سباق جائزة أبوظبي الكبرى - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

[Scott]

Yas Marina, a positive sounding place  , is a completely new developement built from the ground up as a marina for the very rich and offering a resort, dining, shopping, hotels and of course a full service marina for the nautical types and their big boats.  With the resort still in the development stages, it was decided to apply for an F1 race.  Announced in 2007, with a Tilke design rider (of course), construction began right away and the first race was held in November 2009.

F1's first night race, the GP is an exercise in bling and waste, but I have to admit it looks good on TV.  I looked into going to the race a couple of years ago only to discover if I wanted to pay less than $1500/night, I would have to commute to the circuit from Dubai, a not too inexpensive destination in itself just up the road about 120km away.  I doubt I'll be going to that GP anytime soon, Ferrari World or not.

Hamilton and Vettel have won all the races except for '12 which Kimi managed to grab after telling his crew to 'leave me alone, I know what I'm doing'...thanks to GPW, I even have a mug with that inscription that is currently full of coffee with a shot of Bailey's.

5.5km long, with 21 turns.  The circuit is posing to be the season finale for the foreseeable future.  A bonehead idea of Bernie's was adopted last year to offer double points for the race to try to tighten up the season.  After fan outrage, it was dropped for 2015 thankfully. 
 
Last year Pirelli brought yellow and reds, and I suppose that will continue this year.  Lewis won handily last year after Rosberg lost his ERS.  Force India had a good finish in 6&7th for Hulk and Perez. 

Though I am looking forward to the race, I might catch the first few laps but will be away from a TV for almost the rest of the race as I have an event that afternoon in another town. 

I hear it's going to rain 

http://www.yasmarina.ae

I could only find a 2014 Pirelli preview, but it's not bad.



After the race Pirelli will be testing its new purple ultra-soft tire.  The purple should look good under the lights. 

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/224867/1/pirelli-confirms-abu-dhabi-tyre-test.html


 

[Jericoke]

I remember when everyone was upset that Brazil didn't end the season.

I'm glad the 2015 Brazilian GP wasn't our last memory of the season!

Hopefully Yas Marina provides some surprises.  We've already seen good racing at 'boring' tracks this year, so that doesn't seem too far fetched, right?

[John S]

Hopefully Yas Marina provides some surprises.  We've already seen good racing at 'boring' tracks this year, so that doesn't seem too far fetched, right?

They might have taken a tip from Bernie and installed sprinklers,    it's the only way I can see the race being jazzed up.

But I'm not complaining like most of us in the GG I've still got my D/U to use so a predictable boring race will do it for me. 

[lkjohnson1950]

What I don't understand is why they inserted the turn 5-6 chicane ahead of turn 7. They eliminated what might have been a passing opportunity. If there is a single feature of all the Tilkedromes that shows why he shouldn't  be allowed to design racing circuits, this is it.

[Steve A.]

I think the lights on the hotel are more interesting than the race, the race has no real meaning, pretty much everything is decided. Will watch it anyway, just in case the BBC ditch F1 and it's the last live one I'll see for a while.

[Ian]

That's my outlook too DH.

[cosworth151]

I'm not expecting much of a race, either. I'll watch. It's going to be a long, dry spell until Melbourne.

[Dare]

I just hope we have a safe GP weekend and I don't mean the racing either.

[Alianora La Canta]

Seconded. I don't want Gary Hartstein (the ex-F1 doctor now works in one of the UAE's major trauma hospitals) or his pals getting visits from violent party poopers or their victims!

[Irisado]

Practice today was utterly uninspiring, and I'm expecting more of the same for the rest of the weekend.

They have to have the hotel all lit up and a spectacular finish of lighting up the sky to wake everyone up when the race finishes, because the previous laps have put viewers around the world into a somnambulic state.

[cosworth151]

Something of a sad coincidence to finish the season. Nico tied Graham Hill's total of 14 Grand Prix wins today. Today is also the 40th anniversary of Hill's death in a plane crash.

[Dare]

My thought on the race is why didn't Mercedes allow Hamilton
to not make that last pit stop?He didn't want to and said his tires
looked good and the car felt good.

Where'd Nico get this new found racing and ability and
will he have it next year

[lkjohnson1950]

Apparently Lewis is not as comfortable in the car as he has been. Says he doesn't feel like he has the car under him. So maybe it's more Lewis losing a tiny bit than Nico upping his game?

[cosworth151]

The team said that Lewis needed to be loosing no more than .6 per lap to Nico to make the delayed tire change strategy work. Lewis was loosing 1.8 per lap to Nico when they called him in.

[J.Clark]

Lewis was loosing more than a second a lap to Nico so he could not have held on anyway a couple of laps before race end.

Williams just can't seem to get their pit stops done cleanly and fast.  Their pit crew needs a lot of work!  If they had their act together, Massa could easily have finished a good bit farther up the ladder, as he would not have been stuck fighting with those cars at the end, maybe even be in front of the Hulk after the second stop.

I felt bad for both Button and Bottas for the result of their coming together in the pits.  Ruined both of their races, which were looking fairly good.