Shanghai to kickstart global F1 Festival campaign

Shanghai will host the first F1 Festival of the 2019 season next week, in the build-up to the Chinese Grand Prix, the 1000th race of the F1 World Championship.

Formula 1 will leverage on the success of last year's festival events and bring the sport to the streets of Shanghai, Chicago, Los Angeles and to a yet to be named city in Brazil.

Next week's Heineken F1 Festival will be open to the public and take place in downtown Shanghai on April 12-13, with festivities including a celebration of the China Grand Prix as the 1000th race in the history of the F1 world championship.

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The event will also feature an array of music acts and exciting entertainment, followed by the F1 Live car run on April 13 in which will take part Renault development driver and Chinese rising star Guanyu Zhou.

The 19-year-old - onboard Renault's E-20 machine - will become the first Chinese driver to power down the roads of Shanghai in an F1 car.

"I’m very excited to drive the Renault F1 Team E20 Formula 1 car in Shanghai, my hometown," said Zhou.

"It’s really an amazing opportunity for me. The city centre, which is already a busy place, will be blocked off for this demonstration run and that will be an incredible sight.

"To be part of that is going to be really special."

Formula 1 will issue in due course the key dates for its Chicago, Los Angeles and Brazilian festivals.

"Following the huge success last season, we are thrilled to announce all four F1 Festivals for 2019," said F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches.

"We are committed to enhancing fan experience of F1 and continue to explore new ways of exposing fans to the sport.

"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."

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