China last hosted an F1 race in 2019 until the COVID-19 pandemic derailed its grand prix.
F1 now returns to the demanding Shanghai International Circuit after four seasons away, with teams facing several unknowns on how this generation of cars will perform there.
On top of that, the circuit has since been resurfaced, meaning very little existing data is valid at the 5.4km track outside Shanghai and the weekend is harder to prepare.
To add to the teams’ headaches, China has been selected as the first of six sprint venues this year, giving them only one 60-minute practice session to find the ideal set-up.
When asked by Motorsport.com about the decision to hold a sprint at Shanghai on its first year back, Verstappen replied sarcastically: “Yeah, it’s very smart to do that.
“I think it’s not great to do that because when you have been away from a track for quite a while, I think you never know what you’re going to experience, so it would have been better to have a normal race weekend there.
“On the other hand, it probably spices things up a bit more, and that’s maybe what they would like to see. But purely from a driving and performance perspective of the sport, I think it’s not the smartest thing to do.
“We’ll see what we get there. I always loved driving there, so hopefully we can hit the ground running as well as we can, and hopefully we don’t need to fine-tune too many things on the car.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
The sprints will follow a revised format this year, with free practice and sprint qualifying taking place on Friday, and the sprint race on Saturday.
The shortened race format will precede qualifying for the grand prix, which will occupy its usual Saturday slot followed by the full grand prix on Sunday.
That tweak means parc ferme will open again after the sprint race for Saturday qualifying, addressing complaints that the original format was too restrictive.
But the limitation of a single practice session remains, which according to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz goes a little bit too far in China’s case.
“I think China as a race circuit is a great one, I think it’s one of our favourites for everyone,” he said.
“It’s just a great racing track and a track that offers a good possibility to overtake, so a sprint makes sense to have it there.
“At the same time, it’s what we said in the drivers’ briefing to the FIA and Formula 1.
“With these kind of cars, to go to a…
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