Circuits
Round 2 · Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai International CircuitShanghai, China
5.451 km
Lap length
16
Corners
7 left, 9 right
Clockwise
Direction
—
F1 races held
first running
What makes it different
- Turns 1–3 form a single 270-degree corner that tightens all the way through, so a car is turning for about nine seconds and the entry speed you pick is committed before you can see the exit.
- The back straight is close to 1.2 km - one of the longest full-throttle stretches in F1, which forces a wing level the twisty final sector does not want.
- The circuit was built on reclaimed rice-paddy marshland, which took roughly 40,000 concrete piles sunk into the ground to support the track ahead of its 2004 debut.
Historic moments
2025 · Three cars thrown out after the flag
Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two, and then scrutineering gutted the rest of the order: Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly were disqualified for cars a kilogram under the 800 kg minimum, and Lewis Hamilton for a skid block worn past the legal limit. It was the first time both Ferraris had been disqualified from the same Grand Prix.
2007 · Hamilton's title slips away in the gravel
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, in his rookie season, slid off at the pit entry on a worn set of intermediate tyres and beached his McLaren in the gravel trap, retiring on the spot. Kimi Räikkönen won the race and closed to within seven points, a gap that decided the title in Ferrari's favour a week later.
2004 · Built to spell a character
Designer Hermann Tilke shaped the opening corners after the Chinese character 上 - meaning "ascend" - for China's first-ever Grand Prix in 2004, won from pole by Rubens Barrichello.
Chinese Grand Prix coverage
No coverage is tagged to the Chinese Grand Prix yet - stories are matched to a round while the weekend is running, so this fills in from practice onwards.
The Chinese Grand Prix preview has the session times and what to watch for, and the standings show where the season sits.