On the calendar since 2004, Shanghai is hosting its 14th Grand Prix this year – though 2017 marks the first times the venue has hosted round two of the championship. Aside from its gargantuan 29,000-seat main grandstand and iconic track-spanning bridges, Shanghai International Circuit is best known for its long back straight, which stretches between the long-apex Turn 13 (sure to test the drivers’ necks) and the overtaking hot spot that is the Turn 14 hairpin. At 1.209km, it’s the longest straight in F1, eclipsing Abu Dhabi’s back stretch by just four metres.
No one can match Lewis Hamilton’s record in China – the three-time world champion has won there four times, splitting his wins equally between McLaren and Mercedes. Fernando Alonso, the only other current driver with multiple wins, has also triumphed with different teams, though his Shanghai victories came eight years apart. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Australia winner Sebastian Vettel have also stood on the top step in China – the latter giving Red Bull their first F1 victory in 2009. For all their dominance in the past, it remains the Milton Keynes-based team’s only win in Shanghai.
Source: Need to know: China
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