Shanghai International Circuit
Chinese Grand Prix

Speeds, gears and braking points below come from Kimi Antonelli‘s 1:32.064 pole lap in 2026 qualifying. He was at full throttle for 56% of the lap and spent 20 seconds on the brakes across nine braking zones. His longest flat-out run, 1,325m from Turn 12 to the hairpin, took 16.2 seconds, and the slowest point was 68 km/h in first gear at Turn 14.

F1 first raced in Shanghai in 2004, and Lewis Hamilton has won the Chinese Grand Prix six times since then, more than any other driver.

The Shanghai International Circuit cost $240m to build, according to AFP's report when it opened in 2004. The hosting fee has never been published, and the only estimate we found, from City AM in 2020, put it at about $33m a year. Neither the sealant painted onto the track during the pandemic break nor the full resurfacing in August 2024 has a published cost. The current deal runs to 2030.

AFP reported a cost of $240m when the circuit opened in September 2004, two years after Shanghai won a seven-year contract. Hermann Tilke designed it on swampy land on the city's western outskirts, and the venue held 200,000 spectators, more than 29,000 of them in the main grandstand. Some references give a higher CNY2.6bn ($387m), but no primary source for that figure was found. Later work has no published price. A bitumen sealant was painted onto the track during the pandemic break, and Pirelli estimated it cost about 15% of dry grip until the racing line wore in. The circuit was then fully resurfaced in August 2024.

No official figure exists. The only published estimate we found is City AM's from February 2020, when F1 risked losing an estimated $33m fee after the race was postponed at the promoter's request. City AM noted that fees for long-haul races typically fall due three months before the event and that promoters can withhold payment in a force majeure case. The race didn't return until 2024. The promoter, Juss Sports Group, pays the fee, and F1 extended its deal in December 2024 for five years, to 2030. The terms of that extension haven't been published.

Three-day general admission on the C, F and J grass banks cost CNY480 ($72) for the 2026 race, and grandstand seats started at CNY1,580 ($235) in the new Stand E. The top grandstand was A Platinum on the main straight at CNY4,680 ($697), and hospitality started at CNY25,800 ($3,843) in the T16 Club. That made Shanghai the cheapest of the 23 races in our ticket price table. These are domestic prices, and the 2027 tariff hadn't been published by late September 2026.