© Vladimir RysHarbour Lights: All About The Abu Dhabi GPAs we head to the season finale we thought we'd give you a rundown of everything you need to know about the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Yas Marina Circuit under lights is a snapshot of F1 at its very best. It’s a fast, exciting track that requires rather more thought than most and has given us more than a few memorable moments. Here’s the lowdown on all things Yas.
The circuit contains more than just the racetrack. There’s also a handy karting circuit – which the teams make good use of – and also one of the world’s best drag strips. We make use of that too – but only as temporary storage for all of F1’s freight, as it runs behind turn one and is very convenient for the paddock.
The whole complex is massive. The circuit took 14,000 workers 35 million hours to construct. 1,600,000m3 of earth was moved, 720,000m2 of asphalt laid, together with 25km of electrical ducts, 17km of drainage and 22km of irrigation pipes.
Our first sight of the Yas Marina Circuit came from the air, courtesy of David Coulthard, who stopped in at the 2009 Abu Dhabi round of the Red Bull Air Race on his way to commentate on the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix.
The 2008 reigning World Champion Hannes Arch took DC up in the Air Race’s rather potent Extra-300SR two-seater for a good view of the circuit, currently in the final stages of construction. Ever helpful, Hannes ensured DC got the best view of the new track by flying over it upside down. David had a little sit-down when they got back to runway on the Corniche.
David Coulthard Takes Flight In 2009© Red Bull Content Pool
The Yas Marina Circuit sits upon the artificial Yas Island, within a much larger entertainment complex of theme parks, concert arenas, a mall and a golf course. The proximity of the hotels makes this one of a few venues where it’s just as quick for the team to walk into work as take a minibus – but this year that’s proved an essential component of allowing this race to go ahead, with the hotels and the circuit wrapped into a bio-secure bubble.
Just as Australia opens the season, Abu Dhabi has settled in as the home of the season finale. It was advanced in the calendar for 2011-2013 but otherwise this has always been the last race of the F1 year. While the Constructors’ Championship has never been contested at an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale, the Drivers’ title has been settled here on three occasions.
Mercedes had an internecine battle in 2014 and 2016, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg splitting those one-all – but the one we remember most fondly is the wild 2010 race in which Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, our two drivers, went into the final race with a shot at the title, vying with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and, at least mathematically, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Seb was an outside bet because the title was out of his hands – but he did his bit by winning from pole, and with Fernando and Mark respectively finished seventh and eighth, Seb was crowned F1’s youngest World Champion. Until the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi he had never led the Championship.
Sebastian Vettel You Are The World Champion© Getty Images
Max has been on the podium for the last two years in Abu Dhabi but before that we had a bit of a dry spell, with nothing since 2013. Before then we had three wins, two second places and a third. After that the only things we could celebrate were Daniel Ricciardo’s first fastest lap in 2014 and his final race with the Team in 2018. We weren’t celebrating him leaving – just the fact it was his 150th Grand Prix.
The statistics don’t really show it – but pole here has proved more valuable than at any other circuit. The driver on pole position has won this race six times from 11 events. So far, so normal – but what that statistic doesn’t show you is that, of the other five, three retired while leading the race with mechanical issues. The other two both had poor starts and had lost the lead to the driver who did win before the first corner. Basically, in Abu Dhabi, the guy leading the race on the first corner of the first lap wins – or doesn’t finish.
Seb’s win in 2010 was his second in a row at the Yas Marina Circuit and one of three he had for us here – but possibly his best performance came in 2012 when he finished third having started 24th (actually, from the pit lane) and last after being disqualified from qualifying for running out of fuel on his in-lap.
That’s the only time in 33 attempts a driver has made it to the podium having started behind the front three rows. Gaining 21 places is a 21st Century record, and the biggest net gain since Christian Danner, stalwart of the RTL commentary box, rocketed from 26th to 4th in Phoenix at the 1989 US Grand Prix.
Officially, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is F1’s only day/night race (we say ‘officially’ because occasionally the Bahrain Grand Prix has started a couple of minutes before sunset). Having the cars racing with the huge orange ball of the sun on the horizon always looks spectacular – but never more so than in 2013 when the race coincided with a partial solar eclipse. For this year’s race, the sun will set at 17:36, 26 minutes after the race starts.
When F1 first went to Abu Dhabi the transition was considered difficult to judge. Unlike F1’s trailblazing night race in Singapore, where temperatures stay relatively stable, this track cools considerably over the course of the race at Yas Marina, making the cars more prone to understeer.
Sun Goes Down In Abu Dhabi© Vladimir Rys
YouDon’tKnowWhatYou’reDoing!
Perhaps the most famous phrase uttered at Yas Marina is Kimi Räikkönen’s “leave me alone, I know what I’m doing,” spawning a meme and a thousand novelty Fathers’ Day gifts. On the other end of that call was Kimi’s race engineer Simon Rennie, now Alex’s race engineer. Did Kimi know what he was doing? “Yes,” says Simon, “…but he could have been doing a bit more of it.”
