New pictures of the Abu Dhabi F1 track
29th October 2009, 0:24 by Keith Collantine 54 Comments »
The impressive new Abu Dhabi F1 track
We’re only one day away from finally seeing F1 cars in action of Abu Dhabi’s spectacular new track.
Here’s some new pictures of the completed Yas Island facility that awaits the teams as F1 arrives for the first ever Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
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- Yas Island F1 track, Abu Dhabi
2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Stepping into the unknown at a dazzling new venue (Abu Dhabi GP preview)
- Abu Dhabi F1 track – first video lap
- Abu Dhabi F1 track revealed in pictures
- Of course the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is sold out, they’ve only got 50,000 seats
- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix launch pictures
- New Abu Dhabi F1 track video
- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit video lap
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 0:29
Glorified Tilke? it wont make the racing any better though.
Anyway its that time again, end of the season! the wait begins
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 0:35
Does anyone know what the estimated lap times will be?
Prisoner Monkeys said on 29th October 2009, 0:51
The organisers are projecting a lap time of 1min 40sec. That’s why Bruno Senna’s on-board laps were only really a tour – he was nearly a minute off the pace both laps.
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 1:10
1.40′s thats a long lap! tilke should designsome 1:20′s, 1:10′s, or he shouldnt designs tracks at all!
The hotel looks good though.
HG said on 29th October 2009, 1:33
does and extra 20 or 30 seconds really matter. It’s the quality of the track that matters, not so much the time it takes to do the lap.
mp4-19b said on 29th October 2009, 2:43
A1-Ring & Indy were designed or at least re-profiled by Tilke, weren’t they? Both were a 1:10 range.
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 3:31
it doesnt really matter, but i prefer 1:10, 1:20 laps, i dont know why i prefer shorter lap times but i do.
look at the better tracks on the calender or have been on the calender lately, silverstone, interlagos, gilles-villenueve, they are shorter lap times.
the lenth of Yas Marina is about 5.5 km, an average track lenght, but it takes 1:40, just shows that new tracks are getting slower
Alpha said on 29th October 2009, 8:16
Agree
Prisoner Monkeys said on 29th October 2009, 4:02
Yeah, but short lap times ten to be short races. Look at Monza, one of the fastest circuits, which took Rubens Barrichello just 75min to comeplte fifty-three laps.
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 4:21
and? do you enjoy races like singapore? F1 is fast, so more high speed tracks please.
Icthyes said on 29th October 2009, 10:54
Hungary and Monaco?
What makes a short or long race is more the average speed of the track then its length. Spa is long, so there’s only 44 laps, but the laptime is long too. Hungary has 70 laps, but it takes longer to get round it than that time suggests. Same with Monaco.
The ideals are short circuits with short lap times and long circuits with long lap times. Monza is a long circuit with fast laps, which is why it’s so short in race time.
Alpha said on 29th October 2009, 8:20
Harv’s. Longer lap time, doesn’t mean its a worse lap. Thats just nonsense. It is the quality of the track that matters. From what I see and read, it looks to be one of the best tracks on the calendar. Longer lap time, probably means there are more challenging slow corner, rather than fast corner like on track that you mentioned. To be honest, a longer lap time x 55 lap (am I right?) means longer race time, which is better ! I never want the race to end, I enjoy every second of it.
ajokay said on 29th October 2009, 9:13
Suzuka and Spa. Two of the longest laps, two of the best tracks.
Silverstone isn’t exactly short either, still one of the longer physical distances, made even longer by the Arrowhead configuration.
Races should go to 2 hours, rather than number of laps.
Guilherme Teixeira said on 29th October 2009, 9:55
I would have nothing against this 1.40 projected lap time, only if the circuit had around 7 kilometers… 5.5 km circuits shouldn’t take more than 1.25-1.30 to lap.
