BMW Sauber F1 Team - Chinese Grand Prix - Preview

Only a few days and a good three hours' flight separate the Japanese Grand Prix, that has just ended, and the penultimate World Championship race of the season in Shanghai this Sunday. From the picturesque setting at the foot of Mount Fuji, Formula One now heads for a booming metropolis.

"Turns one, two and three are among my favourite sections in the race calendar. You approach the first turn at high speed, go into it flat out, but then the corner increasingly tightens up and you have to shift right down to second. Making a clean exit will be even more interesting next year when we'll be driving without traction control again. Overall I'm rather fond of this circuit. Although it's so new, the track layout has a natural feel and a character about it. The paddock and the grandstands are also very distinctive and absolutely huge in size.

"The same goes for a number of buildings in downtown Shanghai, but the ultramodern skyscrapers, hotels and restaurants along the Bund are just part of the picture. In a lot of districts and in the surrounding areas you'll come across grinding poverty. This year my family will be joining me for the Asian tour and I hope we'll find a little time to visit the nicer sides of the city together."

Robert Kubica:

"After Fuji we go straight to China. Last year's Grand Prix was pretty interesting for me with qualifying wet and then touching with Robert Doornbos at the start of the race. I gained a lot of positions but then when the track was drying we put the grooved tyres on too early. Quite a nice track with, again, a very long straight. Maybe there is an overtaking possibility at the end of the long back straight. This is very long, but it is not easy because before the straight there is a really quick right hand corner and it is always difficult to follow the cars very closely there."

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director:

"After the race in Fuji, it's straight on to the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Back-to-back events like this put quite a strain on the whole team - all the more so when the two consecutive races take place in Asia. It's the logistics personnel above all who feel the pressure. We are looking forward to the penultimate race of the season.

"The sheer size of the Shanghai complex is unmatched and the track layout is challenging. From the point of view of BMW as a car producer, as well as all our partners, the Chinese Grand Prix holds tremendous commercial interest. It's a market with massive growth potential. In 2006 BMW recorded over 40 percent growth compared with the previous year. BMW also has its own production plant in China where BMW 3 Series and 5 Series models are built."

"Shanghai is an interesting and challenging track. It offers overtaking opportunities and has safe run off areas. The circuit is characterised by some very long low and mid speed corners, which causes high tyre degradation. For a good race pace it is important to get the mechanical set-up right in order to make best use of the tyres over a distance. Another important factor is the aerodynamic efficiency because of the combination of the long straight with the twisty infield."

Following the exclusion of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team from the Constructors' World Championship, the BMW Sauber F1 Team is in second place in the standings on 92 points after 15 of 17 World Championship races.

Shanghai is situated in the vast delta formed by the Yangtze river as it empties into the East China Sea. China's leading industrial metropolis is as compelling for its size as for its lack of space. Some 18.7 million people live in the administrative area of Shanghai, 9.4 million of them within the city limits. The administrative area covers 6,340.5 square kilometres, of which the city itself takes up just 550 sq. km. In terms of overall cargo handling, the port topped the world league in 2006 with 537 million tonnes of goods.

Driving times from the centre of this booming metropolis to the race track are hard to calculate. Depending on the traffic situation and hotel location, it can range from 30 minutes to two hours.

The Shanghai International Circuit complex reflects the sheer magnitude of the city itself. The drivers' paddock outclasses those at any other Formula One race track and demands a lot of walking.

Opened in 2004, the circuit was built under the direction of Hermann Tilke on a 5.3-square-kilometre area of swampland and completed in a matter of 18 months. Concrete piles between 40 and 80 metres long were driven into the ground, then covered in metre-thick styrofoam and finally earth.

The track layout includes seven right-hand and seven left-hand turns. The longest straight is not the start/finish section but lies between turns 13 and 14 - a full-throttle stretch measuring a good 1.3 kilometres.

The layout is inspired by the Chinese character "Shang", which translates as "high" or "above". Traditional Chinese style elements were also integrated into the architecture of the futuristic pit lane and grandstands.

LAUNCH DATE 2008: The BMW Sauber F1 Team will launch the BMW Sauber F1.08 on 14th/15th January.  

- Joerg Kottmeier -