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After five years, China returns to the F1 calendar and a lot has happened in that period. The teams and drivers are presented with a Shanghai International Circuit that has hardly been raced by other racing classes in recent years, and in Formula 1, F1 racing is now completely different.
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Virtually no data to base themselves on and to make the challenge even greater, the teams and drivers will be presented with a so-called ‘sprint weekend’ this weekend, with only one practice session on Friday, followed by qualifying for the sprint race. This also makes China the first race weekend in which the new sprint format is used. On Saturday the sprint race will follow in the morning, followed by qualifying for the race on Sunday.
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With only one practice session, the circuit was immediately very busy because with only sixty minutes of preparation time for the rest of the race weekend, every minute is obviously very precious, especially on a circuit that is being raced for the first time in five years. There was also a red flag for a moment because there was a small fire in the grass next to the circuit.
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Because there was only one practice session, the drivers had to test the limits of the car and the circuit as quickly and as best as possible. Not easy on a circuit where F1 cars were last driven five years ago.
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In the end we got a remarkable result for the only practice session with Lance Stroll driving the fastest time in the Aston Martin while Fernando Alonso in the second Aston Martin only drove the nineteenth time. Oscar Piastri in the McLaren and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull completed the top three.
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However, the different teams and drivers completed very different programs in which all kinds of things were tested and the focus was also different. For example, the Ferraris seemed fast, but they only managed the thirteenth and fourteenth fastest times. Time now for the teams to analyze their data in the run-up to the sprint qualification that will take place soon. It promises to be extremely interesting and exciting.
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