1.40 just show how boxy, point-and-squirt this track is
DMW said on 29th October 2009, 15:20
The problem with long tracks is that for those present in the flesh, you can wait a long time before seeing a car come by at all, and towards the end it’s just a single car roaring into the distance. If you’ve been to a race you know it can be hard to understand what’s going on with the pit overlaps, etc., anyway. And frankly, cars being lapped adds a bit of interest—it improves the racing too because it allows a pursuer to make up more ground by taking more risks overtaking backmarkers.
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 21:43
suzuka and spa are longer laps and take longer to lap around them.
yas marina is shorter than both of them but the time is longer than suzuka!
get my point
Dane said on 29th October 2009, 0:46
The venue looks awesome. I wish i was there
Ned Flanders said on 29th October 2009, 12:56
The surroundings may look awesome- particuarly the hotel- but the track is boring.
(by the way can people stop describing bad tracks as ‘point and squirt’. I hate that phrase!)
megaman said on 29th October 2009, 14:49
i like twist n go
Wesley said on 29th October 2009, 22:24
how about ‘cart track’
Katy said on 29th October 2009, 1:16
Well it does look very pretty indeed. Keep forgetting the race is even happening though cos the titles are already decided. Looking forward to seeing it get darker and the lights coming on and stuff. Hope there’s some awesome fireworks or something as it finishes
adaptalis said on 29th October 2009, 2:44
Think the lights will be switched on all the way throughout the race. Green technology?!?! Cut costs to save money?!?!. Another stab in the foot for the organizers (indirectly to F1), i say!
sato113 said on 29th October 2009, 2:45
fireworks often end a lot of races, in the US in particular. would be cool to have some beside the track as the winner crosses the line.
Terry Fabulous said on 29th October 2009, 5:32
How good is your avatar?!!
Sensational to see the old Macs!
Where was the photo taken?
ajokay said on 29th October 2009, 9:15
I’m guessing Donington. They have a huge collection there…
…until they have to sell it all to pay off the builders for their work on the grand prix track when no grand prix comes to fruition.
CoolGav said on 29th October 2009, 11:28
I thought the collection wouldn’t be part of the lease agreement, so they should be staying right there. Very impressive collection!
Ned Flanders said on 29th October 2009, 12:49
Terry- hope you don’t mind me answering instead of Katy!- it is at the Donington Park musuem. It’s great, I went there earlier this year when I was at the Moto GP race, they have almost all the Mclaren’s and Williams’ from the 80′s and 90′s
Terry Fabulous said on 29th October 2009, 21:30
Man that must be awesome,
I went to motor show in Sydney in 1989 and they had a 1:1 scale model of Senna’s car and it blew my little 12 year old mind.
Thanks Neigbourino, Much a-diddly-obliged!
DomPrez said on 29th October 2009, 2:12
i hope we just get some good battles. its been 4 years since a leading team could go out there and just race without having to worry about points. lets see some overtaking, late braking, blown engines, crazy stratgies, and a new face(s) on the podium would be great.
actually there is a good pole to take kieth…
whih driver not featured on in any of this years podium hasa shot/do you hope to see finish top 3 at Yas Marina?
If I had to pick, id say Kobayashi. i think hes a good possability for a 3rd place giiven the race race conditions, but u wont see him in my prediction picks
mm said on 29th October 2009, 2:17
Some of the “blurry” car pictures would make awesome wallpapers – however some have horrid artefacts due to file compression – do you have the originals (if they are even bigger that would be even better)?
I’m looking for something 3840×1200 or bigger (picture can go either way) – some of these are close enough – but if you have them bigger and better quality then even better!
sato113 said on 29th October 2009, 2:47
why is this meant meant to have the ‘longest straight on the 2009 calander’ when the one in China is 1.3km? (compared to this 1.2km straight in Abu Dhabi)
mm said on 29th October 2009, 3:21
Searching Shanghai it gives me a length of 1175 meters, Abu Dhabi seems to approximate between 1.2 and 1.3km – (in a 2 minute search though I can’t find anything official)
sato113 said on 29th October 2009, 4:46
yep you’re right. china is 1.1km, Abu Dhabi is 1.2km. and both are ridiculously straight. boring…
ajokay said on 29th October 2009, 9:17
The Aboo Dabby one has a bit of a kink at the end though. It’s not much, but it’s right at the braking zone for the chicane. Could provide trouble for some.
mm said on 29th October 2009, 3:23
Suzuka seems to be a whopping 1475m though.
