Fourth time lucky for F1’s sprint race format? Six Chinese GP talking points · RaceFans

Formula 1 returns to China this weekend for the first time since before the world was transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 17th Chinese Grand Prix will be the first to feature a home driver on the grid. It will also play host to the first of six sprint rounds on this year’s calendar.

While most of the attention will be focused naturally on the front of the field as Ferrari look to challenge Red Bull for victory for the second time in three rounds, there’s also plenty of intrigue further down the order.

Here are the talking points for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Return to Shanghai

The Shanghai International Circuit is no stranger to Formula 1, having featured for 16 consecutive seasons after joining the championship 20 years ago. However, this weekend will be the first time that the race will be held since 2019 – when the series marked its 1,000th grand prix.

Despite this extended break from the calendar, only four drivers on the current grid have not raced a Formula 1 car at the track: Oscar Piastri, Yuki Tsunoda, Logan Sargeant and Shanghai’s own Zhou Guanyu.

While the circuit layout remains the same it has always been, teams will not have any data from a modern ground effect car to help choose their set-ups for the weekend. But there is another factor that could also complicate matters.

The circuit recently underwent a major renovation with relayed asphalt and this will be the first major racing event held on the relayed track. As seen in recent years at venues like Istanbul, it takes time for resurfaced circuits to offer up ideal grip. Which makes the fact this is the first sprint weekend of the season all the more significant.

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The right place for a sprint race?

Featuring one of the longest straights of any of the 24 circuits, Shanghai has one of the most prominent overtaking zones of the year in the form of the hairpin of turn 14. But with plenty of passes also being made into turn six at the end of the opening sector or turn 11 at the end of the second, it maybe makes sense why FOM and the FIA have chosen it for the opening sprint round of the 2024 season.

However, what does not make sense to many of the drivers is why the powers-that-be have opted for a sprint race at a venue that has not hosted a grand prix for over five years. They see potential for a repeat of the problems seen in Losail and the Circuit of…