Shanghai announces its F1 bid
Shanghai Circuit will be the most ambitious track designed by Hermann Tilke.
Picture: Tilke GmBH
AChinese Grand Prix, staged at a new circuit in Shanghai, will officially be confirmed this week, according to the company building the track.
At a press conference in China, the Shanghai International Circuit Company said that Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley would ink a deal for a Grand Prix in 2004 on Sunday.
"Mr Ecclestone and Mr Mosley will visit Shanghai very soon," said a company official. "They will participate in the opening ceremony for work on the track."
The deal would guarantee the new circuit as China GP holder for seven years. The track is expected to cost $240m to build.
The plans for the circuit, penned by F1 circuit designer Hermann Tilke, include facilities for 200,000 spectators. It is part of a larger scheme to turn a district of Shanghai into China's Detroit.
The scheme was announced in July when organisers said that it had an agreement in principle to stage races in the city.
Work has already begun on a 3.39-mile track in Shanghai, China's richest city. The layout has been revised since the July launch (see diagram above).
China spent more than nine years developing a circuit in the southern city of Zhuhai but was denied entry to the F1 calendar in 1998 after failing to meet international standards.
Discuss this news story in the e-Tracks forums.