Harv's said on 29th October 2009, 3:34
yea but it goes around a the 130r so i dont think its counted as “straight”, full throtle section maybe?
sato113 said on 29th October 2009, 4:45
yeah we could say the same for the Brazil blast up the hill until turn 1. thats pretty long I think. why can’t Tilke make straight have a bit of twisting camber? or a slight turn? they’re always as straight as a ruler!
GeeMac said on 29th October 2009, 5:29
Tilke has no imagination. The only way he can get his tracks up to 5.5kms is by starting with 2 1km long straight lines joined by hairpins.
Tilke thinks, looking over his diagram: “Ah, that’s 2.2 kms down, only 3.3 to go!”
sato113 said on 29th October 2009, 19:05
if he want to join 2 straight together, he should put a long high spped, gentle corner in between them. driver’s necks would be falling off!
Guilherme Teixeira said on 29th October 2009, 10:06
Suzuka has 1.23km flat out section as far as I know…
Spa has the longest (1.865km) though
GeeMac said on 29th October 2009, 5:26
It looks incredible. Truly amazing. The race will be a Tilke borefest though.
IDR said on 29th October 2009, 7:51
Awesome pics!
18 Billion € investment: 25 Square Km of Artificial island, Illuminated track with 24 Lights of 40 m height, plus another 7 of 15m, 500 rooms in a 5 Stars Hotel covered with 4.800 led panels changing color scheme, Sun Tower of 60 meters for VIPS…
it looks like a F1 theme park!!!!
I miss a giant shower infrastructure throwing San Pellegrino (sparkling) over the track during the race (random) for more crowd excitement and some racing action.
Meanwhile, Britain GP is under risk because local government do not want to subsidize (quite rightly) Bernie (or CVC) needs.
We don’t want show, we want racing!
Prisoner Monkeys said on 29th October 2009, 8:22
And if Ecclestone takes the British Grand Prix away, will you still be championing those who didn’t bow to his demands?
IDR said on 29th October 2009, 10:23
Well I never championed track owners, but I fully understand why they cannot get into a loosing business model…
…unless they decide to rise prices over 160% of the current ones, and still think people will attend. Will you?
mm said on 29th October 2009, 9:40
If the charade continues of the growing number of “show” tracks but boring races it will eventually push away the fans – in the long term F1 will die unless good racing tracks remain.
Fans will always run away if they are bored – viewing figures this year in comparison to the Schumacher era are testimony to that.
Stealthman said on 29th October 2009, 8:20
It really is a beautiful track.
But… racing wise, it’ll probably be more of the same with the other Tilke Tracks.
iceshiel said on 29th October 2009, 8:56
The hotel bears a lot of resemblance to the Esplanade in Singapore, which is also next to the circuit.
Bullfrog said on 29th October 2009, 11:31
Any significance in the colour of the hotel? Does it go red when the session is stopped, and yellow when the safety car’s out?
steph90 said on 29th October 2009, 11:50
Interview with Coulthard who had been round the track.
From autosport
Hope that helps!
Kevin said on 29th October 2009, 11:55
I was reading this article and had a funny thought when i read the last sentance.
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/10/29/yas-will-sort-men-from-boys-coulthard/
Has david had a flashback to crashing in the pitlane in Australia 1995?
HounslowBusGarage said on 29th October 2009, 15:59
Really? Doesn’t the speed lane speed restriction end after the tunnel?
dj said on 29th October 2009, 16:31
Good place for a Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil cage match ….
Keith said on 30th October 2009, 9:52
does anybody know the name of the Brawn pit crew member that helped Kov in the pit lane?