Repair work carried out as FIA inspection raises concerns over Chinese GP

Formula 1 teams are unsure what sort of track they will be competing on at the Chinese Grand Prix after a wave of repairs have been carried out to fix a problem.

The sport hasn’t raced at the Shanghai International Circuit since 2019, meaning that the current era of ground-effect cars haven't had an opportunity to be put through their paces at the track.

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This era of technical regulations and the close proximity of the cars to the ground has resulted in them being extra sensitive to bumps.

An FIA inspection conducted late last year found that there were a few areas of the circuit that needed to be addressed (made flatter) for racing to be safe.

According to Autosport, the lack of recent, relevant data leaves room for plenty of ‘uncertainty’ among teams – with China’s return being treated like a new event.

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What is the problem with the Chinese Grand Prix circuit?

Pirelli’s Formula 1 chief engineer Simone Berra discussed the lack of relevant data and how difficult it makes the task of a return for both tyre supplier and teams.

“It's like a new circuit, honestly,” Berra told Autosport. “Because we have new cars, new tyres, the 18-inch [rims].

“The track was really not used in five years, it was just used for one race per year or something like that. So, it will be really green and quite dirty, although obviously, they will clean the track.

“In the past, it was quite rough in terms of both micro and macro roughness. We need to understand how ageing has gone in the last years.

“So not much data, and even for the teams it will be a big challenge, not just for us, but for the teams even more probably.”

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