FIA shares circuit changes, DRS for Chinese GP as drivers opine

Darshan Chokhani

7 months ago

The FIA shares circuit changes for F1 Chinese GP along with DRS zones, as drivers share their opinion on the painted scheme.

The returning Shanghai International Circuit has host of changes made to the circuit after five years of non-running and the FIA Race Director has noted those for this weekend’s F1 Chinese GP where drivers will get only one practice session to learn the track.

Here’s the list of circuit changes –

Bumps removed in Turn 1 and Turn 8 where the track crosses the tunnel.
All cracks in the working lane repaired.
A bump on RHS of Turn 3 removed.
All grass pavers repaired.
Asphalt run-off at the exit of Turn 10 shortened, gravel behind.
Asphalt run-off in Turn 12 on LHS shortened to 1.7m, gravel behind.
Asphalt run-off in Turn 16 on RHS shortened to 1.7m, gravel strip behind.
All sausage kerbs removed.
All artificial grass removed.
New debris fence at MP9.5.
All brake markers removed and replaced with new brake markers attached to the fence.

The track limits though remains the white lines, as the first DRS zone’s detection point is on Turn 12, with the activation being 450m after Turn 13. The second zone’s detection point is 35m before Turn 16, with activation being 98m after Turn 16.

In terms of the FIA stewards, the panel will be led by Nish Shetty who will have the able support of Loic Bacquelaine, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Zheng Honghai. While the note had all the mention about changes to the circuit, there was one ommision.

During the track walk, a section found out the track to be looking rather different. With no resurfacing done, it was understood that the track was painted which also caught the eyes of the F1 drivers – some of whom did a track walk, while some waiting for their go.

The FIA though clarified that they used bitumen on the surface which is common in Asia. Here’s what the F1 drivers said of it –

Lando Norris: “I have no idea. So I think we have to wait and see honestly, I think that’s something new, something we don’t think we’ve seen before, so hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen. So I honestly have no idea. So I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Charles Leclerc: “Yeah, it’s difficult to predict because I think also, it depends a lot on the type of paint they use. And that can cause different issues or have no issues at all, which hope it’s the latter that will be the case tomorrow, but for now, it’s very difficult to predict. I have only seen pictures, so I haven’t gone around the track yet. I don’t think it’s the same everywhere, which also might not be great. But yeah, before adding further comments, I think we just have to drive and see how it feels. Maybe it’s actually a completely fine, so we’ll find out tomorrow.”

Esteban Ocon: “Yeah, I agree with Charles, I mean, I haven’t been around it. I just saw pictures for the moment. It could be slippery in the wet, could be very high grip, we can’t really tell until we really try. But that’s what I was, you know, speaking to Charles about. A long time ago, in our go-kart days, there was sort of paint put on tracks and it used to put down rubber and keep rubber a lot in corners. So that had a lot of grip. I don’t expect that to be the case. But, you know, it could do a lot of different things.”

Zhou Guanyu: “For me, obviously I haven’t been really driving here. Last time I drove here was in a road car, so I’m not going to comment much on that.”

Fernando Alonso: “Yeah, let’s wait and see. Until we drive we will not know.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “Yep, same. It depends on the type of the paint. We’ll get more of an idea once the Safety Car out, maybe in the afternoon. But same for everyone.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “It looks like they’ve painted the track or something. They’ve done something to the surface. I don’t know how the track’s going to change, or if it’s going to be the same or super slippery. But maybe that changes the way the tyres behave.”

Max Verstappen: “It looks like they’ve painted it, not resurfaced.”

Carlos Sainz: I think there are many unknowns, especially the tarmac looks like it’s been treated in a very particular way. I don’t think the FIA or the teams quite understand what has been done here: if it has been a full resurface or just a weird bitumen treatment to the track. It certainly looks very particular, and something we haven’t found recently at F1 circuits.”

Oscar Piastri: “This is really throwing it back, but when I raced in remote-controlled cars, often the tracks were painted in sort of black paint, and it actually looks quite similar to that. I don’t know if it will be grippy or not. I think if it’s wet, it’ll be a big unknown. You can kind of see where the cars have driven on track days or whatever it’s worn away the blackness, let’s say, in it. It doesn’t look resurfaced, it just looks like it’s had some bits ground away and then paint over the top. I’m sure it’s not going to be super slippery but it might just be a bit might behave a bit differently to what we’re used to.”

Taking on the challenge –

Norris: “I guess just excited. Always excited for every weekend, but especially when you haven’t been to a place for a while. For me, I didn’t get a proper experience of it back in 2019. So things have changed. I’m a very different driver to what I was back then. So I’m excited to see what it brings and how the whole weekend pans out I think anyway being a Sprint race and having two opportunities to try and nail the set-up for the first quali and then the set-up for the second quali. I think also there is plenty of opportunity. So I don’t think it’s not going to be exciting for anyone. I think there’s a lot of opportunities on the table, there’s a lot of things that can go wrong at the same time, so excited for all of it.”

Leclerc: “Yeah, no particular feelings obviously. As it’s Sprint weekend, there’s more preparation going into a Sprint and even more so on a track where we haven’t been for five years. However, there are also lots of unknown the paint, for example, as well as the track changes because the track changes over time, the bumps are maybe a bit bigger compared to a few years ago when we came here, but this we will only learn, all this new information, tomorrow. So adapting quickly will be very important. But there’s been a lot of preparation as it’s always the case on Sprint weekends.”

Esteban Ocon: “Yeah, a lot for us to discover on our side, you know, having the upgrades on the car as well on top of having not raced here for four or five years. There’s going to be a lot to see, a lot of fine tuning needed, a lot of understanding, going through. So, we don’t really have enough time, let’s put it that way, before we get into an important session. But it’s part of the game. It’s a challenge that I like, you know. You need to be ready. You need to nail every little detail before you get to the session that counts and yeah, that’s pretty cool as a challenge.”

Zhou Guanyu: “Yeah, I mean, all the others pretty much covered everything I think. From my side you know, it’s really important to have the confidence straightaway on the track and then we can quickly adapt, changing a little bit the driving line to see what we can extract from the set-up, balance and also the circuit come to quali all the teams, drivers are still going to be learning new things for our quali laps.”

Hulkenberg: “It’s going to be busy. It’s going to be hectic, you know, to process everything very quickly going into a Sprint weekend. It’s a challenge, but also offers opportunities, probably.”

Here’s first look of circuit after five years: https://x.com/F1/status/1780874406526636078

Here’s some track photos: https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1780832621796135388

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1780833770607706572

Here’s the F1 Chinese GP trophy presented by Lenovo (it will also be handed to the winner of Brazil GP): “Dreamed up by Lenovo and fashioned by iconic design firm Pininfarina, the trophy’s design was inspired by the laurel wreath and features a proximity sensor that activates the trophy’s light pattern called “Chase a Loop” that symbolizes the speed at which F1 cars race around the track. The sensor can be activated when the winning driver lifts the trophy overhead or when placed around the driver’s neck.”