SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Preview: 2004 Chinese Grand Prix

I will be taking the course during the 2004 season using EA's F1 Challenge '99-'02 and Ralph Hummerich's excellent RH 2004 Season carset that's available from this link.

Shanghai International

Shanghai International Circuit is truly a motorsport venue for the 21st century. Like Sepang and Bahrain, this is another Hermann Tilke project, and China's first Formula 1 venue is designed to impress the visiting world.

The track has two massive straights, and this, coupled with its impressive width, means there is no excuse for a lack of wheel-to-wheel action from the Grand Prix cars. There are also two "snail-shaped" corners, which turn through more degrees (around 270) than anything seen before at this level of the sport.

The venue is built on a "soft soil foundation," and its enormous structures are a serious architectural achievement. It's a straightforward drive from the city to the racetrack, which lies on the outskirts of the metropolis.

Having a grand prix in China is a dream come true for Bernie and Max. The same can be said for China, which has spent over nine years trying to get on the F1 calendar. Like the new Bahrain circuit, the track in Shanghai has been built from scratch. It's not been an easy ride though. Designer Hermann Tilke was faced with a site that was a 300m-deep swamp and very flat. The load on the soil would be too heavy to take so the entire track foundation is made out of polystyrene and built on 40,000 piles of 40m to 80m deep. Like many of Tilke's designs, the German tries to incorporate features and symbolism of the country — in this case the track itself is shaped like the sign of 'Shang', which means 'rising'. Fans will be pleased to hear the track has several overtaking opportunities, that's the view of Jenson Button, who has visited the track under construction. The only doubt among some is the infrastructure in and around Shanghai and the culture shock to the teams of the country itself. The business it will generate though is sure to outweigh any difficulties.

Formula One races into Shanghai for the first time this week and drivers and teams alike are relishing the challenge of a country rapidly establishing itself as a sought after sporting venue. For world champion Michael Schumacher, it is a maiden visit to China and he plans to make the most of the opportunity.

"Certainly I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I think we all are — to experience a new country too."

For China, it is the latest step in its quest to bring top sports events to its shores, having already secured high-profile golf, tennis and football tournaments as well as the cherry on the cake, the Olympics in 2008. With a first-ever motorcycle Grand Prix scheduled for May next year in Shanghai and the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Beijing, China is becoming the new sporting hotspot.

Shanghai won a seven-year contract to host Formula One in 2002 and has thrown buckets of money into cementing it as a permanent fixture in a country seen as a vast untapped market for the sport's wealthy sponsors. The cost of transforming a swampy wasteland on the western outskirts of the eastern metropolis into a state-of-the-art race track has amounted to some 300 million dollars.

Organisers are confident that they've got it right and the race next Sunday will prove a huge success, despite Schumacher having already secured the world title and Ferrari's dominance, winning 13 Grand Prix so far this year.

"The inaugural Chinese Grand Prix will be a very exciting, safe and accomplished gala for motor sport fans," said the circuit's General Manager Mao Xiaohan. "I'm sure the trip to Shanghai will be unforgettable and exciting."

It isn't just the infrastructure that's had to be put in place. China has had to train 900 volunteer marshals for the event. With no previous experience, they have been drilled on how to deal with a crash, fire-fighting and even racing terminology.

Designed by renowned German Hermann Tilke, the circuit, loosely mirroring the Chinese character "shang", can hold 200,000 spectators, including more than 29,000 in the grandstand opposite the pits.

BAR-Honda driver Jenson Button, who tested a car here earlier this year, described the infrastructure as 'staggering' and said the track would be 'physically challenging.' "It should be a good race. It looks like overtaking should be possible," he said.

The track features five punishing left hand corners and five right and a massive straight spanning 1,175-metres linking turns 13 and 14. "It was designed with overtaking in mind," Tilke told Chinese media. "And we've included slow corners as well as fast corners, which will make it much more difficult for the teams to decide on a strategy."

Drivers are expected to push their cars to 320 kph during 56 laps of the 5.45 kilometre track. Ferrari supremo Jean Todt described Shanghai's achievement as 'unbelievable'.

Although China has no car racing tradition to speak of and ticket prices amount to a month's wages for an average person, the event has sparked huge interest and organisers expect a full house.

Spectators can look forward to the return to racing of Ralf Schumacher who has been out since fracturing two vertebrae when he crashed his Williams in the United States Grand Prix on June 20.

"No one knows the Shanghai circuit which makes this race very exciting," said Schumacher.

There will also be a new face at Renault after the French outfit parted company with Italian driver Jarno Trulli. Canada's 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve is taking his place. Renault are fighting it out with BAR for second best this year, with just three points separating the two teams.

China was close to securing a Formula one race in the 1990s, spending nine years developing a track in the southern city of Zhuhai only for it to be dropped after allegedly failing to meet international standards.

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