45 minutes to race start.
STRATEGY...
With no race since 2019, this is a first time this generation of cars and this generation of tyres has been to Shanghai.
Last time we raced here other than the cars, the tyres were smaller, and the top 10 were required to start the race on their fastest Q2 set .... but the layout of the circuit hasn’t changed and the stresses and strains on the tyres will be similar.
Last time the podium guys all two stopped and used a medium>hard>medium strategy.
Some info on what is anticipated this year.
Degradation in China is likely to be similar to that seen in Japan, heavily suggesting a two-stop race on the harder compounds. As Suzuka, it’s a choice between doing two hard stints or two medium.
The teams at the front have swapped their preferences from Suzuka, with Red Bull and Ferrari taking two hards into this race, while Mercedes, McLaren and Alonso carry only one forward.
Under the new Sprint rules, everyone had the option to keep ample mediums – but of the leading pack, only Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and George Russell have carried forward two new sets of C3 mediums
Mediums are 0.3 slower than the soft here, but half a second faster than the hard.
Who is the quickest in race trim and by how much?
Well, no surpeise Red Bull are the fastest, but Ferrari next and with MacLaren next above Mercedes and Aston pretty much the same. Then a big drop to VCARB and the rest.
They say no chance of rain during the race and it will be 22C. We will see.
If we have an SC, stopping under that will save 8 seconds. Historically there is a fir chance of an SC here.