Formula One Returns to Shanghai Circuit

Two years ago the Shanghai International Circuit hosted a Covid hospital, but this weekend it will stage Formula One once more as the sport returns to China for the first time since the pandemic.

Adding to the excitement of fans, they will see Shanghai native Zhou Guanyu drive at his home track in Formula One for the first time.

Shanghai last witnessed an F1 race in 2019, before Covid and China's travel restrictions put a halt to almost all major international sports in the country.

Tickets for the action-packed Formula One weekend -- which begins with practice, sees a sprint race and ends with the grand prix -- sold out within minutes of going on sale in January.

China is relatively new to motor racing, with cars a rare sight even in major cities as recently as the 1980s.

Shanghai staged the country's first F1 grand prix in 2004 and, prior to the pandemic, the sport's decision-makers had talked about the possibility of a second grand prix each year in China.

Ma, who was the first Chinese driver to take part in a Formula One practice session at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, has witnessed the growth in motorsport first hand. 

"It is a lot more popular now," said Ma, adding that, when he started, "I didn't even know where I could do a test or that there was such a thing as a racing license".

Ma's F1 adventure did not go any further with the now-disbanded HRT team because of contract issues, he said, but he drove in other classes such as Formula E and the World Touring Car Championship.

Now 36, he runs a go-kart venue in Shanghai where aspiring speed demons zoom down a looping two-storey track tucked into the basement of a mall.

During Formula One's five-year absence, China continued to put resources into motor sport.

In 2022 the island province of Hainan poured $691 million into an electric vehicle racing circuit and Formula E is returning to China next month, with Shanghai hosting for the first time.