Five Things To Know About The Yas Marina Circuit

Facts you might not know about the location of the season finale.

Here

are

back

Abu

Dhabi,

it’s

hard

believe

that

it’s

the

last

race

the

season!

The

UAE

capital

first

hosted

race

2009

and

has

been

the

calendar

every

year

since

–

including

the

disrupted

2020

season

–

And

all

those

years

it’s

held

the

season

finale

apart

from

three

times.

However,

here

are

five

things

you

might

not

know

about

the

Yas

Marina

circuit.

Cost

Lot!

As you’d expect with anything in the UAE, no expense was spared in building the Yas Marina Circuit. It has been said that the facility cost over $1b, but that’s small change compared to the total amount it cost to build the island itself.

Yas Island is a man-made island that took 11 years to complete at a cost of around $40b. The island features much more than the Yas Marina Circuit, there are seven hotels, a golf course, a mall, a nightclub, a water park and a theme park home to the fastest rollercoaster in the world.

Sunset Silhouettes

The

Track

Surface

From

The

Back in the mid-2000s when the track was being built more than four thousand tonnes of Graywacke aggregate was shipped to the UAE from Bayston Hill Quarry in Shropshire.

The Graywacke from the Midlands was chosen as it had been highly praised for its high grip level by both drivers and circuit bosses who had seen it used at the Bahrain circuit.

Sunset In The Desert

There

Are

Six

Configurations

Although the Formula One configuration has only changed once since the track was opened, there are several other configurations available and sections are being added to as well. For example, there are turns added into the longer straights for motorcycle racing. And after the pitlane re-joins the track there are alternate turns, short cuts and tight technical sections that can be used. Experts say that hypothetically the track could accommodate three separate circuits in use simultaneously, with no overlaps or compromises of safety. There is also a world-class drag strip which Is separate from the rest of the circuit.

Sunset In The Desert

Was

Worth

Double

Bubble

2014

After the Team had dominated the 2013 season Bernie Ecclestone proposed that the last three races of the season would be worth double points. This was later changed to just the last race of the season. The proposal was not well received by everyone and even though it went ahead and Lewis Hamilton claimed 50 points for the win, the double points system was scraped after the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Boasts

Two

Unique

Features

We all know about the figure of eight at Suzuka and the tunnel in Monaco, but at the Yas Marina circuit the pitlane exit runs under the track, in a tunnel, before re-joining it, which doesn’t happen at any other circuit. The other unique feature is the Viceroy Hotel which actually sits over the track itself. That’s not seen anywhere else in the Formula One world.

RB In The UAE