GafferSports - Global Sport

China

Chinese GP

Saturday 15th of October 2005
&
Sunday 16th of October 2005

 Venue:  Shanghai
 No. of Laps:  56
 Lap Distance:  5.455 km
 Race Distance:  305.480 km
 Lap Record:  Michael Schumacher 1'32.238


 
Circuit Details
Having a grand prix in China is a dream come true for Bernie and Max. The same can be said for China, which has spent over nine years trying to get on the F1 calendar.
Like the new Bahrain circuit, the track in Shanghai has been built from scratch. It's not been an easy ride though. Designer Hermann Tilke was faced with a site that was a 300m-deep swamp and very flat. The load on the soil would be too heavy to take so the entire track foundation is made out of polystyrene and built on 40,000 piles of 40m to 80m deep. Like many of Tilke's designs, the German tries to incorporate features and symbolism of the country - in this case the track itself is shaped like the sign of 'Shang', which means 'rising'.

Fans will be pleased to hear the track has several overtaking opportunities, that's the view of Jenson Button, who has visited the track under construction. The only doubt among some is the infrastructure in and around Shanghai and the culture shock to the teams of the country itself. The business it will generate though is sure to outweigh any difficulties.

2004

1 Rubens Barrichello
2 Jenson Button
3 Kimi Raikkonen
4 Fernando Alonso
5 Juan Pablo Montoya
6 Takuma Sato
7 Giancarlo Fisichella
8 Felipe Massa
 2005 Calendar
 Australian GP  06-03-05
 Malaysian GP  20-03-05
 Bahrain GP  03-04-05
 San Marino GP  24-04-05
 Spanish GP  08-05-05
 Monaco GP  22-05-05
 European GP  29-05-05
 Canadian GP  12-06-05
 American GP  19-06-05
 French GP  03-07-05
 British GP  10-07-05
 German GP  24-07-05
 Hungarian GP  31-07-05
 Turkish GP  21-08-05
 Italian GP  04-09-05
 Belgian GP  11-09-05
 Brazilian GP  25-09-05
 Japanese GP  09-10-05
 Chinese GP  16-10-05

 2005 Drivers
 Michael Schumacher
 Rubens Barrichello
 Jenson Button
 Takuma Sato
 Fernando Alonso
 Giancarlo Fisichella
 Kimi Raikkonen
 Juan Pablo Montoya
 David Coulthard
 Christian Klien
 Ralf Schumacher
 Jarno Trulli
 Felipe Massa
 Jacques Villeneuve
 Mark Webber
 Nick Heidfeld
 Christijan Albers
 Patrick Friesacher
 Tiago Monteiro
 Narain Karthikeyan
 Anthony Davidson
 Pedro de la Rosa
 Vitantonio Liuzzi

 2005 Teams
 Ferrari
 Williams
 McLaren
 Renault
 BAR
 Sauber
 Red Bull Racing
 Minardi
 Jordan
 Toyota