Wet qualifying session expected in Shanghai

2016 Chinese Grand Prix weather

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A large band of rain will reach Shanghai late on tomorrow and is likely to create wet conditions for Saturday’s qualifying session.

Dry and fairly warm conditions are expected for the first two practice sessions at the Shanghai International Circuit on Friday. But in the evening rain will arrive from the east and linger for the next 24 hours.

This will be persistent drizzle rather than a downpour. It will build slightly in intensity throughout the day but the 3pm qualifying session is expected to miss the heaviest rainfall.

The dull, cloudy conditions will persist into Sunday but the drivers will be spared any further rain. Temperatures for race day will be slightly lower, peaking at around 20C, some two degrees cooler than Saturday.

Although the air temperature will be only slightly cooler than during last year’s race the cloud cover should keep the track temperatures from reaching the 47C high seen in this race 12 months ago.

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

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2016 Chinese Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Wet qualifying session expected in Shanghai”

  1. Thank god elimination qualifying has been cancelled ahead of a wet qualifying session. It would probably turn out to be really exciting, and that would’ve convinced FIA/FOM to give that abomination of a qualifying system another chance.

    I fully expect the usual suspects to shine in these conditions. Vettel and Hamilton are the obvious ones, Rosberg is no slouch in the wet either. Alonso (if he does race) and Button will drag their McLaren to places it doesn’t belong. Ricciardo in his Red Bull also seems to be very good when the rain comes down, so does Verstappen.

    I similarly expect the usual suspects to struggle (Kimi, Massa).

    1. No it wouldn’t turned out to be exciting , it would have been more difficult for the teams to come back and set time like Perez misjudged his in Bahrain and it gets worse in a wet conditions at long tracks as the times are considerably slower.

    2. Williams was rubbish in the rain in the last 2 years, but why couldn’t Massa have improved his wet skill?
      He had a very strong drive in rainy Interlagos in 2012, and deserved to beat Alonso in that race. He gained 24s from Bottas over 16 laps in Silverstone(!) last year.
      In last 2 years’ 7 wet qualifyings, 6 were comparable between him and Bottas (Bottas had a suspension failure in US),and the head to head is 4 to 2 to Massa.

      1. Yeah, people only seem to remember Massa for the wet Silverstone 2008(?) race. But the Ferrari was very poor in the wet that year and it was probably the wettest season we have had for decades. Kimi span the Ferrari a few times in that race as well from memory. Massa is actually not bad in the wet.

        1. @asanator
          Perhaps “bad” is not the right word to use, but Massa was generally very slow compared to Alonso in the wet when they were teammates at Ferrari (even more so than in the dry). Granted there were some exceptions (Brazil 2012), but generally speaking this was the case.

        2. Was Brazil 2007 damp or was it 2008 or both? In those races he was the best of course having to hand Kimi the win in 2007 for the title.

    3. Indeed, the Toro Rosso’s could give us a surprise in wet conditions. Verstappen is known for his skills in drizzle but Sainz is not so bad on a wet track. There are promises for the qualifying session placing them quite high on the grid for the race. They could lose some places in a dry race but with Hamilton suffering a 5 place grid penalty (new gearbox), who knows.

    4. Why not mention Ricciardo. Best chassis on the grid and a very handy driver in the wet. Could go pole in the wet.

  2. I was hoping this wet qualifying and dry race combination could end this year after having seen this annoying weather pattern for a few years. But it seems like we are stuck like this for another year.

  3. ColdFly F1 (@)
    14th April 2016, 12:12

    If only we had ‘musical chairs’ elimination now, especially on a drying track.That would have been awesome.
    Nobody would be safe with a single banker laps, and timing (and luck) would be crucial to get over the 2×7 mini elimination hurdles.

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