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Coordinates: 31°20′20″N, 121°13′11″E
Main straight and pitlane area
The Shanghai International Circuit (simplified Chinese: 上海国际赛车场; traditional Chinese: 上海國際賽車場; pinyin: Shànghǎi Guójì Sàichēchǎng) is a Chinese motor racing venue, situated in the district of Jiading near Shanghai in the People's Republic of China. It was the venue of the inaugural Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on 26 September 2004.
Costing approximately $450 million (USD), the circuit was financed by a government-funded joint-venture company, consisting of the Shanghai Juishi Corporation, Shanghai National Property Management Co Ltd, and Shanghai Jia'an Investment and Development Co Ltd. Architectural and design experts began planning and visiting the site between April and May 2003, and the area was transformed from swampland to international racetrack within 18 months with a team of 3000 engineers working around the clock.
In common with many other new Formula One circuits, it was designed by Hermann Tilke, and also features his trademark track feature - a long back straight followed by a hairpin turn. Current-generation F1 cars can easily surpass 300 km/h (186 mph) on the long straight between corners 13 and 14. The track layout also resembles the Chinese character shang (上)[1] the first word in the name of the city Shanghai, and which also means 'above' or 'ascend'. This was an unintentional coincidence; Hermann Tilke was informed of the similarity on his first visit. One lap lasts 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometres). The whole circuit plus seating areas and other areas for spectators, covers a total area of 5.3 km².
Other events held at the circuit include a round of the MotoGP world championship, the Australian-based V8 Supercar championship in 2005, attracting crowds of over 250,000 spectators, and also the final round of the A1 Grand Prix in 2006/2007.
In September of 2007 former manager of the circuit Yu Zhifei [2] was convicted of embezzlement as part of a corruption scandal in Shanghai which resulted in the dismissal of several senior Chinese Communist Party officials.[3]
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Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)
