2025 Chinese Grand Prix: Fast Facts

The 18th running of the Chinese Grand Prix, the second round of the season, immediately throws up some special challenges, not just for the teams and drivers, but also for Pirelli, starting with a completely resurfaced track and just one hour of free practice to see how much it has changed compared to past years.

Last summer, a new surface was laid down on the track and the pit lane at the Shanghai International Circuit. It has only been used a few times since the end of 2024 and should be smoother than before and, as this is the first event of the year to be held at SIC, it’s logical to expect the track to evolve very quickly.

Furthermore, as was the case in 2024, this will also be the first Sprint format event of the year, with just one free practice session on Friday. That means only 60 minutes to find the right car set-up and evaluate the performance of the various compounds over a long run, even if Saturday’s short race is a great test bed to fully assess at least one of them.

2025 Chinese Grand Prix Schedule

The 2025 Formula 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix fires up Shanghai from March 21-23, round two of the season and the first sprint weekend after Melbourne’s chaos. The 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit hosts a packed schedule, all times local (UTC+8). Here’s when the tarmac heats up.

• Friday, March 21
  • Practice 1: 11:30 – 12:30
  • Sprint Qualifying: 15:30 – 16:14
• Saturday, March 22
  • Sprint: 11:00 – 12:00
  • Qualifying: 15:00 – 16:00
• Sunday, March 23
  • Race: 15:00

How to Watch the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

Formula 1 fans around the globe can catch all the action from the Chinese Grand Prix through various broadcasters and streaming services.

In the United Kingdom, viewers can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1, with comprehensive coverage of the practice sessions, Sprint Race, qualifying, and the race itself.

For fans in the United States, the Chinese Grand Prix will be available through ESPN and its associated channels. ESPN offers extensive coverage of F1, including live broadcasts and replays. Cord-cutters can also stream the race live through various over-the-top (OTT) services that carry ESPN channels.

Viewers in Australia can tune in to watch the Grand Prix weekend unfold live on Fox Sports, which offers complete coverage of F1 races. For online streaming, fans can subscribe to Kayo Sports, a streaming platform that includes all Fox Sports content.

Additionally, F1 TV Pro offers live streaming of every track session to viewers in many countries worldwide.

This subscription service provides access to onboard cameras, team radios, live timing, and more, for an immersive viewing experience.

Remember to check the local listings and services for the most up-to-date information regarding broadcast times and availability in your region.

2025 Chinese Grand Prix Tyre Compounds

The trio of compounds is the same as last year: C2 as Hard, C3 as Medium and C4 as Soft. The last two were in use in Melbourne last weekend, while the first was run extensively in the three day test in Bahrain at the end of February. However, one must remember that all the compounds are different to those from last year. The C2 in particular is softer and therefore closer to the C3 than in the past.

An important factor to consider this weekend will be the temperatures. It’s the first time that Shanghai hosts the Grand Prix in March when average temperatures rarely exceed 18 °C. Although in fact, the forecast for the weekend is to seem them climb above 20 °C as from Friday, reaching a high of 26 °C on Saturday. While this is therefore considerably warmer than usual at this time, it is actually pretty similar to conditions seen last year for example, when the race was held in the third week of April.

What is a Formula 1 Sprint weekend?

While the standard weekend format features two hour-long free practice sessions on Friday and a further hour on Saturday followed by qualifying, the current Sprint format features just one free practice session to start the track action on Friday, followed by a qualifying session later that day. This decides the grid for a 100 kilometre race, approximately one third distance of the normal race, held on Saturday morning, which is followed by qualifying for Sunday’s actual Grand Prix.

Qualifying for the Sprint is split into three segments that are shorter than those for the Grand Prix 12 minutes for SQ1, ten for SQ2 and eight for SQ3. The number of drivers eliminated at the end of each section is the same as in normal qualifying, five at the end of each of the first two sessions. For the first two parts, all drivers must use only the Medium compound, before switching to the Soft for the final session. As for the short race itself, tyre choice is free and there is no need to make a pit stop.

