Formula 1 teams and FIA to discuss moving Chinese GP to Saturday

Formula 1 teams will meet with the FIA today to discuss bringing the Chinese Grand Prix forward to Saturday to avoid the risk of it being cancelled because of bad weather.

Track action at the Shanghai circuit on Friday was extremely limited thanks to the medical helicopter being out of action because it could not land at the FIA's designated hospital in Shanghai, with the second session being cancelled entirely.

The FIA's rules state a session cannot continue if neither a medical helicopter nor an ambulance can get to the assigned hospital within approximately 20 minutes

The preferred hospital in Shanghai is 38 kilometres away, which is too far for the ambulance to reach in that time.

An alternative medical facility is just 5km away, but even that is too difficult to reach within the allowed time because of local traffic.

Better weather is predicted for Saturday, which should allow track action to get back underway without problem, but the forecast for Sunday is poor.

The matter is set to be discussed at Friday night's drivers' briefing, which will be attended by team managers, but a change would require unanimous support from the teams.

The situation in China is further complicated because the Bahrain GP runs next weekend, which means that it cannot be delayed until Monday because the freight needs to be shipped.