Eight people are killed every day on the roads in Shanghai. That, apparently, includes pedestrians and cyclists as well as people hitting things in cars and trucks, etc. Frankly, when you see it, you wonder how the toll is not a whole lot worse. If ever there was a place for the FIA's road safety campaign...
The circuit itself is well out of downtown Shanghai and it's at least a 50-minute schlep backwards and forwards every day, with each trip involving at least 20 near misses.
In Europe the routine is straightforward enough. You take hand luggage only, get off the plane, head straight to the hire car desk, grab some car keys, jump in, and follow well known roads to familiar hotels and the circuit.
Going to the Far East is different. If, like me, you can't kip on planes, you miss a night's sleep en route, arrive mid morning and make a valiant attempt to keep going and get onto Chinese time. The older you get, the bigger the victory scored by jet lag.