Ryan Briscoe's 'virtual' lap of Shanghai.

No-one has had the chance to sample the new Shanghai International Circuit in a Formula One car since its completion a matter of weeks ago, but the ten teams have all been hard at work approximating just what it will take to be quick around the Chinese venue.

Armed with virtual track maps, details of weather conditions, temperatures and otehr 'local' factors, and the banks of computers that form a crucial part of the modern F1 set-up, most have been able to arrive at, and test, the basic set-up they will roll out of their packing crates this weekend.

While not likely to race on the circuit this coming Sunday, Toyota's latest Friday driver, Ryan Briscoe, has also been poring over the data in order to try and understand where he will be going when the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix gets underway.

"The new Shanghai International Circuit is smooth and wide, with low kerbs, and, generally, it looks like a high downforce circuit," the Australian surmised, "There are quite a lot of slow corners and a couple of high speed corners. It looks quite a technical track, so we should see some good driving.

"There are also a couple of very heavy braking points that should make racing interesting, maybe some good passing opportunities. The hairpin at the end of the back straight, turn 14, will definitely be the prime passing zone. And, while you never know until you try them out, there could also be a chance into turn six or even turn eleven.

"There are a couple of unique points about the circuit, starting with turn one. It's unbelievable! It's a very long, long corner, which almost comes full circle. You have a very fast entry at about 300kph and brake late, taking lots of speed in. That will make it quite difficult on tyres. But the corner then starts to tighten up all the way through, so you have to keep a tidy line right round to turn two. Then it's just about trying to get the right line through the change of direction into turn three, which is taken in first gear.

"It's important to get a good exit out of three, with good traction, as it's a reasonable straight from turn four to turn six. It's difficult to see how tight turn four is, so I'm not sure if it's flat. But if it's not flat, it will be close to flat. Turn five is flat, and we'll be up to sixth before heavy braking into turn six, another slow corner. Our simulations say that it's a first gear corner, but it may prove to be possible in second.

"Out of there, there's a very fast left-hander through turn seven, which is where we're going to need a lot of downforce. It's taken in fifth at a minimum of 240kph and it looks quite a similar fast corner to turn four at Jerez. Then we have a change of direction into turn eight. There's a change of direction and it's a slightly slower, third gear corner. That sweeping section looks quite original and it looks like it could be an enjoyable section for driving, so I'm looking forward to it.

"The circuit looks like it will be very wide, and it looks like there could be some different racing lines and different interpretations of taking the corners - especially out of turn eight and into turn nine. It looks like we won't be using all of the circuit out of turn eight, and setting up the car more to make sure you have a good exit out of turn nine to take good speed through turn ten up the straight.

"Turn eleven is another slow corner, which our simulation tells us will be taken in first, but may end up in second. It looks like it will be around 70kph, similar to turn six and turn three. After this tight left-hander, there's a quick change of direction into a long, sweeping right-hander, turn twelve.

Turn 13 is another very long corner, taking you onto the back straight, which is also very long. I'm sure there could be a lot of slipstreaming and good passing potential into turn 14, which is a very tight first gear corner taken at around 60kph. It has a wide exit, though, from which you accelerate up to fifth before the last corner, taken in second, which puts us back on the start-finish straight."