Here are all the facts and stats you need to know about the Shanghai International Circuit ahead of the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix!
?? RACE WINNERS
Since the first Chinese Grand Prix in 2004, there have been fifteen races held at the Shanghai International Circuit. From those fifteen races, there have been nine different winners.
Lewis Hamilton has the most wins of any driver here, having stood on the top step of the podium five times. His Mercedes team are the constructor with the most victories here, also having taken five wins. Meanwhile, British drivers have had the most wins here, with six total victories when Jenson Button’s 2010 victory is added to Hamilton’s five wins at the track. Mercedes have powered the most victories here, with Mercedes-powered cars taking eight Chinese Grand Prix wins.
Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to have taken back-to-back wins at the Shanghai circuit, with his consecutive victories coming in 2014 and 2015.
On the 2019 grid, there are four previous winners of the Chinese Grand Prix. Aside from Lewis Hamilton’s five victories, Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo have each won here once.
The longest streak of different winners at this track is seven. From the first race held here in 2004 all the way through to 2010, there were no repeat winners.
The largest Chinese Grand Prix victory margin came in 2016, when Nico Rosberg won by 37.776 seconds. Meanwhile, the smallest win margin came in the previous year, when Lewis Hamilton won by just 0.714 seconds.
Five races at this track have been won by less than five seconds. The average win margin at the Chinese Grand Prix is 10.206 seconds.
?? ON THE PODIUM
Sixteen different drivers have finished on the podium at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton is the driver with most podiums at this track, having finished in the top three eight times. Ferrari are the team with the most podiums here, with twelve. British and German drivers are tied for the most podium finishes at the circuit, each having finished in the top three twelve times.
From the current grid, there are six previous podium finishers at the Shanghai International Circuit. Hamilton has the most with eight, Sebastian Vettel has had five top three finishes here, while Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat and Valtteri Bottas have each finished on the podium once in Shanghai.
The polesitter at this track has gone on to finish on the podium twelve times.
Just two podium finishes have come from lower than tenth on the grid at the Chinese Grand Prix. The lowest grid slot a podium finish has come from here is eighteenth, which Mark Webber achieved in 2011.
The 2010 Chinese Grand Prix is the only time none of the top three qualifiers have finished on the podium at this track.
More podium finishes have come from third on the grid than from second on the grid.
?? POLESITTERS
There have been five different Chinese Grand Prix polesitters in the race’s fifteen-year history.
With six pole positions at the track, Lewis Hamilton holds the record for the most poles in China. Mercedes have taken the most poles of any team here, with a six year streak of pole positions being ended last season by Ferrari. British and German drivers have the most poles here, with six apiece.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are the only drivers on the 2019 grid to have previously taken a pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix. Vettel has had four starts from the front of the grid compared to Hamilton’s six.
There has never been a streak of more than three different polesitters at the Shanghai International Circuit, though that could change this weekend if neither Hamilton or Vettel take pole.
Three drivers have taken back-to-back poles at the Chinese Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso was first to take consecutive poles at the track, in 2005 and 2006. Sebastian Vettel took three consecutive poles here in 2009, 2010 and 2011, while Lewis Hamilton has taken consecutive poles here twice, in 2007 and 2008 and in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The track record at the Shanghai International Circuit is a 1:31.095, set by Sebastian Vettel in 2018.
Not counting the wet qualifying sessions at the track, the difference between the fastest and slowest pole laps in China is 5.208 seconds. The slowest dry pole lap was in 2008, while the quickest was Vettel’s pole lap last season.
The largest pole margin at this track is 0.715 seconds, when Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in 2011. The smallest pole margin came in 2015, when Lewis Hamilton took pole by just 0.042 seconds.
Pole has been decided by less than a tenth here only twice – in 2015 and 2018.
The average pole margin at the Shanghai International Circuit is 0.330 seconds.
?? SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The Chinese Grand Prix has been won from pole nine times, while the winner has come from the front row ten times, with only a single win from second on the grid (Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, if you were wondering).
The race has been won from third or further back five times. The furthest back the Chinese Grand Prix has been won from is sixth on the grid, which has happened twice. Michael Schumacher won from sixth in 2006, a feat which Daniel Ricciardo equalled last season.
838 Grand Prix laps have been raced at the Shanghai International Circuit since the first race here in 2004.
?? SUNDAY STATS
The highest number of drivers to finish on the same lap as the winner of the Chinese Grand Prix is nineteen, which happened last season – the least is seven, which happened in the previous year.
Seven of the fifteen races at this track have featured a Safety Car period, including every race at the track since 2015. The most number of Safety Car periods seen in a Grand Prix here is two, which has happened four times – in 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2017.
Five Grands Prix at this track have been affected by rain.
The difference between the longest and shortest races at this track is 28 minutes. The 2004 Chinese Grand Prix was the shortest, clocking in at 1:29:12.420. The longest race here was the 2009 event which Sebastian Vettel won in 1:57:43.485.
Lewis Hamilton has set the most fastest laps of a Grand Prix at the track, and is the only driver to have taken more than one fastest lap at the track with four in total.
From the 322 cars which have started a Grand Prix here, 269 have reached the end of the race. That means 83.54% of all the entrants to the Chinese Grand Prix have seen the chequered flag. The least number of cars to reach the end of a race in Shanghai is fourteen, which happened in 2005. Meanwhile, the 2016 event is the only time every driver has reached the end of the race, with all 22 starters crossing the finish line.
There has never been a red-flagged Chinese Grand Prix.
?? CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
Despite being close to the end of the season for its first five events, a World Champion has never been crowned at this track.
The winner of the Chinese Grand Prix has gone on to win the title in the same year on seven occasions. The leader of the championship after the Chinese Grand Prix has won the title eight times.
