The Shanghai International Circuit is a Chinese motor racing venue. It is in the district of Jiading near Shanghai in the People's Republic of China. It was the venue of the first Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on 26 September 2004.
History
The circuit costing about $450 million (USD). It was paid for by a government-funded joint-venture company. This company was made up of the Shanghai Juss Corporation, Shanghai National Property Management Co Ltd, and Shanghai Jia'an Investment and Development Co Ltd. Architectural and design experts began visiting the site by April 2003. The site was transformed from swampland to an international racetrack in 18 months. A team of 3000 worked around the clock to finish the construction.
Other events held at the circuit include a round of the MotoGP world championship, the Australian-based V8 Supercar championship, and also the final round of the A1 Grand Prix in 2006 and 2007.
The 2008 MotoGP race was the last one at Shanghai International Circuit. The FIM didn't select the circuit for 2009 because of overcrowding problems.
Layout
Like many new Formula One circuits, Shanghai International Circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke. It features his trademark track feature: a long back straight followed by a hairpin turn. Current-generation F1 cars can easily exceed on the long straight between corners 13 and 14. The track layout was inspired from the Chinese character shang (上). Shang is the first character in the name of the city Shanghai, and means "above" or "ascend".
Records
Times below are driven over a distance of 5.451 km.
*Intermediate circuit (4.600 km/2.858 mi)