Shanghai International Circuit

Shanghai International Circuit
Location	Shanghai, China
Time zone	UTC+08:00
Coordinates	31°20′20″N 121°13′11″E / 31.33889°N 121.21972°E
Capacity	200,000
FIA Grade	1
Opened	2004
Construction cost	$450 million
Architect	Hermann Tilke
Major events	Formula One; Chinese Grand Prix; MotoGP; Chinese motorcycle Grand Prix
Website	https://www.f1-shanghai.com
Length	5.451 km (3.387 miles)
Turns	16
Race lap record	1:32.238 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)

The Shanghai International Circuit (simplified Chinese: 上海国际赛车场; traditional Chinese: 上海國際賽車場; pinyin: Shànghǎi Guójì Sàichēchǎng) is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, which was first hosted in 2004.

History

Costing approximately $450 million (USD), the circuit was financed by a government-funded joint-venture company, consisting of the Shanghai Juss Corporation, Shanghai National Property Management Co Ltd, and Shanghai Jia'an Investment and Development Co Ltd. Architectural and design experts began planning and visiting the site between April and May 2003, and the area was transformed from swampland to international racetrack within 18 months with a team of 3000 engineers working around the clock.

Other events held at the circuit include a round of the MotoGP world championship, the Australian-based V8 Supercar championship in 2005, attracting crowds of over 250,000 spectators, and also the final round of the A1 Grand Prix in 2006/2007.

The 2008 MotoGP race was the last one on this circuit, as the FIM didn't select the racetrack for the provisional calendar of 2009. This is due to overcrowding problems in the circuit.^[1]

In September 2007, former manager of the circuit Yu Zhifei ^[2] was convicted of embezzlement as part of a corruption scandal in Shanghai which resulted in the dismissal of several senior Chinese Communist Party officials.^[3]

Partly due to location of the circuit, areas around turns 1, 8 and 14 have been sinking, and therefore the circuit had to be inspected before the 2011 event took place.^[4]

The Chinese Grand Prix attracted 260,000 spectators in its inaugural year in 2004 with a slight 10,000 increase in 2005, but attendance has since declined with 155,000 attending in 2010. On Feb 18, 2011, Reuters reported words from the Chinese Grand Prix organizers said Shanghai has extended the deal to host the Chinese Grand Prix to 2018 despite falling attendance. Reuters reported words from Yiping Chen, deputy director of the Shanghai Sports Bureau, suggested the situation can improve in the following years by lowering the ticket cost. Reuters reported prices for prime seats range would decrease from 3,580-3,980 yuan in 2010 to 1,980-3,280 yuan in 2011.^[5] On the same day, AFP reported that the Shanghai City government will keep open a subway line to the race track to boost spectator numbers from April 15–17, 2011.^[6]

The Feb 18, 2011 Reuters news also reported words from Wen Zhao, vice-mayor of Shanghai, suggested F1 is a calling card for Shanghai and he is confident that the success of the event in the years ahead.^[5]

Layout

In common with many other new Formula One circuits, it was designed by Hermann Tilke, and also features his trademark track feature: a long back straight followed by a hairpin turn. Current-generation F1 cars can easily surpass 300 km/h (186 mph) on the long straight between corners 13 and 14.^[7] The track layout was inspired from the Chinese character shang (上) the first character in the name of the city Shanghai, meaning "above" or "ascend".^[8] One lap lasts 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi). The whole circuit plus seating areas and other areas for spectators, covers a total area of 5.3 km².

A Lap in a Formula One car

The circuit starts with a very long right-hander (it is about 300 degrees) that starts fast but slows towards the end before a sharp left-hander. The circuit then speeds up with a short right-hander and you get up to Gear 7 before you break heavily for the Turn 6 hairpin which is a right-hander. You accelerate away from there towards a long, fast left-hander then a long, fast right-hander. Afterwards, there are two fairly sharp, medium speed left handers which run onto a short straight. You then have a sharp, slow left-hander which is Turn 11, before a long, fast right-hander which is classified as two turns by the designer, Hermann Tilke. This leads onto a very long back straight, the longest in Formula One, at 1170m. This is as long as 11 football pitches or three and a half of the world's longest aircraft carriers.^[9] This can be hard on the cars' engines. As usual for a circuit designed by Hermann Tilke, the long straight ends with a slow corner, in this case, a right-handed hairpin. After the hairpin, the circuit bends right slightly before a relatively fast left-hander to finish.

The total length of the circuit is 5.451 km (3.387 mi), which is about average for a Formula One circuit. The lap record was set by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in 2004. He completed one lap of the circuit in 1:32.238.

Records

Category	Record	Circuit Length (m)	Driver/Rider	Team	Bike/Chassis	Date
Formula One	1:32.238	5451	Michael Schumacher	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2004	September 26, 2004
GP2 Asia Series	1:46.470	5451	Kamui Kobayashi	DAMS	Dallara GP2/08	October 18, 2008
A1GP	1:51.832	5451	Darren Manning	Team Great Britain	Lola B05/52	April 1, 2006
MotoGP	1:58.139	5281	Colin Edwards	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha YZR-M1	May 3, 2008
250cc	2:04.543	5281	Jorge Lorenzo	Fortuna Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 250	May 5, 2007
125cc	2:11.572	5281	Mika Kallio	Red Bull KTM GP 125	KTM 125 FRR	May 13, 2006
V8 Supercars^[10]	1:51.056	4600	Todd Kelly	Holden Racing Team	Holden VZ Commodore	June 12, 2005