Shanghai Daily news

On Friday morning on a shuttle bus to the Shanghai International Circuit, a boy sitting on his mother's knees suddenly sprang to life.
"Mom, its F1," he shouted with excitement, pointing to the TV set as a Formula One promo flashed across the screen.
"What is F1?" the boy asked his mother. Despite being no older than five, his eyes beamed with pride when he answered his own question. "F1 is Ferrari. Schumacher is F1," the boy said.
It was unknown if the boy was disappointed yesterday when his idol started the race from the pit after puncturing a tire in qualifying on Saturday, and finished well out of contention.
Still, few people came away disappointed in China's first staging of a Formula One Grand Prix race at Anting yesterday.
For Pan Yongyong, witnessing the build-up to race day was a long-awaited thrill.
The 29-year-old is a rabid Formula One fan, having followed the whole process and development of the Shanghai race since its early days. He said he first got into F1 about 15 years ago through the Hong Kong program "Marlboro World Sports" which was aired locally.
"I remember staying up for each program, learning about Ayrton Senna and the Lotus team," he said.
From last year, Formula One was no longer a private hobby for Pan. It became part of his career when he started to appear under the nickname "Polar Shrimp" as a guest commentator on Great Sports Channel. He provided tidbits for local F1 fans, explaining the meaning behind such racing jargon as "dirty air" and "over-steer."
"I feel lucky to have had the opportunity of sharing F1 with more people through the program. It forces me to collect as much information and knowledge as I can," said Pan who worked over the weekend on the channel's first live F1 broadcast.
Earlier this month he also released his first book, naturally one about his passion, "F1-2004." The book features stories on F1 history, classic races and the details behind Shanghai holding the Grand Prix.
Pan has high hopes for the book as well as for racing in China.
"Formula One is a culture and its popularity is closely tied with the country's car culture. With more people owning cars, I believe Formula One will develop quickly and steadily in China," he said.
In contrast to Pan's insider look at the race, Chen Hongming was about three kilometers from the action. The 43-year-old, himself a hardcore F1 fan, could only hear the distant roar of the race car engines from his bus that ferried the media to and from the site.
He had been traveling between downtown and Jiading six times daily during the three days of race action. His long days finished each night at 9:30pm.
"Maybe next year," Chen said with a smile when asked when he would see a race.
While Chen will not receive any public accolades for his contribution, he was one of the thousands of unsung heroes who helped Shanghai stage what had undoubtedly been a successful debut race.