The cancelled F1 Chinese GP's greatest moments

For the fourth consecutive year F1's Chinese Grand Prix has been cancelled as China continues to wrestle with COVID-19 lockdowns.

Following the 2023 round's cancellation last December, F1 decided not to replace the Shanghai round, opening up a four-week gap between Australia and Azerbaijan on an already packed 23-round calendar.

A regular fixture on the F1 calendar from its inception in 2004 until 2019, the race at the Shanghai International Circuit has been the scene of some of the most memorable moments in the championship in recent years.

Fernando Alonso, Renault, Michael Schumacher, Ferrari and Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

2006: Schumacher's last win

Before Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes forged a devastating partnership, few would have predicted Michael Schumacher's win tally would ever be beaten and his 91st and final victory came at an intriguing 2006 Chinese GP.

In mixed conditions Schumacher defeated both Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and his title rival Fernando Alonso to take the win for Ferrari, which would prove to be his last. 

At the time he moved level on points with Alonso with just two rounds to go, as Shanghai hosted the 16th round of the season. But the German was unable to keep Alonso from a second consecutive title before he bowed out of the sport a first time.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

2007: Hamilton's rookie anguish

As Schumacher retired, rookie Hamilton took the F1 world by storm the following year. The Briton remained unfazed alongside Alonso at McLaren and went into the Shanghai round, the penultimate race, with a 12-point lead (and just 10 points on offer for the winner).

But in a chaotic rain race, Hamilton ran into trouble when he stayed out on a drying track on heavily worn rain tyres, hoping for more rain to arrive. Eventually he relented, but on his shredded rubber he went off the road in the agonisingly slow left-hander at pit entrance and retired in the gravel trap. 

A crestfallen Hamilton saw a major chance to seal the title evaporate, and in view of the memorable season finale in Brazil his Shanghai slip-up proved extremely costly.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing RB5

Photo by: Sutton Images

2009: Red Bulls rising

Amid a 2023 season that is set to be dominated by Red Bull, the Milton Keynes team's first win feels like ages ago. It was 14 years, to be precise, when it broke its duck at the 2009 Chinese GP.

The Brawn GP team had stolen a march with its double diffuser, yielding Jenson Button wins in the first two races. But another Shanghai rain race, brought forward as F1's third round of the season, gave the opposition an opportunity to strike back.

Having qualified on pole ahead of the Renault of Alonso and team-mate Mark Webber, Vettel crushed the competition once the safety car unleashed the field into the heavy rain. He took Red Bull's first win by 11 seconds over Webber, handing the energy drinks giant a 1-2, with Button a whopping 44 seconds behind.

Red Bull failed to stop Brawn in time to challenge for the championship, but it laid the groundwork for a dominant streak of four consecutive championships from 2010 until 2013.

Sébastien Buemi, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR5 crashed in the first practice session

Photo by: Sutton Images

2010: Losing the wheels

One of the Shanghai circuit's dominant features is its 1.1km-long straight, which at the time was F1's longest straight-line on the calendar. The high-speed stretch was about the last place where you'd want to suffer a serious mechanical issue, but that's what happened to Sebastien Buemi in 2010.

In spectacular fashion both of Buemi's front wheels came off in free practice after his Toro Rosso suffered a front suspension failure at the braking zone.

Fortunately for the Swiss, his car continued straight on into the run-off area instead of veering into the barriers. No thanks to Buemi's valiant efforts in the cockpit as he continued trying to steer a wheel-less car.

Podium: second place Jenson Button, McLaren, Race winner Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1, Norbert Haug, Mercedes Sporting Director, third place Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

Photo by: Sutton Images

2012: Silver Arrows hit the mark

Before Mercedes came out of the gates swinging at the start of the hybrid era in 2014, the Brackley team, then still led by Ross Brawn, faced a rebuild in its early years after the Brawn GP buyout.

Its first win in its new guise, and the first for Mercedes as a works team since 1955, came in China. Nico Rosberg grabbed a maiden win on his 111th start, which puts him in between Button and Giancarlo Fisichella on the list of longest waits until a first grand prix victory.

Rosberg started from pole, also a first for the German and for Mercedes, with team-mate Schumacher alongside him after a grid penalty for Hamilton.

As Schumacher retired, the race saw a tense battle between Rosberg and McLaren's Button, who was on a faster three-stop pitstop strategy. Rosberg struggled to see out the race on two stops, but a delayed pitstop for Button gave him the breathing room to take the chequered flag.

Podium: winner Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 Team, second place Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, third place Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

2016: Torpedo Kvyat

In 2016 Daniil Kvyat, then still a Red Bull driver before Max Verstappen took over, drew the ire of Sebastian Vettel for an opportunistic pass at the start, which forced Vettel into team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

As the pair both made it onto the podium behind winner Nico Rosberg, the cooldown room fit between Vettel and the Russian became an instant classic viral moment, with the German labelling Kvyat a torpedo.

Kvyat took his second F1 podium after drama befell team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered a puncture while leading the race just as Rosberg attacked him.

Hamilton only managed seventh after starting at the back with a grid penalty, helping Rosberg increase an early championship in what turned out to be a fraught internecine battle.