As Formula 1's Chinese Grand Prix unfolds in Shanghai, attention is also mounting on Ma Qinghua, the first Chinese-born driver who has ever made it to the F1 race track.
Ma's return has once again kindled hopes and interest about where China stands on the Formula 1 map, ten years after the sport arrived in Ma's hometown, Shanghai.
Ma Qinghua returns to the formula one action this Friday after taking part in a practice session with Formula One team Caterham.
But things haven't been easy for the 25-year-old over the past few months.
Ma became Caterham's back-up driver only after his previous team, Spanish-based HRT was disbanded late last year.
"My career will not stop with any team change. I will continue my career, whatever is the team I will be driving for."
Ma has admitted that seeing his first F1 team fail was a setback, but he is now focused on building on his previous experience with Caterham.
"This year we've been signed with Caterham and they gave me a lot of help, they gave me a good opportunity to do testing, to be racing GP2, and also there are a couple of chances to race in the Friday practice one."
Today's session will be Ma's fifth practice outing.
Last year, he was driving for the now-defunct HRT team in Italy, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and USA.
Ma is obviously excited to follow these up with his debut in Shanghai, which now sits firmly on the F1 map since 2004.
But just as the significance of the occasion suggests, it also telling of how far China still has to go before the country has its drivers off the starting grid.
"The motorsport is still a new sport in China. 15 years, around 15 years as the motorsport being developing in China. The people still don't really understand the sport, especially the Formula One."
Although Ma is relatively old to be starting out a career in F1, he believes China's F1 is young and promising, as younger Chinese drivers in the wings await their chances.
"We are growing up very fast. In this (past) ten years, we saw a huge change from zero to now we have formula one we have a lot of international racing in China. And we have been building a lot of our local championships as in the go-cart, in the formula, in the touring car. So it's already been developing a lot of things in a short time."
Ma's confidence may not be just good wishes.
As another Shanghai native, former Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming has shown, the world's biggest marketplace is no alien land to booming sports industries.
The key is to finding the right way to unlock it.
Photo story: Nostalgia in a small telephone booth
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