Start, Shanghai International Circuit, 2019

New race deal to keep Formula 1 in China until 2025

2020 Chinese Grand Prix

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The Chinese Grand Prix promoters and Formula 1 are expected to announced a new deal to continue the event until 2025.

With this year’s race facing cancellation due to the global pandemic, talks on signing a new contract for the Shanghai International Circuit to remain on the calendar have progressed and a new five-year contract is ready to be confirmed, RaceFans understands. The deal is expected to offset costs arising from the loss of this year’s race.

The 17th running of the Chinese Grand Prix was originally due to take place on April 19th, but was called off in February as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in the country.

Shanghai’s track was purpose-built to hold China’s first round of the world championship in 2004. The series has visited the circuit every year since.

Chins is yet to produce a Formula race driver in that time. Ma Qing Hua appeared in four practice sessions for HRT in 2012, and drove in the Chinese Grand Prix practice session for Caterham the year after. Renault has a Chinese reserve driver, Guanyu Zhou, though last year’s top Formula 2 rookie does not yet have enough superlicence points to compete in a grand prix.

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30 comments on “New race deal to keep Formula 1 in China until 2025”

  1. This race should have been dropped for good.

    1. I think the exact opposite.

      1. Reasons?

        1. Yep.

          Oh. You want to know?
          I think the Chinese GP is far from the worst event on the calendar. It has provided many highlights over the years.
          The circuit provides some unique driving challenges and some interesting corner sequences. There is a good balance between high speed and technical sections and there are multiple overtaking opportunities for the current generation of cars.
          In terms of the location – China is a huge market for F1 to tap into, both economically and geographically. Their car culture is growing, and there are growing numbers of Chinese drivers progressing to professional top-level international motorsport.

          Why wouldn’t the world’s most international World Championship motorsport want to go there?

    2. Why?

      After 2 decades we see F1 slowly gaining some traction in China. And the track is quite a decent one to race on too.

      Apart from the obvious issues with the country (oppression of freedom, incarnation of uygurs etc) which goes for a depressingly large list of the countries F1 races in, I really don’t see a good reason to drop this race.

      1. correct! I agree..

  2. Not a big fan of the track, but it is nice they are staying.

  3. Nice track, but I hope the drivers have something to say about the ongoing genocide.

    1. Can’t F1 just be about F1?
      Not everything needs to have a deeper function and motivation.

      1. Everything is somewhat political and when F1 and other sports go to countries with a terrible human rights record it condones that behaviour. While I’m not sure where sport should draw the line on human rights abuses (we’d arguably not race anywhere), I’m pretty sure that genocide is somewhere over that line.

        On another note, I never thought I’d hear someone say in response to genocide, “Can’t F1 just be F1?” Some empathy would not go amiss.

        1. Perhaps I read the article too quickly and missed some bits, but I certainly don’t recall any references to genocide or politics.
          I guess if you believe that F1 has the power to stop every injustice in the world, then I can see why you might think that holding a Formula 1 race in China and the political situations there are related.
          You are more than welcome to paint a political cloud over anything and everything if you wish. I do not.

          1. Just because it wasn’t mentioned in the article doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
            Politics and sport are heavily interlinked whether you like it or not. I don’t believe that F1 can stop every injustice in the world, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t make a stand against genocide of our fellow human beings. If turning a blind eye to uncomfortable things that don’t affect you is your attitude then by all means, keep doing what you’re doing and siding with the oppressor.

          2. This is just going to turn into another BLM-style mess, obviously.
            I either support F1 insulting and provoking the Chinese government, or I support oppression, apparently. There is no inbetween.

            I’m out.

          3. If you are supporting silence you are complicit sadly.

        2. Perhaps FoM and Lewis can sport some “Uyghur Lives Matter” tee shirts and shave their heads in solidarity.

          1. Perhaps some FREE HONG KONG shirts before the race?

    2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      21st July 2020, 17:06

      End Racism*

      *except against Uighur Muslims or Yemen

      1. *except if it is pro-black

  4. Not the most exciting circuit that F1 visits, but certainly far from the worst. Would be great if the cars were better at racing each other. Certainly puts on some decent races in other categories.
    Looking forward to seeing the GP there again soon.

  5. Do you have a similar start photo from the first race in Shanghai? Would be nice to compare

      1. Lol @macca that is indeed what I meant.
        I remember they build the circuit in the middle of nowhere. But each year the city is moving closer to the circuit. The two pictures show the difference nicely.

        If this was Holland, they would shut down the circuit because there were to many complaints from the people living in those buildings about the noise…

  6. petebaldwin (@)
    21st July 2020, 15:37

    Glad to see it’s staying on the calendar. As other have said, there are some major political issues regarding this race but that’s true about several of the races. I think showing up and shining a light on these issues is better than doing nothing – how often do we hear about what’s going on in Bahrain other than when F1 shows up?

  7. What an amazing photo! I’m glad the circuit’s been renewed, it’s given us some good racing.

  8. Shameful given what we know is happenìng in that country. Money talks, I guess.

  9. Chris Horton
    21st July 2020, 19:12

    Super fun times.

  10. if you read a bit of news,, you will.. no need for F1

  11. also what they have done to the globe this time around!

Comments are closed.