Pirelli Shanghai preview: in China different tire allocation with Sprint format

The Chinese Grand Prix marks a fresh start. The last edition was in 2019 when teams still raced with 13″ tires. Both teams and Pirelli have scant data to rely on, plus it will be the first Sprint weekend of 2024.

Formula 1 returns to Shanghai after a five-year absence. Since 2019, the Chinese Grand Prix hadn’t been held, the same year it celebrated the thousandth event in the history of the premier motorsport competition. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent slow return to normalcy enforced a forced hiatus, and now a thread that started almost twenty years ago is being picked up again. It was indeed in 2004 – the race took place in September back then – that the first edition of this Grand Prix was held.

All sixteen editions have taken place at the Shanghai International Circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke following the shape of the Chinese character “shang” (“upward”). Stretching 5.451 meters, the track features 16 corners, some very slow – like turns 1-3, 6, and 14 – or fast, like the sequence formed by turns 7 and 8. There are two main straights, each corresponding to a DRS zone: the start/finish straight and the over-a-kilometer-long stretch connecting turn 13, slightly elevated, to turn 14.

Based on simulations and historical data, the lateral and longitudinal forces the tires will experience are expected to fall within average ranges, with the outer side, particularly the left side of the car, subject to higher wear. The trio of compounds chosen to be brought to Shanghai this winter is the medium set, with C2 as the Hard, C3 as the Medium, and C4 as the Soft. Nominal it may seem the same selection as in 2019, but the scenario is vastly different. Five years ago, 13″ tires were still used on the previous generation of cars, characterized by a flat bottom and aerodynamics completely different from the current ones. In effect, it’s almost like starting from scratch: for the drivers, for the teams, and for Pirelli itself, as references are very faint.

Complicating matters is the fact that the Chinese Grand Prix will be the first of the six scheduled for the season to adopt the Sprint format, slightly modified from last year in terms of session order – free practices and Sprint qualifying on Friday, Sprint race and qualifying on Saturday, Grand Prix on Sunday, of course – and how the parc fermé is managed, which will be divided into two parts: one including qualifying and the Sprint race and one starting before Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.

There will still only be an hour on Friday to find the best car adjustments and, above all, to test the tires over long distances on a track that will inevitably be in less than optimal conditions: it’s predictable that the evolution of the grip level offered by the asphalt, which has remained unchanged since 2019 and has only been used in very few events since then, will be very significant as the cars rubber it in. For teams and drivers, the work done in the simulator will therefore be even more important than usual, both in preparation for the event and during its course.

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With the Sprint format comes a different allocation of dry tires, reduced from 13 to 12 sets (two Hards, four Mediums, and six Softs), while the allocation of wet tires remains unchanged (five Intermediates and two Extreme Wets). April in Shanghai traditionally sees significant temperature changes, with fluctuations of over 10°C, adding another variable to the puzzle that teams and drivers will face.

Usually, the Chinese Grand Prix is a typical two-pit-stop race, also because the track offers several overtaking opportunities, both at the braking zone of turn 14 and on the main straight as well as at the braking zone of turn 6. Like at Suzuka, the undercut is traditionally very effective in Shanghai too.

Of the twenty drivers entered in this year’s race, only three have stood on the highest step of the Shanghai podium: Lewis Hamilton (six times), Fernando Alonso (twice), and Daniel Ricciardo (once). Lewis Hamilton has also scored six pole positions, amassing a total of 204 points in this race. Among the teams, Mercedes leads with six wins ahead of Ferrari (4), with Red Bull having won only twice: moreover, it was here, in 2009, that Sebastian Vettel scored the first of the 116 victories for the team led, then as now, by Christian Horner.

Minimum starting pressures (slick tires)
Front: 26.0 psi
Rear: 22.0 psi

Maximum camber
Front: -3.00°
Rear: -1.75°

Compounds used
Pirelli PZero White Hard C2
Pirelli PZero Yellow Medium C3
Pirelli PZero Red Soft C4