NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

It’s time for Round 2 of the 2025 Formula 1 season, with the Shanghai International Circuit set to host the Chinese Grand Prix following the event’s return to the calendar last year. Need to Know is your all-in-one guide with statistics, driving pointers, strategy tips and plenty more.

The weekend will mark the first Sprint of the campaign, meaning that the format is set to look a little different. Free Practice 1 and Sprint Qualifying take place on Friday, March 21, followed by the Sprint and Qualifying for the Grand Prix on Saturday, March 22 and the Grand Prix itself on Sunday, March 23.

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Vital statistics

First Grand Prix – 2004
Track Length – 5.451km
Lap record – 1m 32.238s, Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004
Most pole positions – Lewis Hamilton (6)
Most wins – Lewis Hamilton (6)
Trivia – The circuit is designed to look like the Chinese symbol for ‘shang’, meaning upwards
Pole run to Turn 1 braking point – 315 metres
Overtakes completed in 2024 – 102
Safety Car probability – 75%
Virtual Safety Car probability – 75%
Pit stop time loss – 23.9 seconds (including 2.5s stationary)

The driver’s verdict

Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver: Shanghai is a circuit with long straights and even longer corners.

The first corner is unique with a wickedly fast approach before you scrub off the speed through an almost 360 degree turn which feels never-ending from the cockpit. That brings you into a slow left-hander where the exit is crucial for traction to the end of a short Sector 1.

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Sector 2 is a nicer section of fast sweeping bends, again gradually scrubbing speed through the high-speed sequence of Turns 7, 8 and 9.

Sector 3 again features an almost endless righ-hand turn, building speed this time onto the back straight, another reason this circuit is so hard on the left-front tyre.

The back straight is the best overtaking opportunity with DRS into a big braking zone for a really tight right-hander, leaving just a quick and satisfying left-hander to round out the lap.

ONBOARD: Max Verstappen’s 2024 Pirelli Pole Position Award lap at the Chinese Grand Prix

Last five Chinese GP polesitters

2024 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2019 – Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
2018 – Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
2017 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2016 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

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Last five Chinese GP winners

2024 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2019 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2018 – Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
2017 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2016 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

SHANGHAI, CHINA - APRIL 21: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull — Verstappen claimed his fourth Grand Prix victory of the season when F1 returned to China in 2024

Tyre and strategy insight

While Pirelli will bring the same tyre selection this weekend as they did in 2024 – that being the C2 as hard, C3 as medium and C4 as soft – these compounds are now different to last year, with the C2 in particular softer than before and as such more like the C3 than in the past.

The fact that it is a Sprint weekend also means that the slick tyre allocation changes a little; each driver still receives two sets of hard tyres, but they receive four medium sets rather than three and six softs instead of eight, bringing the total to 12 sets rather than the standard 13. The number of wet-weather tyres remains the same.

Reflecting on potential strategy choices, Pirelli’s weekend preview reads: “There were three interruptions last year – one VSC and two Safety Cars – which significantly influenced the outcome of the race, both in terms of the number of stops and the sequence in which the compounds were used.

“In the case of the former, three of the drivers who finished in the top 10 made just one stop, six pitted twice and one even three times. As for the latter, the majority of drivers opted to line up on the grid on the medium, with the C3 also completing the most stints (46%).

“However, when it came to the highest mileage, that went to the C2 (57%). The C4 also played its part, with four drivers choosing it for the start, while Fernando Alonso drove his longest stint on this, the softest tyre.”

Pirelli have also highlighted the “special challenges” that this round of the championship poses, “not just for the teams and drivers, but also for Pirelli, starting with a completely resurfaced track and just one hour of free practice to see how much it has changed compared to past years.

“Last summer, a new surface was laid down on the track and the pit lane at the Shanghai International Circuit. It has only been used a few times towards the end of 2024 and should be smoother than before and, as this is the first event of the year to be held at SIC, it’s logical to expect the track to evolve very quickly.

“Furthermore, as was the case in 2024, this will also be the first Sprint format event of the year, with just one free practice session on Friday. That means only 60 minutes to find the right car set-up and evaluate the performance of the various compounds over a long run, even if Saturday’s short race is a great test bed to fully assess at least one of them.”

It continues: “An important factor to consider this weekend will be the temperatures. It’s the first time that Shanghai hosts the Grand Prix in March when average temperatures rarely exceed 18C. Although in fact, the forecast for the weekend is to see them climb above 20C as from Friday, reaching a high of 26C on Saturday.

“While this is therefore considerably warmer than usual at this time, it is actually pretty similar to conditions seen last year for example, when the race was held in the third week of April."

SHANGHAI, CHINA - APRIL 21: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas — Rain hit Shanghai during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend in 2024

Current form

McLaren were seen by many as the favourites entering into 2025, the Woking-based outfit having ended the last campaign with their first Teams’ Championship in 26 years. And while the likes of Lando Norris played this down, the squad certainly looked strong at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri secured a front row lockout for Sunday’s race, with polesitter Norris going on to master the changing weather conditions en route to victory – which also made the Briton the first driver other than Max Verstappen to lead the World Championship standings since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.

Just days on from his win, Norris will be keen to continue this form in Shanghai – while Piastri will hope to bounce back after sliding onto the grass when the rain fell in Melbourne, dropping down the order from P2 before eventually salvaging P9.

Verstappen, meanwhile, led Red Bull’s charge to second place in Australia, a result that he hailed as a “decent starting point” for the outfit as he looks to defend his Drivers’ title.

Tied at the top of the Teams’ standings with McLaren are Mercedes, the Silver Arrows having claimed P3 and P4 with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli respectively. It was a positive start for the squad, leading Russell to declare that they “seemed a step ahead of Ferrari”.

Indeed, it was perhaps not the first weekend as a Scuderia driver that Lewis Hamilton had hoped for, with the seven-time World Champion ending the day down in P10 while team mate Charles Leclerc took P8. The Italian outfit are now “on the back foot”, according to Leclerc, after their pace struggles.

Elsewhere, Williams caught the eye with a strong weekend in Australia, Racing Bulls were unable to deliver on the promise they had displayed earlier on and Haas were faced with the “unwelcome surprise” of being at the back of the field – while several of the rookies will have a point to prove in China after struggling in the tricky weather conditions last weekend.

With only one Grand Prix of a 24-round calendar complete, one thing for certain is that there are plenty of twists and turns still to come in what looks set to be an exciting season ahead.

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Iconic moment

There are plenty of moments to choose from when looking back over the history of the Chinese Grand Prix, which joined the F1 calendar back in 2004, but one of the most iconic is perhaps Michael Schumacher’s final F1 win.

Ferrari driver Schumacher brilliantly came out on top in a battle against Renault title rival Fernando Alonso during a wet-dry 2006 encounter, having posted a no-score and DNF on his previous two visits to Shanghai, to draw level with the Spaniard in the standings.

While it was ultimately not to be an eighth world title for the legendary German racer, with Alonso pipping him to the crown, it marked the 91st and last victory of an incredible career in the top echelon.

Check out highlights of that memorable race in the video player below...