A Red Bull victory would also give Honda their first win in Shanghai, something the Japanese auto manufacturer will surely crave. The last time the F1 circus was in town, Mercedes were all conquering with Bottas claiming pole position and Hamilton winning the race. It was also Mercedes third 1-2 finish of the 2019 season, the first time a team has delivered a 1-2 at the first three races of a season since Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese did so for Williams in 1992.

Verstappen responds to exit talk

 

 

 

Perez breaks cover on F1 future

Sergio Perez has been to topic of speculation for much of his three and a bit seasons with the F1 world champion team. Having been ditched by Aston Martin, Red Bull picked up Perez late in 2020 to replace the outgoing Alex Albon.

Having fiddled around for years with the top line driver lineup, Red Bull appear to have accepted the fact that no one and the same car up against Max can operate at she level. The question now is, who is best placed to pick up the points the team requires to ensure they win the team championship?…. READ MORE