Rain forecast for Chinese GP weekend

After inclement weather spiced up the recent Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix, more rain is expected in the region of this weekend's Chinese round near Shanghai.

In the wake of the Bahrain season opener, whose processional race was blamed on the new refuelling ban, rain in both Melbourne and Sepang was credited for the much more exciting races.

This weekend, the Formula One circus is at the Shanghai circuit in the Jiading district, about a half-hour drive from the city centre.

Longer-range weather forecasts last weekend were predicting up to a 85 per cent chance of rain for Sunday afternoon, with the race scheduled to begin at 3pm local time.

The chance of rain on Sunday has now diminished, but a cool week - with almost definite rain expected on Wednesday and Thursday - is still forecast.

As for the F1 weekend, Friday and Saturday should be both sunnier and warmer, and a more than 50 per cent chance of showers throughout Sunday is predicted.