System 1 makes a welcome return to the Shanghai Worldwide Circuit this weekend for the primary Chinese language Grand Prix since 2019. To mark the event, we’ve rolled again the years and picked out a number of the most memorable moments within the occasion’s historical past because it made its debut on the calendar in 2004…
2005: Schumacher caught out in pre-race crash
A seven-time world champion and with an array of data behind him, Michael Schumacher’s first two visits to China fell nicely under his lofty expectations.
Having spun out of qualifying and failed to attain a degree within the 2004 race, the Ferrari driver confronted a good larger situation the next 12 months when he was concerned in a weird conflict with Minardi’s Christijan Albers on the best way to the grid.
Schumacher had been slowly making his manner from Flip 4 to the Flip 5 kink when he moved throughout the monitor and into the trail of the fast-approaching Albers, inflicting all kinds of harm to each automobiles and forcing them to take their spares.
It went from dangerous to worse for Schumacher throughout the race, with the stewards reprimanding him for his actions earlier than he spun into the gravel behind the Security Automobile.
2006: Schumacher’s final System 1 victory
It proved to be third time fortunate for Schumacher in 2006 when, amid a fierce title battle with Renault rival Fernando Alonso, he scored a press release Shanghai win.
Contemporary from slashing Alonso’s factors lead together with his triumph and the Spaniard’s retirement at Monza, Schumacher was decided to maintain the momentum going and tip the title race in his favour forward of the ultimate two rounds in Japan and Brazil.
It initially appeared as if Alonso would get the job completed on race day, with moist situations at the beginning suiting the Michelin somewhat than Bridgestone runners, however because the climate improved and the monitor dried up, the encounter got here again to Schumacher.
On the finish of all of it, Schumacher led Alonso dwelling by simply over three seconds in what would show to be his 91st and last F1 victory, with the younger Spaniard pipping the retiring German veteran to that 12 months’s crown.
2007: Drama for Hamilton in his rookie season
There would extra drama in China a 12 months later as rookie Lewis Hamilton arrived trying to defend his championship benefit over McLaren workforce mate Alonso – who had made the swap from Renault – and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton wowed all through his debut season, scoring a hatful of pole positions, wins and podiums, however that 12 months’s penultimate spherical flipped the title race on its head with one of the dramatic moments in Chinese language Grand Prix historical past.
READ MORE: Do you keep in mind… Hamilton’s rookie title bid hitting the rocks in China
The race had began nicely for Hamilton as he led away from pole place within the moist and appeared set to increase his factors lead, just for his tyres to undergo because the rain stopped and the monitor dried up – the rear-right finally sporting right down to the canvas.
Hamilton was finally referred to as into the pits for a contemporary set of tyres, however catastrophe struck when he went too deep on the entry, slid into the gravel lure and ended his race there after which. It successfully handed the win to Raikkonen, who additionally went on to grab the title.
2009: Pink Bull’s maiden pole, win and one-two
An all-new set of technical laws for the 2009 season noticed Brawn GP – who had taken over the cancelled Honda works effort – emerge as the category of the sector with a design spearheaded by their intelligent double diffuser innovation.
It meant the Brackley operation and Jenson Button romped to victory at six of the opening seven races, with Rubens Barrichello backing up the Briton for one-two finishes on three of these weekends.
READ MORE: Every part it is advisable learn about Pink Bull’s F1 historical past
The blip got here on the Shanghai Worldwide Circuit, the place Pink Bull charged their approach to first and third on the grid with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber within the dry and made {that a} breakthrough one-two forward of Button amid heavy rain on race day.
It marked the primary of Pink Bull’s 99 poles and 116 wins up to now and, whereas they narrowly missed out on championship glory that 12 months after piling the strain on Brawn, their first titles have been simply across the nook – a run of 4 successive doubles coming from 2010 to 2013.
2012: First win of Mercedes’ trophy-filled new period
Following on from Pink Bull nicely and really marking their F1 arrival in China in 2009, it was Mercedes’ flip to take action on the 2012 occasion through an emphatic show from Nico Rosberg.
Mercedes had beforehand competed in F1 throughout the Fifties, profitable loads of races and a pair of drivers’ titles with Juan Manuel Fangio, solely to withdraw from motorsport within the wake of the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans catastrophe.
BEYOND THE GRID: Rosberg on tips on how to beat Hamilton, F1 retirement and extra
Quick ahead to 2010 and, having already returned to F1 as an engine provider, Mercedes determined the time was proper to make a full-scale comeback, taking on the aforementioned Brawn entry and signing an all-German line-up of returning world champion Schumacher and rising star Rosberg.
A few years into that return, Rosberg mastered the Pirelli tyres at Shanghai to ship a sensational pole lap after which double up with a commanding victory a day later – giving the Silver Arrows the primary pole and win of their return.
Way more, as we now know, would observe for Mercedes when F1’s turbo-hybrid period acquired underneath manner in 2014…
2019: System 1’s one thousandth Grand Prix
F1 celebrated a milestone event on the 2019 operating of the Chinese language Grand Prix, with the nation taking part in host to the one thousandth race within the sport’s grand historical past.
It got here just below 69 years on from the first-ever encounter at Silverstone in 1950, a 12 months that hosted seven rounds (most held in Europe) in comparison with the 21 staged around the globe by means of 2019 – highlighting how a lot the calendar has expanded and diversified through the years.
READ MORE: The important thing variations and stand outs from the 2025 F1 calendar
It was a straight struggle between Mercedes workforce mates Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas throughout the weekend, beginning with the Finn claiming pole by simply 0.023s earlier than the Briton pounced at the beginning and by no means appeared again to take the chequered flag by six-and-a-half seconds.
Now, after a five-year absence, China and the favored Shanghai venue return to the F1 roster for what guarantees to be one other action-packed Dash weekend.
