Have all the important information for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix at your fingertips with the F1 Fanatic race programme:
The race weekend
2011 Chinese Grand Prix preview – Vettel aims for fifth consecutive win in China
2011 Chinese Grand Prix information – Session times, support races and more
Championship points – Sebastian Vettel has a 24-point leading heading into round three
Reserve drivers
The following changes to the usual driver line-up will be made for first practice only:
Nico Hulkenberg will drive for Force India in place of Adrian Sutil.
Daniel Ricciardo will drive for Toro Rosso in first practice in place of Jaime Alguersuari.
Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia will drive for Lotus in place of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.
Tyres
Teams will use the hard and soft tyres this weekend, as they did for the first two races.
The yellow bands introduced in the last race to help identify the soft tyres will be replaced by silver bands in some cases due to a shortage of materials (image courtesy of Virgin on Twitter).
The track
Video preview of the Shanghai International Circuit from Williams:
First used in 2004, the Shanghai International Circuit is hosting the eighth Chinese Grand Prix this year.
Over the winter the race organisers have worked to smooth out some of the bumps that have developed since the track was built.
Among its distinctive features are a pair of 270-degree right-handers – one at the start of the lap entered at high speed, and one preceding a 1.1km-long straight, the longest on the F1 calendar, designed to encourage overtaking.
Last year Lewis Hamilton hit a top speed of 318kph during the race before braking for the very slow turn 14 hairpin.
Full data on the Shanghai International Circuit here:
The weather
It’s often cool and wet at Shanghai for this race. Warmer conditions are expected on Friday but there’s a chance of rain on Saturday.
Following the race live
F1 Fanatic Live will be open for your comments during every session.
Join us for every lap of the race, qualifying and practice at these times:
Friday 15th April 2011
Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice 1: 10:00-11:30 (UK time: 3:00-4:30)
Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice 2: 14:00-15:30 (UK time: 7:00-8:30)
Saturday 16th April 2011
Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice 3: 11:00-12:00 (UK time: 4:00-5:00)
Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying: 14:00 (UK time: 7:00)
Sunday 17th April 2011
Chinese Grand Prix: 15:00 (UK time: 8:00)
More session times and live coverage details here:
Also make sure you follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the race weekend:
- Follow F1 Fanatic on Twitter for news, comment and more
- Follow F1 Fanatic Live for updates during every session
- Follow F1 Fanatic Update so you never miss an article
2010 Chinese Grand Prix highlights
The Red Bull drivers locked out the front row of the grid but it was the McLaren duo who scored a one-two finish on race day.
Jenson Button scored his second win for his new team as an early rain shower caught out his rivals.
2010 Chinese Grand Prix review – Button leads McLaren to one-two in wet race
Previous Chinese Grands Prix
2009 Chinese Grand Prix: Vettel leads Webber in Red Bull one-two
2008 Chinese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton on cusp of title after dominant win
2007 Chinese Grand Prix: Raikkonen win blows title race open
2006 Chinese Grand Prix: Schumacher win puts title leaders level on points
2005 Chinese Grand Prix: Renault claim constructors’ championship
Join in the 2011 F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship
There’s F1 races tickets DVDs and more to be won. Play for free by guessing the top five in each race.
You can enter and edit your predictions up to the start of practice three on Saturday:
Main image design by PJ Tierney | Image © McLaren
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
14th April 2011, 8:53
Wow! I sky rocketed from 1,018th to 236th in the predictions!
I don’t think I got that high all of last year. Actually, I probably got much higher, just not in the predictions :P
Here comes China!
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
14th April 2011, 9:13
Yellow is in shortage,sounds weird doesn’t it. Then again, I haven’t a clue as to what it takes to put a yellow stripe on a tyre.
Is the colour somehow a compound that is actually part of the tyre and not just a colour that’s applied?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
14th April 2011, 9:16
I think they’re just spinning the tyres and using markers to apply the colour – not sure though.
BasCB (@bascb)
14th April 2011, 9:18
No,its painted on with markers or something like that.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
14th April 2011, 9:27
OK, Thanks for the answers.
Jim
14th April 2011, 9:27
Silver bands on the options but silver writing on the primes? Confusing…
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
14th April 2011, 9:31
Only for Steve Slater :)
Coxy
14th April 2011, 9:36
God dam it ive read all the articles! Looks like i am just going to have to do that stuff called work which i have been putting off all morning!
Oh a nd keith keep up the good work best page on the web by far!!!!
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
14th April 2011, 9:41
The silver stripe will only confuse the issue!!!
Also could you post a link for where you got those race preview images from? I’ve seen them all but didn’t copy the link :(
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
14th April 2011, 10:09
The link is in the article.
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
14th April 2011, 18:53
Don’t worry, found it now:
High resolution gallery: http://cargocollective.com/PJTierney#1154977/Formula-1-2011-Poster-Series
Low res (all on the same page) http://www.pjtierney.net/2011/03/f1-fanatic-race-banners.html
PJ
14th April 2011, 10:16
I’m gonna miss the race because I’m working in Paris :(
Looks like I’m on a media blockout for 4 days until I can catch the Red Button when I get back.
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
14th April 2011, 17:23
Y, know, I think the race banner using your poster would look better on these race programme’s if it cut off the text and the dates at the bottom. Just a thought :)
PJ
14th April 2011, 21:51
Tried it, couldn’t fit perfectly with F1F’s banner dimensions. These look better as they’re more integrated with the F1F style, the Blue is awesome.
On a related note I’ll be launching the full-season poster next week: http://www.pjtierney.net/2011/04/coming-soon-full-season-f1-poster.html
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
14th April 2011, 13:33
Really looking forward to this. My birthday this weekend too, bonus!
The tyre stripe change doesn’t really make much of a difference. Just ignore the colour of the writing altogether and remember Bridgestone had a stripe on their softer tyre too.
Fixy (@)
14th April 2011, 13:52
What? Silver is the colour of hard tyres, how can they do something so confusing?
Owl
14th April 2011, 14:46
It’s confusing.
If you’re under the age of 6….Apip Ibrahim Rofik
16th April 2011, 10:51
I’m sure Sebastian Vetel will easily defeat his opponent opponent, and become champion in China F1GP 2011. because it was so perfect Vetel Sebastian took a position at the front and no one can beat his ability to control his car and support techniques and mechanics of the car and Team Red Bull Renault in maximum.