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A special round of Formula One is upon us, as the sport celebrates a milestone 1000th grand prix in China. Join The Roar for a live blog, starting from 4:10pm AEST.
Shanghai once again lends its unique 5.4km circuit to the Chinese Grand Prix, which over the 56-laps poses to offer up plenty of high-speed corners and plenty of overtaking on the long straights.
Heading into the race, Mercedes AMG have been the dominant force in Shanghai during the hybrid era, winning four of the last five races. Ferrari, who were strong last time out in Bahrain, albeit didn’t win – haven’t won in China since 2013.
Championship leader Valtteri Bottas, who was strong during practice, claimed his second pole position of the season as the Silver Arrows locked out the front row of the grid, with Lewis Hamilton starting alongside his teammate.
Both Ferraris occupy the second row of the grid, with Sebastian Vettel leading Charles Leclerc, who was audibly frustrated after his final attempt at a Q3 lap.
Even more frustrated after Q3, was Max Verstappen who was fifth fastest and left fuming at the Renault drivers, who had been backed up and prevented the Dutchman from another fastest lap.
Strategically, the top five drivers set their fastest Q2 laps on the medium tyre and thus will start the race on that compound and potentially run quite long into the opening phase of the race.
Behind the top three teams, Renault found themselves with both cars qualifying in the top ten for the first time in 2019, with Daniel Ricciardo the star for his best grid position for the new season.
The Haas cars both edged out the rest of their midfield competition to get into the top ten, however there is a question mark over their race pace, which was absent last time out in Bahrain.
Despite Mercedes AMG having the front-row locked out, Ferrari still seem the favourites for the race, especially with their power advantage down the straights. Will we see red overtaking silver early?
So close are Mercedes AMG and Ferrari that anything could happen.
With this such a special occasion for Formula One, don’t miss The Roar’s live blog coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix from 4:10pm AEST, as we celebrate the 1000th race for this illustrious sport.
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