Food and pandas on Verstappen's radar in Shanghai

Max Verstappen is looking forward to heading to Shanghai next weekend for the Chinese Grand Prix. However you'd be forgiven for thinking the Red Bull driver has all-but forgotten about the race itself.

“I always enjoy to go back to China. It’s a special place and it’s a very nice track, he said, before getting sidetracked by the country's other attractions.

"The food, I mean, I have good experience of it already in Holland but you always have to try the real stuff when you are in China.

"I do have to be careful with my diet not to eat too much Chinese though, as I really like it!

"The country has a lot of history and I would actually quite like to visit the giant pandas sometime.

"I’m just looking forward to going there at this early stage of the season," he added. "Everything is still very new and nothing has really been decided yet."

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Verstappen's team mate Daniel Ricciardo is hoping to bounce back after a poor start to his season. He was more focussed on the racing, and admitted that he hadn't always been a fan of the venue.

"Shanghai is a track that has definitely grown on me over time," he said. "When I first went there it wasn’t one of my favourites.

"I wasn’t normally that competitive but since I’ve been with Red Bull Racing the circuit has been a real strength of mine and I’ve had some good results. Now I really enjoy the circuit and going back there.

But even Ricciardo wasn't immune to Shanghai's other offerings.

“The city is quite far from the track but I try to take time to visit as it’s a pretty cool place. It’s a very international city with a good nightlife and some great restaurants, you really can find anything and everything there."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.