Wednesday 18 December 2024 (UAE)

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix

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Abu Dhabi F1 Formula 1 Grand Prix motor race

2013 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Abu Dhabi F1 tickets for 2013
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Jay Z
Muse
Depeche Mode
Day
Thursday
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Date
31 October 2013
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Abu Dhabi 2013 Grand Prix history and timeline

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Abu Dhabi F1 tickets for 2012
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012 Yasalam After-Race concerts and other shows
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Kylie Minogue
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02 November 2012
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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 2011

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011 Yasalam After-Race concerts and 'Beats on the Beach'
Artist
Britney Spears
Incubus, The Cult
Paul McCartney
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Friday
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11 November 2011
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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 2010

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2010 Yasalam After-Race concerts
Artist
Kanye West
Linkin Park
Prince
Day
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Date
12 November 2010
13 November 2010
14 November 2010
Abu Dhabi to build F1 track in Bulgaria ... or not (Bulgaria F1-gate scandal)

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 2009

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2009 Yasalam After-Race concerts
Artist
Beyonce
Jamiroquai
Kings of Leon
Aerosmith
Day
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Date
29 October 2009
30 October 2009
31 October 2009
01 November 2009
Abu Dhabi F1 ticket details

Abu Dhabi F1 tickets are sold out according to media reports on 26 October 2009, with a total of 60,000 tickets sold. If you've missed out, you can still watch it on TV - reportedly Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya 2 (a free-to-air terrestrial channel) will be showing the Grand Prix live, and other events from the F1 race weekend.

Mind you don't get scalped - there are a number of official looking F1 Grand Prix websites selling tickets that aren't. A press report 05 June 2009 said that tickets resold for higher than face value would be cancelled by the ADMM - Richard Cregan, the chief executive of ADMM, reportedly said "Where we find instances of people trying to sell tickets for profit ... we will cancel those tickets ..."

Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix 2009 event program dates and times
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix start time changed (28 August 2009 news)

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix organisers have shifted the start time from 1500 to 1700 for the 2009 race which means the race will start in daylight, and finish after sunset, which should make for an interesting spectacle, especially when F1 drivers bounce off each other while looking for their sun visors about halfway through the race.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix support races
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2009 delay and change to Montreal rumours

After the first 2009 Grand Prix race in Melbourne, Australia, there were reports that the Canadian Grand Prix might reappear (it was cancelled earlier in 2009) in Montreal as the final F1 race of the season to replace the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, due to rumoured delays in the construction of the Yas Marina Circuit. Gerald Tremblay, mayor of Montreal, said to the Montreal Gazette "We have been talking with Bernie Ecclestone about it coming back in 2011 and 2010. We don't want to have it just in 2009." Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management (ADMM) said in a 30 March 2009 statement that "progress on the construction of Yas Marina Circuit ... is on track and there are no concerns regarding delivery deadlines,"

More delay rumours emerged in early May with an Arabian Business report of a disagreements between consultants ODC and sub-contractors Hamilton International, and a wage dispute resulting in some staff walking out. The CEO of the Abu Dhabi F1 management company, Richard Cregan, was replaced by Philippe Gurdjian. Aldar Properties was reported as saying "Everything is on schedule. ... We don't comment on minor issues between sub-contractors". Get your motor running ...

... or not. AFP reported that the deputy director of the Yas Island F1 project, Douglas MacAskill, said "According to the rules, we have to hand over the circuit three months before the race, but seeing as we have a good relationship with the Formula One teams, that period could be reduced to 60 days," which prompted headlines in other media saying that the circuit might be delayed. But Mr MacAskill also said to AFP "We are working 24 hours a day and everything will be ready on time, I have no doubt about that".

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2010
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix general information and background

In February 2007, Abu Dhabi announced they had secured the rights to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix motor race for seven years from 2009 to 2016. The first Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix will be held on 01 November 2009 (changed from original 15 November 2009 date), and is the first time the F1 is being held in Abu Dhabi. Over 50,000 spectators are expected to attend.

