Thursday, September 17: For the third round of the 2026 UIM F1H2O World Championship season, the sport returns to the Baoshan district of Shanghai for this year’s Grand Prix of Shanghai–China. Racing will take place on the same course as last year, where a dynamic race filled with overtakes and barrel rolls ultimately saw three-time World Champion Jonas Andersson take the win in what would prove to be his only Grand Prix victory of the 2025 season.
Andersson therefore returns to Shanghai as one of the favourites, having already demonstrated his mastery of the course. His memory of last year’s Grand Prix is of a “fantastic, tough, and demanding course”. The Swede had a difficult start to the weekend, as technical issues during the final round of qualifying saw him qualify in fifth place, below his usual high standard. But Andersson overcame those initial challenges to storm to victory in his Sprint Race, before securing the even bigger prize the following day by winning the Grand Prix race.
Shaun Torrente started from pole position in Shanghai and managed to lead for the race’s first eleven laps. But Andersson’s relentless pressure paid off, and the Swede made his move on Torrente on the twelfth lap to take the lead, which he held for the rest of the race. Andersson recalls the harsh racing conditions throughout last year’s race: “The entire course was tough, as the water gets choppy with quays surrounding the whole course”. But Andersson felt the choppy waters played to his advantage, adding, “I really enjoy racing in tough and demanding conditions”.
Ultimately, he credits his win last year to the work he and his team put in before the race, saying that his “boat and setup were perfect” going into the race after the technical challenges faced in qualifying had been overcome. This adds an interesting dimension to his return to Shanghai this year, given his move to Team Abu Dhabi and the technical changes to his racing setup that have come with it. He can now count among his team’s management the sport’s most decorated driver, Guido Cappellini, the ten-time World Champion. As if that were not enough of a boost, Team Abu Dhabi comes into the 2026 season with legendary driver Thani Al Qamzi as CEO, overseeing upgrades to the team’s racing package under the guidance of new Assistant Technical Director Majed Al Mansoori. In recent months, the team has also received the vital support of AD Ports Group, which has joined as its Official Logistics Partner, further strengthening Team Abu Dhabi’s operations and ambitions.
Now racing for a new team that is itself undergoing a period of change as it seeks to retain its status as F1H2O’s premier racing team, Andersson nonetheless maintains that his approach going into the Grand Prix in Shanghai remains much the same as last year. Regarding his preparations for the race, he says that “nothing in particular [has changed]. The preparations are more or less the same, as the entire team works together”.
His preparations remain the same, and so too do his ambitions: “Winning is always what I strive for. We are very excited to return, and we will do everything we can to repeat last year’s result”. A win has proved elusive so far this season, after Andersson finished sixth in the opening Grand Prix in Cagliari and fifth in the latest Grand Prix in Kyrgyzstan. Current World Champion Shaun Torrente has shown that he is still at the top of his game with his win in Kyrgyzstan. Andersson will also face a strong challenge from Cagliari’s winner Stefan Arand, who had a spectacular race the last time he competed in Shanghai, starting from the back and finishing fourth after a series of skilful overtakes from the young Estonian.
But a driver of Andersson’s pedigree can never be discounted, and a win in Shanghai would be a vital catalyst for a title charge that could see Andersson match current World Champion Torrente with four world titles apiece. Andersson is his usual unfazed self, though, and is not overly worried about the pressure to secure a win in Shanghai. Instead, he is positively reflecting on the “large crowds and a fantastic atmosphere” he remembers from Shanghai last year. Those same crowds and atmosphere are set to greet all the F1H2O drivers again this year on October 4–5, as the World Championship returns to the Chinese megacity.
