Shanghai back after five years
Posted on April 17, 2024 Tags: Daniel Ricciardo
Alex didn’t see Daniel!
AFTER WHAT COULD BEST be described as a diabolical start in Japan last up, both Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon will be praying the gods are with them around one of the series top circuits.
The Japan Grand Prix last up simply could not have been any worse for RB’s Daniel and Williams’ Alex, tangling and crashing out on Lap 1 to bring out the red flags at Suzuka.
Japan 2024 – A Sad Memory
It was a disaster for both drivers – Daniel and Alex – and they’ll be hellbent to make amends around that magnificent Shanghai International Circuit, a onetime swamp on the outskirts of this vast and extraordinary city.
Poor start for RB pair
“Everyone who started on the soft – well, at least the cars in front on the medium looked to fare okay,” said Daniel.
“But myself and Yuki had a pretty poor getaway on the medium, and all the cars behind on the soft just got us quite easily.
“We were just kind of scrambling obviously for some grip. By Turn 2 it had settled a little bit, but then I remember getting out of 2 still with a little bit of lack of traction and I remember an Aston on my left, so I was kind of watching that car.
“Then, as I was starting to drift to open up 3, I felt Alex. I saw his onboard and he just had so much better drive out of 2. I don’t even know if he wanted to be there, but he could see me kind of going a little bit sideways.” Daniel Ricciardo
I don’t think Daniel saw me
“I think I had not a great start, but obviously a bit better than the medium tyre [drivers]. I had good traction coming out of Turn 2 and that was it really,” Alex responded.
“I don’t think Daniel saw me and then it was just a bit of a pinching moment.
“I tried to back out of it but couldn’t quite get out of the way quickly enough. It was a tough one to take.” ALEX ALBON
Race stewards looked into the incident, deciding against any further action.
Shanghai International Circuit
This weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix at the magnificent Shanghai International Circuit is back on the calendar after a five-year break.
I well remember the vast and magnificent city of Shanghai when I was fortunate to travel to China in 2004 for the second overseas venture of the then V8 Supercars, under the guidance of AVESCO.
It was a memorable event in more ways than one!
Travelling to the vast city’s outskirts, we marveled the brand spanking new Shanghai International Stadium, another of renowned architect and designer Hermann Tilke’s masterful creations.
The event was in June, that year just a month after the opening of this remarkable venue.
It was an exciting and memorable adventure for the teams, the drivers, the officials = and the considerable number of fans who made their way to follow their Supercars dream.
The redoubtable Tim Schenken – race director exemplaire – and his team did a superb job throughout the week.
As did all the CAMS and AVESCO officials, under extraordinary circumstances.
For those of you who may have forgotten, Tim also completed 35 F1 Grand Prix in the ’70s.
I felt it was a triumph for Supercars, at the time. Although I’m not too sure then AVESCO head honcho Tony Cochran,” said Daniel.
felt the same.
Were there any hiccups? You betcha!
But there is no question hosting the series in Shanghai at such a prestigious venue put the championship on the global map, reinforcing its status as a premier racing series.
Remember the very first Chinese F1 Grand Prix was held in September 2004 at the same Shanghai circuit, just three months after Supercars had successfully bedded in the track.
The first Aussie international sortie was across the ditch in New Zealand in 2001, then China in 2004, UAE at Abu Dhabi 2006, and the US at the Circuit of the Americas in 2013.
There’s no doubt these global events showcased Supercars, Australia’s top tier of motor racing, and highlighted the exquisite skills of our drivers and their respective teams.
But such ventures come at an extraordinary cost.
As you might expect it is, and was, a hugely expensive and risky proposition. So, there is little surprise Supercars now restricts its overseas ventures to its annual excursion to NZ.
And that’s where this weekend you’ll find the whole Aussie caravanserai, readying for the hugely popular Taupo Super400 at the Taupo Intenational Motorsport Park.
Meanwhile, the Chinese F1 Grand returns for the first time since 2019, an event that marked the 1000th event in the history of motorsport’s most prestigious world championship.
As the world prepared to grapple with the onslaught of Covid.
All 16 editions of the Chinese Grand Prix have been run on the superb Shanghai International Circuit – its outline loosely based on the Chinese “shang” character, meaning “up above.”
The 5.451-kilometre-long track boasts 16 corners, many of them very slow, as the section through turns 1 to 3 and 6 to 14, while others are high speed like the esses through turns 7 and 8.
There are two long straights, both used as a DRS zone, with one on the start-finish straight and the other on the over a kilometre-long back straight, from turn 13, which is slightly banked into turn 14.
Based on simulations and past data, the tyres are subjected to lateral and longitudinal forces here that fall into the medium category, with the outside of the tyre, especially on the left-hand side of the car, wearing the most.
Pirelli has chosen the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft. Nominally, that’s the same selection as in 2019 but the scenario is very different.
The Chinese Grand Prix is the first of six events this season running to the Sprint format, which itself has been slightly modified for this year in terms of the running order of the sessions.
Free practice and Sprint qualifying are on Friday, the Sprint race and qualifying on Saturday, with the Grand Prix, as always, on the Sunday.
Parc ferme has also been changed, now split into two parts: one which covers qualifying and the Sprint race, and the other starting before Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.
That means only one hour of free practice on Friday to find the right set-up for the cars and, above all, to evaluate the tyres over a long run on a track that will inevitably be in far from optimal condition.
Shanghai, China
There’s plenty of wet weather on the horizon around the vast city of Shanghai this week.
April in the district Suzuka – Cherry Blossoms & F1can see a marked change in temperatures with variations of around 10 °C, which adds another variable to the puzzle that the teams and drivers must piece together.
Of the 20 drivers that make up the grid this year, just three have stood on the top step of the Shanghai podium: Lewis Hamilton (six times), Fernando Alonso (twice) and Daniel Ricciardo (once). Hamilton also has six Shanghai poles to his name and has scored 204 points here.
Of the teams, Mercedes heads the field with six wins ahead of Ferrari with four, while Red Bull has won twice. In fact, it was here in 2009 that Sebastian Vettel gave the maiden victory to the team that, then as now, is run by Christian Horner.
EDITED by AC
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