Hot temperatures played a pivotal role in deciding the outcome of the last race in Malaysia, where in sweltering temperatures Ferrari seized the initiative from Mercedes because they were able to take better care of their tyres.
But while it is expected that a return to cooler conditions in Shanghai will play into Mercedes’ hands, the weather this weekend is not going to be quite as cold as originally expected.
Shanghai typically sees fairly cool conditions compared to the other races on the calendar. Air temperatures have struggled to get above 15C since the teams arrived at the track.
However the weekend forecast has been steadily improving. All week long models have indicated a progressive increase in temperatures between now and Sunday, and the race day high is now expected to exceed 20C.
But that’s still considerably less than at Malaysia, where air temperatures frequently surpassed 30C. Unlike Malaysia, however, as yet there is no indication rain is likely to affect proceedings, though a light shower may arrive as teams are packing up on Sunday evening.
For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on F1 Fanatic Live and the F1 Fanatic Twitter account.
Location of Shanghai International Circuit
See the location of every race on the 2015 F1 calendar here:
2015 Chinese Grand Prix
- Driver of the Weekend wins for Hamilton & Raikkonen
- 2015 Chinese Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Chinese GP round sees 18 perfect predictions
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix
- Vote for your 2015 Chinese Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
9th April 2015, 10:29
So even St Peter is a Ferrari fan!
dragoll (@dragoll)
9th April 2015, 13:22
@mike-dee only lucifer is going to be able to bring the heat that Ferrari need ;)
iFelix (@ifelix)
9th April 2015, 15:04
:))))))))
Come on Lucifer! Shall I do a Faustian deal with you? :)
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th April 2015, 23:06
Lucifer is the 6 between Seb’s 5 and Kimi’s 7.
Key (@key75)
9th April 2015, 23:54
HAHAHA Best comment!
2face
9th April 2015, 10:50
I wonder what explanation McLaren will use then.
Jp (@ijip)
9th April 2015, 12:07
lol at this point i believe their car has .5 degree of optimum operating temp. lol
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
9th April 2015, 16:09
@ijip – “Yes that little breeze near the back of the track really cost us 1.5s every lap.”
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
9th April 2015, 21:42
These temperatures is few yet for me.
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
9th April 2015, 21:48
They are using tyre compounds that are 1 step softer than Malaysia, so although the actual temperature will be lower, the temperature relative to the performance of the tyres may be similar.
Could be an interesting weekend tyre/strategy wise, we all know, that even during his RedBull years Seb was always able to look after these Pirelli’s, where as Mercedes have a history of being hard on the current generation of degrading tyres, only last season were they better, but they seemed to struggle in Malaysia in a similar fashion to the 4 seasons prior to 2014.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th April 2015, 23:13
One thing I would like to point out is that in spite of the temperatures looking perfect for tyre performance the tyres are as usual a step softer than Malaysia’s. Considering that these 2 tracks are almost identical this usually means that often tyres are more of a worry than in Malaysia although for different reasons as temperature isn’t the killer in Shanghai.