SHANGHAI
\nTwo 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.
\nAdding to the excitement of fans, they will see Shanghai native Zhou Guanyu drive at his home track in Formula One for the first time. \u201cI\u2019m extremely excited, in these 5,000 years of (Chinese) history there has only been one Zhou Guanyu,\u201d said fan Wang Xiaotian.
\nShanghai last witnessed an F1 race in 2019, before Covid and China\u2019s travel restrictions put a halt to almost all major international sport in the country.
\nTickets for the action-packed Formula One weekend \u2014 which begins with Friday morning practice, sees a sprint race on Saturday and ends with the grand prix on Sunday \u2014 sold out within minutes of going on sale in January.
\nMa Qinghua, the first Chinese to drive an F1 car when he took part in a 2012 practice session, said the sport\u2019s return will have a \u201cvery good impact\u201d, especially on younger fans who did not have the chance to see their heroes in the flesh during the pandemic.
\n\u201cThis group of people are very much anticipating the chance to witness a race personally,\u201d Ma, a pioneer of China\u2019s motorsport industry, told AFP.
\nIt was almost exactly two years ago, at the height of the city\u2019s lockdown, that the Shanghai circuit became the site of a makeshift 13,000-bed Covid hospital.
\nThat was just a few weeks after Zhou had his first grand prix drive in Bahrain, finishing 10th to score a point, but the pandemic delayed 24-year-old Zhou\u2019s home F1 debut until this week.
\nEven though he is unlikely to challenge for the podium, Zhou is desperate to put on a Shanghai show.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t wait to give it my all, share the passion with our entire team trackside and at home, and start a new chapter of Chinese motorsport together with the crowd,\u201d Zhou said Monday.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to inspire and pave the path for future generations being interested in the sport.
\n\u201cMy country loves racing and has been waiting for this moment for years.\u201d
\nHis excitement is echoed by fans in the city.
\n\u201cAs China\u2019s first F1 driver, we are extremely proud of him,\u201d Hu Yanqin, 29, said at a recent fan event screening the Japanese Grand Prix \u2014 complete with large banners bearing Zhou\u2019s photo.
\nUnderlining the hype surrounding Zhou, who is in his third F1 season, fans greeted him at the airport when he arrived last week and a documentary about the racer, \u201cThe First One\u201d, will hit Chinese cinemas this weekend to coincide with the race.
\nChina is relatively new to motor racing, with cars a rare sight even in major cities as recently as the 1980s.
\nShanghai staged the country\u2019s first F1 grand prix in 2004 and, prior to the pandemic, the sport\u2019s decision-makers had talked about the possibility of a second grand prix each year in China.
\nMa, 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.
\n\u201cIt is a lot more popular now,\u201d said Ma, adding that, when he started, \u201cI didn\u2019t even know where I could do a test or that there was such a thing as a racing licence\u201d.
\nMa\u2019s 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.
\nNow 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.
\nDuring Formula One\u2019s five-year absence, China continued to put resources into motor sport.
\nIn 2022 the island province of Hainan poured five billion yuan ($691 million) into an electric vehicle racing circuit and Formula E is returning to China next month, with Shanghai hosting for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SHANGHAI 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-400675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n