Comments on: Abu Dhabi F1 track – first video lap

By: manatcna

manatcna — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:08:08 +0000

Well, from these comments, it looks like only about half of you will be watching.

By: A fan of f1

A fan of f1 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:54:01 +0000

The most interesting part was guessing when he’s going turn off like at 0:45, if the safety car comes out this’ll officially be more boring than Valencia

By: Platine

Platine — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:14:44 +0000

I dont think you can tell anything from that, I could lap faster jogging.

By: Prometheus

Prometheus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:28:07 +0000

And I always made the mistake to think sport was about finding out who was the best… sometimes it’s close, sometimes one contender is dominant. That’s the nature of competition.

By: Prometheus

Prometheus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:24:35 +0000

You have to look at this circuit in a wider context. It is “just” one piece of a huge real estate development project. The stadium section has to be there because this part of the track the connection between the circuit and the “Ferrari World” theme park. (Picture)

And that’s also why the chicane has to be there: to be able to get the stands right next to circuit without run-off area between, you need to slow the cars down before the hairpin.

By: Praveen Titus

Praveen Titus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:36:15 +0000

This seems like another boring track by the King of Boredom, Hermann Tilke. Speaking of which, there are and have been other kings of boredom that make Formula 1 actually Formula Yawn and completely ruin the show. It’s not beacause they’re bad at their job, it’s because they’re too good at it. Examples include Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher in F1, Jimmie Johnson in NASCAR, Scott Dixon in IndyCar and Valentino Rossi in MotoGP.

By: gazzap

gazzap — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:32:32 +0000

How boring. I cant beleive they have decided to put the last race of the season at a circuit like this – a decision no doubt based on money. I just hope that the title is decided at Interlagos even more now.

By: jess

jess — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:25:31 +0000

Wow, I must be in the minority. I thought the track looked really cool. I took into account that we need to see and F1 car but I thought it looked nice.

By: Mario Roberto

Mario Roberto — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:50:23 +0000

Beautiful track, but it’s more like a resort club than a race track.

By: Prisoner Monkeys

Prisoner Monkeys — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:22:40 +0000

Someone said it was safe – not too sure especially the pit lane exit next year with full fuel tanks.

I think people are making far too much of the pit exit. When was the last time anyone stopped in pit? Look at Interlagos, which has the longest pit exit on the calendar and has two blind corners. You don’t protest about that. Or Singapore, which has part of the circuit running under the grandstand, not unlike the Abu Dhabi pit exit.

It’s not as if the organisers simply dropped it in there. They would have consulted the FIA on it, the FIA would ahve reviewed it and made suggestions. You can bet that there will be a flag marshall stationed there, just in case. And even if someone does expire – again, when was the last time someone stopped in the pit exit? – the circuit is wide enough so that they can be cleanly passed by anyone on approach.

I fail to understand your argument that it will be unsafe because people will have full fuel tanks next season for two reasons: 1) by the time they get to the pits, they’ll have burnt off quite a bit of fuel, and 2) when was the last time a Formula One car caught fire? I think it was Pedro Diniz back in the late 1990s, more than a decade ago.

Put it this way: if the pit exit was considered unsafe, it never would have been built. The plans have to be submitted before any construction could begin, and anything unsafe about it would have been picked up very quickly.

Personally, I think you’re just looking for reasons to dislike it.

By: Prisoner Monkeys

Prisoner Monkeys — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:10:33 +0000

The organisers are projecting a lap time of 1min 40sec. Senna did two laps in five minutes. You do the math: he’s nearly a minute off the pace. But if you’re watching, you can tell he’s not trying too hard, particularly going into the left/rigt at the end of the main straight when he starts braking in the zip code before the turn.

By: John

John — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:54:02 +0000

Looks like an airport without the planes.

Someone said it was safe – not too sure especially the pit lane exit next year with full fuel tanks.

I would have thought Abu Dhabi ( if that where it was ! ) could have made abetter a job of it although on reflection the mess they have made with Abu Dhabi itself I am not surprised.

By: dj

dj — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:44:18 +0000

wow, 1,500,000,000 u.s. dollars….

By: Spin Beaumont

Spin Beaumont — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:23:35 +0000

Maybe I’m still too new to this sport (about 6 years) but I don’t think it will be boring. I see lots of room to pass and I don’t mind all the extra runoff space as I don’t want any of the drivers to get hurt in case of an error.

By: Prisoner Monkeys

Prisoner Monkeys — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:53:53 +0000

Because to do a normal one would mean putting the pit exit square on the racing line for the first turn whether it came out before or after the corner itself.

By: Dave F.

Dave F. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:27:50 +0000

He’s taking tourist around in a two seater for crying out loud!! Did you not read any of the other posts or actually look at the video?!

By: Dill

Dill — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:16:36 +0000

The drivers will turn off the pit lane speed limiter when he passes the white lines at the end of the garages, he won’t be limited through the tunnel

By: PinballLes

PinballLes — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:27:59 +0000

Prometheus makes an excellent point. Designers are very rarely given a blank sheet of paper.

The plans for Blister-Berg look awesome! The longitudinal section shows heap of change in grade with some pretty steep sections, up to 10% longitudinal grade with tight vertical curves. It looks sweet!

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:56:54 +0000

Is it just me or does anything else think Senna wasn’t really going for it during those laps. With the sound on and listening to the engine he seems to be braking very early.

By: Prometheus

Prometheus — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:34:24 +0000

Problem is: a race track-planner doesn't have a "complete blank sheet of paper". The investor wants the track to go around the edges of a marina - the planner has to incorporate that. The investor wants a stadium section - the planner draws one up. The investor wants the track to pass under his shiny new hotel - the planner fulfills his desire. Easy to build an interesting track like this, isn't it?If you want to see what Tilke can do, if you give him an interesting location and a free hand in planning a demanding circuit, look here ...and for the gradient here