F1 confirms fan festival locations for 2019

Formula 1 has confirmed it will hit the streets of four major cities in 2019 as part of its fan festival initiative, starting in Shanghai next week in the lead-up to the Chinese Grand Prix.

F1 debuted its fan festival format in 2017 when it took over the streets of central London, and followed that with a number of events last year in cities such as Shanghai, Milan and Miami.

F1 Festival will return to Shanghai next week in the lead-up to the 1,000th world championship grand prix on April 14, with further events planned to take place in Chicago, Los Angeles and a city in Brazil later this year - details of which will be confirmed at a later date.

As per F1, next week's event in Shanghai "will open to the public on Friday 12th April, at Xintiandi Park with an array of music acts and exciting entertainment, followed by the F1 Live car and Renault F1 Team runs on 13th April - when Renault F1 Team Development Driver and FIA Formula 2 rising star Guanyu Zhou will drive a Renault-powered E20 car and the renowned stunt driver Jessica Hawkins will be at the wheel of a Sauber C30 - enabling fans to experience the roar of the engines, the smell of the rubber and witness the electric atmosphere, as the cars tear past."

“Following the huge success last season, we are thrilled to announce all four F1 Festivals for 2019. We are committed to enhancing fan experience of F1 and continue to explore new ways of exposing fans to the sport," F1 commercial chief Sean Bratches said.

"We believe it’s vital to take F1 into the cities so that fans can immerse themselves in the race day atmosphere. By announcing three new festival locations we hope fans around the world are excited to see what F1 Festivals have to offer and we are thrilled to be returning to China for the F1 Heineken Shanghai Festival to celebrate our 1000th Grand Prix."