Pre-race Statistics of the Chinese GP

MADE IN CHINA. The Shanghai International Circuit is one of five circuits on the calendar with “International Circuit” in the name. A slightly pointless stat but something that irritates me about modern circuits.

The track is 5.451km long with 16 corners, 56 race laps and a race distance of 305.256km. The race will be the 10^th in China, 5 have been won from pole position and just one from second place. Kimi Räikkönen was the driver that won from 2^nd, doing so at the 2007 Chinese GP. The race should be Fernando Alonso’s 200^th race start, which he’ll be hoping will go better than his 200^th GP at Malaysia.

Eight drivers have won the Chinese GP, first being Rubens Barrichello in 2004 and the latest Nico Rosberg in 2012. So far only Lewis Hamilton has won there twice, he won from pole in 2008 and from 3^rd in 2011. Ferrari have won the Chinese GP three times with three drivers, Barrichello in 2004, Schumacher in 2006 and Räikkönen in 2007. The current race lap record at the Shanghai International Circuit is a time of 1:32.328 and set by Michael Schumacher’s 2004 Ferrari, an average speed of 213kph or 132 mph.

Two races into the season and we have two different winners, two different drivers setting fastest laps, five drivers on the podium and just one polesitter, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel leads the Drivers’ Championship with 40 points, 9 points ahead of Räikkönen and 14 ahead of Webber.

The Silly Stats

An adult giant panda is around 1.2-1.8m long head to foot, you could fit around 3,634 of them lying down around the Shanghai International Circuit but there aren’t that many giant pandas, so you can’t.

The giant panda has a top speed, with full DRS and KERS, of around 32kph or 20mph, which means that it would take 10:13.237 to complete a lap of the Chinese GP staying at that speed.

For some more stats on the Chinese GP see my mini-stat page