Formula 1 reaches its 1,000-race milestone at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will try to erase his Bahrain heartache with a maiden victory.
If ever there was a grand prix that brought F1 fans together in collective sympathy, then Charles Leclerc’s gut-wrencher in Bahrain was surely it.
The 21-year-old celebrated plenty of firsts under the floodlights at Sakhir, including a maiden pole and podium finish.
But a first F1 win had wait for another day after his Ferrari agonisingly suffered an engine problem with nine laps to go, allowing Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to come through to take the win.
Ferrari have confirmed Leclerc will use the same power unit in China after the team had traced the issue to “a short circuit within an injection-system control unit”.
Can the 1,000th F1 race provide the moment of Leclerc magic his fans are so desperate to see?
Designed to look like the Chinese symbol for “shang”, meaning upwards, and with a flat-out straight for almost 1.4 kilometres, the Shanghai International Circuit has proved a happy hunting ground for world champion Hamilton, who has five victories here – three for Mercedes and two for
McLaren.
With an tricky start to the lap – a tightening right-hander that sweeps uphill before dropping back down – a front-row spot on the grid is a must. History suggests it would be unwise to bet against Hamilton being right up there again, with a record six previous poles to his name at this track.
Hamilton’s pedigree in China and Leclerc’s red-hot form will only add to the pressure on the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, whose clumsy spin in Sakhir was his fifth such error in the past 13 races.
The German was outpaced by team-mate Leclerc throughout the Bahrain weekend, and admitted his car was “extremely difficult to drive” after finishing down in fifth place.
