First sprint race of the season in Shanghai! Plus, discover the F1 Academy's debut and circuit challenges.
Racing
This weekend hosts the first sprint race of the season! As a result, the setup of the F1 schedule will look a little different this weekend. It is also another late-night race for fans in North and South America, with Free Practice One starting at 11:30 pm EST on Thursday, March 12th. Following FP1 is Sprint Qualifying, which will take place at 3:30 am EST on March 13th, with the Sprint Race at 11:00 pm EST on the same day. Qualifying will start at 3:00 am EST on March 14th, and the Race will take place at 3:00 am EST on the 15th.
To learn more about the sprint race click this link!
This weekend is also the season opener for F1 Academy, an all-female feeder series. This will be their first of 7 race weekends across the F1 calendar. Their Free Practice and Qualifying will take place on Friday, with Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday.
There will also be other racing series with races throughout the weekend. The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, which is a regular support team at the circuit, will have events throughout the weekend. The SRO GT Cup/ Greater Bay Area GT Cup will have a thirty-minute race on Sunday. Lastly, there will be other Historical Support Races.
Track details
The Chinese Grand Prix takes place at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, which has hosted the event since 2004. The Grand Prix was suspended from 2020 to 2023 due to COVID before making its return to the calendar in 2024. The 2024 Chinese Grand Prix was particularly special as Zhou Guanyu, the first full-time Chinese F1 driver, got to race at his home circuit for the first time.
The circuit is 5.451 km (3.387 miles) long with 16 turns along the track. It is known for its complex, high speed sequence of turns 1-2 which has a 270-degree right-hander before they quickly dart left for turns 3 and 4. This circuit is also home to one of the longest straights on the calendar, 1.2 km which separates turns 13 and 14. The race consists of 56 laps and the sprint race is 19 laps.
Weather conditions for the race seem favorable for racing. There is no rain forecasted, the air temperature is going to be around 63 degrees fahrenheit (17 celsius) and the track temperature is expected to be around 91 degrees fahrenheit (33 celsius), making for good racing conditions.