Shanghai nights

After the quasi-disaster that was Japan (Suzuka), China (Shanghai) looked to be a solid redemption. I had a plan, I executed the plan, and I ended up with “eh?”

To start with: the Shanghai race menu:

• Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodles (traditional Shanghai dish)
• Chinese Smashed Cucumber Salad
• Chinese Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (humbao)
• some sort of tasty Chinese dessert found on the shelves of the Asian grocery store
• some sort of Chinese beer (Tsing Tao?*)

To be fair, we got all of those things, albeit not necessarily as anticipated.

The noodle dish turned out okay^, and probably could have been quite good, were it not for my choice in noodles (“Chinese Wheat Noodles” that were probably WAY too thin for this recipe–think Japanese somen noodles) that turned into a very glutinous mush, my choice in stove temperature for making the scallion oil (perhaps the recipe’s “medium” and my “medium” were not the same, so it took FOREVER for the scallions to start to turn golden brown), and my poor communication of timing with my co-driver (the steamed buns got steamed quite awhile before the scallion oil began to even think about turning golden brown).

So what we got was:

• glutinous noodles in ever-so-slightly flavored scallion oil
• mildly warm, but kind of dried out, steamed bbq pork buns
• garlicky-red peppered smashed cucumbers — which was fine
• “thick pastry pineapple dessert” — which was pretty good
• Taiwan Beer — which was also pretty good

Overall, it was definitely a better experience than the Japan race dinner, although that probably isn’t saying much.

Kind of like the race.

We actually watched the race live (hadn’t intended to, but when you’re already up at midnight and F1 TV flashes “Race Live!” on your screen, it’s hard to say no), which is always a treat.

That said, I did fall asleep for the last half of it, but the start was good: Fernando Alonso started on the grid at 3rd, then managed to get to 2nd! And then locked up his tires and caused a stunning automotive version of Falling Dominoes, as the cars behind him in the corner concertinaed, and ultimately resulted in Daniel Ricciardo getting hit by Lance Stroll and then having to retire his car (and Ricciardo looked to be in a points-scoring position!).

Another depressing retirement was Valteri Bottas’ Sauber car, whose engine decided it had had enough with Sauber’s pathetically long pitstops** and couldn’t face one more of them, so it up and died early on in the race.***

In the end, Max Verstappen rang up another win (meh), but at least Lando Norris got 2nd, my F1 Fantasy Team drivers Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso took 5th and 7th respectively (and Alonso got a point for fastest lap!). And shockingly, Logan Sergeant finished last****.

Yes, there was a sprint race as well, but not much to say there besides Lando Norris getting pole position (take that, Max!), Alonso getting a tire puncture and having to retire his car 2 laps before the end of the race (boo!), and the FIA gods hating on Alonso by giving him a 10 second penalty (as if not finishing the race wasn’t enough) AND 3 more penalty points off his Super License.

Oh, and there was the whole “grass on fire” thing in the practice session and then during the qualifying session for the sprint race.

And it was the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai race, combined with the first Chinese F1 driver competing at the race (Zhou Guanyu), and then Zhou gets a special parking spot at the end of the race. Kind of odd, kind of cool.

Next up: Miami! I’m really hoping it isn’t the bombastic WWE pre-race disaster that it was last year. So cringe-worthy.

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^ Although upon reviewing the recipe’s pictures and my own picture, I’m starting to think I didn’t get nearly enough sauce on the noodles.

*Fun fact: Tsing Tao brewery was founded in 1903 by German colonizers. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the beer was brewed based on traditional German beer brewing laws (Reinheitsgebot: beer can only contain water, malts, yeast, and hops), but I can’t find a reference to that.

**A typical F1 pitstop to change tires takes 2-ish seconds. Sauber has been averaging 53 seconds.

***To add salt to the wounds, here is Bottas watching a Red Bull pitstop during the China race after he had to retire his car. Note the hang dog body language.

****This is so not shocking. At all. At least he didn’t wreck the car this time. So, kudos, Logan!

And as a complete aside, we wanted to watch “Shanghai Knights” in honor of the race, but instead ended up with “Rush Hour”. Jackie Chan is always a delight, and Chris Tucker played Chris Tucker, but Elizabeth Peña stole that show.