Shanghai International Circuit

The Shanghai International Circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke and opened in 2004, its layout based on the Chinese character 上 (shàng). Built on reclaimed marshland, the entire facility sits on tens of thousands of concrete piles, and the surface has needed repeated attention as a result.

Turn one is the circuit's signature. It is a long right-hander that keeps tightening as it goes, running into turn two and then immediately reversing into turn three — a sequence that lasts around 270 degrees and takes cars from high speed down to walking pace. Getting it right sets up the entire first sector; getting it wrong loses time all the way to turn six.

The other defining feature is the back straight, at 1.2 km one of the longest on the calendar, ending in the tight turn fourteen hairpin. That combination makes it the best overtaking opportunity of the lap and the reason cars run a lower-downforce compromise here than the corner count alone would suggest.