Chinese GP track fire causes major F1 mystery

After being away for five years, the Chinese Grand Prix finally returned to the F1 calendar in 2024. 

COVID-19 had forced a hiatus, but the home crowd had a Chinese driver to cheer on for the first time with Zhou Guanyu on the grid, as the first-ever Sprint race was held at the Shanghai circuit, with around 200,000 people visiting across the weekend, a 20% increase on 2019.

However, during the sole practice session, the red flags were flown as the track bizarrely caught fire. 

The smouldering grass on the inside of Turn 7 was a mystery as there had been rainfall in the days before, meaning it was damp and not bone-dry, which could have offered a reason if sparks from the cars had ignited the dry patches.

But during sprint qualifying, the same patch of grass re-ignited further deepening the mystery. 

One working theory behind the fires was the very land that the track was built upon, prior to opening in 2004.

The Shanghai International Circuit was built upon marsh and swamp land, with the idea being that trapped gas had been vented, which then coupled with the sparks, created the conditions for the fires.

It is possible to vent the surrounding area of gas to prevent a repeat, with Turn 7 being one of the corners on the track with the highest-aerodynamic loads on the track as the cars are squashed into the ground for the flat-out left-hander.