The Formula 1 world championship returns to China this weekend after a five-year absence with some teams – led by Ferrari – hoping to dominate Red Bull and its championship leader Max Verstappen.
The Chinese event is making its return after four blank seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic . At the time, Briton Lewis Hamilton, “only” a five-time F1 world champion, was outrageously dominating the championship at the wheel of his Mercedes while Dutchman Verstappen had only five F1 victories.
But since 2019, things have changed a lot: the former, who became a seven-time world champion in 2020, is experiencing one of his worst starts to a season in F1 – the fault of a Mercedes that is still struggling – while the latter has dominated the championship for two years with Red Bull.
Favourite for this fifth meeting of the year, Max Verstappen – in search of his 58th Grand Prix victory – will however have to be wary of Ferrari, in pole position to knock him off his pedestal.
On a circuit that greatly deteriorates the tires, thus reducing grip, the Italian team proved to be the most efficient on this type of surface.
Red Bull are logically expecting the Scuderia to “probably be [their] closest competitor” this weekend, acknowledged their boss Christian Horner, whose position at the helm of the team no longer appears to be under threat. The Briton was suspected – and then cleared – of accusations of “inappropriate behaviour” towards a female employee at the start of the season, an affair that largely shook his team.
Ferrari, more efficient?
For the moment, “Mad Max” is leading the championship, 13 points ahead of his runner-up and teammate, the Mexican Sergio Perez (77 points against 64). Next come the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc (59 pts), third, and Carlos Sainz (55 pts), fourth.
If the Austrian team again achieved a double at the beginning of April at Suzuka (Japan), Sainz, 3rd in the race, showed all the strength of his SF-24 against the super-powerful RB20.
“On paper, I think it’s a circuit where we could be more competitive than Suzuka,” explained Leclerc, fourth in the Japanese GP. “But Red Bull will have the upper hand again this weekend.”
For the fifth meeting of the season, four drivers will discover the Shanghai international circuit aboard an F1 – first and foremost the local Zhou Guanyu.
“I couldn’t be more excited to finally race on home soil,” enthused the Shanghai native, who joined the elite in 2022. He will be the first Chinese in history to compete in Formula 1 in China.
First sprint of the year
The Chinese GP also marks the return on Saturday of a sprint race that offers additional points to the championship. But unlike last year, F1 and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) have revised its format .
Thus, Friday’s free practice hour will be followed by sprint qualifying. Saturday will be dedicated to the sprint race, followed later in the day by “classic” qualifying, which will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s GP.
While this change in format has been welcomed by the teams – who will now be able to work longer on the single-seaters without being penalized – the timing of this first sprint race is not unanimous.
The drivers will only have one hour of free practice to acclimatize to this track at the wheel of their “new generation” F1, dating from 2022.
“It’s very smart to do that” in China, Verstappen joked at the beginning of April, after the Japanese GP which he won.
For Sainz, if it is a “circuit that offers good overtaking possibilities”, going “directly to qualifying after an hour of testing is not a good choice after five years of absence”.
