Built on marshland that was deemed unsuitable for housing, the Shanghai International Circuit is one of the most impressive purpose-built Formula 1 facilities in the world.
It cost $450 million to construct and the 5.451km layout is shaped like the Chinese character ‘shang’, which stands for ‘high’ or ‘above’, and the team buildings resemble the ancient Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai.
The first grand prix at the venue took place in 2004 and was won by Rubens Barrichello in a Ferrari
Here are the Reuters facts and statistics for the Chinese Grand Prix, the third race of the 21-round 2016 Formula 1 world championship season:
- Lap distance: 5.451km Total distance: 305.066km (56 laps)
- Race lap record: Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari, one minute 32.238 seconds (2004)
- 2015 pole: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes
- 2015 winner: Hamilton
- Start time: 0600 GMT/1400 local
- Champions Mercedes have won the last eight races, with Rosberg chasing his sixth win in a row after his victories in Australia and Bahrain.
- Seven other drivers have won five in a row in Formula One history and all ended up as champion that season. Only Germany's Sebastian Vettel (nine in a row), compatriot Michael Schumacher and Italy's Alberto Ascari (seven each) have won more than five in a row.
- Mercedes also won eight races in a row between Italy 2014 and Australia 2015.
- Mercedes won 16 of the 19 races last season, with a record 12 one-two finishes. Ferrari won the other three.
- Hamilton, now a triple world champion, has 43 career victories, putting him third in the all-time lists and one win ahead of Ferrari's four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel.
- Schumacher holds the record of 91, with Alain Prost on 51.
- McLaren's Fernando Alonso has 32 wins, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen 20, Rosberg 16 and McLaren's Jenson Button 15.
- Ferrari have won 224 races in total, McLaren 182, Williams 114, Red Bull 50 and Mercedes 47. McLaren have not won for 59 races, a run that dates back to Brazil 2012.
- Hamilton's pole in Bahrain was the 51st of his career, the third most of all time. Michael Schumacher had a record 68 and the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna 65.
- The Briton has been on pole in both races this season. He had 11 poles last season to Rosberg's seven and Vettel's one. Vettel has 46 career poles, Rosberg 22.
- Mercedes have been one-two on the starting grid in the last eight races.
- Mercedes and Williams are the only teams to have scored points with both cars in both races this season.
- The race made its debut on the calendar in 2004 and seven of the 12 Chinese Grands Prix have been won from pole.
- Hamilton is the most successful there with four wins (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015), and is the only driver to win two years in a row, while Alonso has two (2005, 2013).
- Ferrari have won four times, McLaren three. Button and Alonso are the only drivers to have finished every Chinese Grand Prix.
- Rosberg took his first F1 pole and win in China in 2012. The circuit also saw Red Bull's first F1 win in 2009.
- Nico Rosberg's victory in Bahrain, the 16th of his career, pulled the German level with Britain's Stirling Moss as the most successful Formula One driver without a world championship to his name.
- Stoffel Vandoorne's 10th place in Bahrain on his Formula One debut for McLaren made him the first Belgian to score a point since Thierry Boutsen in 1992.
- Vettel's engine failure on the formation lap in Bahrain was the first time the German had not started in 160 races.
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