There is also a different slick tyre allocation per driver compared to a standard weekend: they each still have two sets of Hard, but now they get an extra set of Medium, going from three to four and two fewer sets of Soft, from eight to six, for a total of 12 instead of the usual 13.

Introduced for the first time at Silverstone in 2021 (https://www.pirelli.com/global/en-ww/race/legacy-of-speed-episode-3-158941/) there have been 18 Sprint races to date and Max Verstappen has been the master of this discipline with 11 wins so far. This will be the second year running that Shanghai has hosted an event run to this format and just for a change, the aforementioned Verstappen was the winner. As for the tyres in 2024, 19 runners used a set of Mediums with only Russell gambling on the Soft, which paid off as he made up three places from eleventh on the grid to eighth at the flag.

A new Pirelli trophy

A new trophy will make its debut in China, going to whoever takes pole position in Friday afternoon’s Sprint Qualifying. The trophy features an embossed version of the special logo to mark Pirelli’s season-long celebration of reaching its 500th Grand Prix later this year at the Dutch round of the championship, presented on 18 February during Formula 1’s team presentation event at London’s O2 Arena. Furthermore, at the end of all six of this year’s Sprint Qualifying sessions, the trophy will be personalised with a silver plaque bearing the polesitter’s initials as used to identify the drivers on the timing screens.

Chinese Grand Prix: Key Statistics

This race first appeared on the World Championship calendar in 2004, always at this circuit, held every year since then with the exception of three years from 2020 to 2023. The inaugural event was won by Rubens Barrichello driving a Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton heads the list of winners here with six and he also has paid the most visits to the podium with nine. It’s worth noting that only two of the current field, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen have been first past the flag in China: the Spaniard did it twice (2005 and 2013) the Dutchman last year. Mercedes heads the teams list on six wins, two more than Ferrari, which as the most podium finishes to its name (13), one more than Mercedes.

Chinese Grand Prix: Fast Facts

• The Chinese Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time since 2019 in 2024, having first appeared on the F1 calendar in 2004.
• The 2019 race was also F1000, the 1000th Grand Prix since the official inception of the sport in 1950.
• The 5.451km layout features 16 turns (nine right, seven left). The racing lap record from the first race in 2004 still stands today, set by Michael Schumacher.
• In 2005, the circuit hosted the season finale for the one and only time.
• Having originally taken place towards the end of the F1 calendar, the race moved to a more permanent slot in the early stages of the season from 2009.
• In 2024, the Chinese Grand Prix saw more non-DRS-assisted overtakes (25) than any other race on the calendar, with the hairpin at the end of the long back straight a popular overtaking spot.
• The first seven Chinese Grand Prix were all won by different drivers.
• Mercedes claimed six consecutive pole positions at the track between 2012 and 2017
• Like 2024, Shanghai will also host the first F1 Sprint race weekend of the season.
• The circuit has been fully resurfaced ahead of this year’s event.
• With a podium finish on Sunday, the Mercedes team can claim Mercedes-Benz’s 300th top three finish in F1 history.
• For 2025, China will host the first round of the F1 ACADEMY season.
• China was home to the Red Bull Racing team’s first pole position and race victory, as Sebastian Vettel delivered the win on Red Bull’s 75th Grand Prix in Formula One.
• Last year in Shanghai, Max Verstappen secured the 100th pole in the team’s history – he went on to win the race marking the 63rd time that Red Bull Racing converted a pole into victory.
• Verstappen has won 11 of the 18 Sprint races ever held, in that period he has amassed 111 Sprint points – 42 more than any other driver.
• The average number of hours per day that a Giant Panda spends eating is 15! This symbol of China can weigh between 70 and 120 kg, and measures between 120 and 190 centimetres in height. In terms of size therefore it is essentially a bear, also having similar paws. However, when it comes to diet, it differs considerably from bears commonly found in America and Europe, being predominantly herbivorous. The other major difference is that the Panda does not hibernate, not needing to because of the more temperate climate in its habitat.