F1 gets police help to ensure Chinese GP runs

Friday's first free practice session was disrupted, and the second cancelled entirely, because the helicopter could not land near the hospital 38km away in Shanghai thanks to visibility problems.

But the FIA is understood to have arranged for the police escort to be read to ensure a rapid road transfer to hospital should similar problems strike on Sunday.

The FIA's safety regulations do allow transfer by road, but Appendix H of the International Sporting Code stipulates this is on the proviso "that it can be reached in approximately 20 minutes (except for serious burns), regardless of the weather and road traffic conditions (except in a case of force majeure)".

While this transfer time could not be guaranteed on Friday, meaning cars could not run during much of practice, the police escort will mean this problem is avoided on race day.

A second hospital is available just 5km from the track that does not have the neurological department that the selected hospital has, but arrangements are being made to transfer the necessary equipment.

The weather forecast suggests the threat of similar problems with low cloud striking on Sunday is low, thanks to higher winds.