1. Sprint Racing Returns

The sprint format will make its first appearance of the 2025 season this weekend, giving the drivers and teams just one practice session to hone in on setup direction around the challenging turns of Shanghai.

This will be a headache as many of the constructors are still looking for the optimal way to run their package and this could produce an exciting race.

Max Verstappen won six of the eight sprint events last season, including China, but the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri each took one of the last two in 2024 and will be looking to continue the dominant pace they showed in Australia.

2. Flexi-Wing Controversy

It has only taken one race for the teams to start accusing each other of bending the rules and in this case, their rear wings too.

Red Bull have claimed McLaren and Ferrari have been taking liberties with the amount of flexing allowed on the wings of the car, suggesting the “mini DRS” the FIA attempted to clamp down on is still being exploited.

The governing body have acted swiftly, reducing the gap allowed by flexing from 2mm down to just 0.5mm, with an allowance of another 0.25mm for this race only due to the sudden rule change.

Lando Norris claimed his team haven’t been exploiting this rule enough, leaving some performance on the table, but all will be revealed if the papaya machine takes a step backwards this weekend.

3. Ferrari Fightback

It’s fair to say that the season opener didn’t exactly go to plan for the Scuderia. Following a poor qualifying, an even poorer strategy for both cars left them P8 and P10 by the chequered flag despite plenty of pre-season buildup.

Lewis Hamilton was notably struggling with communication with his new race engineer, but that can be ironed out over time. The scarlet cars were comfortably fourth best behind McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes however, and will want to show a more competitive performance this weekend.

Hamilton has gone well in China before, winning six times previously, but his new team haven’t seen victory around Shanghai since 2013, where Fernando Alonso danced the prancing horse to the flag.

Ferrari are expecting to put on a much better showing than they did last weekend and they will need to if they want to stake a claim at being a serious contender this year.

4. Hadjar backed by the paddock

Isack Hadjar was one of many drivers to succumb to the elements in the season opener, a race which tested even the veterans on the grid.

The Frenchman saw his debut over before it began as he went sliding into the wall on the formation lap, as he was visibly distraught when exiting the car.

This drew the ire of Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, who called his show of emotion “embarassing”

Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony both came to the rookie’s defence, as the F2 runner-up from last season looks to bounce back from a disappointing start.

5. Midfield Mix-up

The midfield looks to be as competitive as ever this season, with Williams picking up a solid result in Australia scoring P5.

Alpine, Racing Bulls and Aston Martin were all also there or thereabouts pace wise, but the order could be shaken up again by the previously mentioned technical directive for the rear wings.

Along with McLaren and Ferrari, it is also rumoured that Alpine and Haas had been exploiting the loophole and as such, this change could see the pair of them drop off in competitiveness.

Aston Martin had a fantastic weekend with Alonso last season, with the Spaniard looking to get his first points of the season this time around.

This group of cars is one to keep an eye on as the season progresses.