The announcement was made at the Abu Dhabi F1 Festival (a different motor sports event that Abu Dhabi made up at the time), with an official signing ceremony at the Emirates Palace Hotel on 03 February 2007, between Bernie Eccelstone from F1 and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority (EAA). Then, because the traffic was really bad in Abu Dhabi that day, they looked around and said how about building a new track on a spare desert island nearby ... so Yas Island become the location for the Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit, under construction from 2007-2009.

The Abu Dhabi F1 race track was designed by Hermann Tilke, a Formula 1 circuit designer of some repute. Track construction is on Yas Island by the Abu Dhabi based property developer, Aldar Properties. At the time of the agreement, the press release said construction of the track would be completed by the end of 2008. It wasn't, as we know. Hopefully the F1 drivers won't have too many sand traps left to drive through by the time they get their motors running on 01 November 2009. The Abu Dhabi F1 race is the last race of the F1 season. Etihad Airways are the main sponsors of the event.

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), or International Automobile Federation / International Motorsport Federation, governs motor sports events around the world, including the Formula 1, which is arguably THE motorsport event of the year, with more champagne (or sparkling grape juice in Abu Dhabi) and sexier girls than the Iditarod. The 2009 round of Formula 1 Grand Prix races is below. Canada (Montreal) and France (Magny-Cours) were on the list decided in June 2008 but a revised list in November 2008 left them to catch the bus. There is no F1 Grand Prix being held in the USA for 2009 (they only like driving in circles anyway).

How many laps is an F1 race?

It depends ... races are about 300 km in total so the total number of laps depends on the length of the circuit. The Spa GP circuit in Belgium is the longest at about 7 km which means the race is 44 laps. The Monaco GP is the shortest and has the greatest number of laps at 78. The Abu Dhabi GP circuit is about 5.2, 5.532, 5.55, or 5.6 km long (depending on which press release or website you look at) so the race will probably be about between 50 and 60 laps. Another factor is that F1 GP races are supposed to be less than 2 hours long so if there are lots of tight corners or difficult reverse parking manouevres required, then the number of laps decreases.

How fast do F1 drivers go?

Top speeds are up to 300-320 km/hr - much the same as traffic on the Sheikh Zayed Road after midnight. Dubai drivers could probably give the average F1 pilot a run for their money.

Formula 1 F1 2009 Calendar
Round Date Country City Winner Team Laps Time
1 29 March 2009 Australia Melbourne Jensen Button Brawn-Mercedes 58 1:34:15.784
2 05 April 2009 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Jensen Button Brawn-Mercedes 31¹ 0:55:30.622
3 19 April 2009 China Shanghai Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 56 1:57:43.485
4 26 April 2009 Bahrain Manama Jensen Button Brawn-Mercedes 57 1:31:48.182
5 10 May 2009 Spain Barcelona Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 66 1:37:19.202
6 24 May 2009 Monaco Monte Carlo Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 78 1:40:44.282
7 07 June 2009 Turkey Istanbul Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 58 1:26:24.848
8 21 June 2009 Great Britain Silverstone Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 60 1:22:49.328
9 12 July 2009 Germany Nürburg (Nuerburg) Mark Webber RBR-Renault 60 1:36:43.310
10 26 July 2009 Hungary Budapest Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 70 1:38:23.876
11 23 August 2009 Europe / Spain Valencia Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 57 1:35:51.289
12 30 August 2009 Belgium Spa Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 44 1:23:50.995
13 13 September 2009 Italy Monza Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 53 1:16:21.706
14 27 September 2009 Singapore Singapore Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 61 1:56:06.337
15 04 October 2009 Japan Suzuka Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 53 1:28:20.443
16² 18 October 2009 Brazil São Paulo Mark Webber RBR-Renault 71 1:32:23.081
17 01 November 2009 UAE Abu Dhabi Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 55 1:34:03.414
  1. Malaysian Grand Prix cut short due to rain
  2. Jenson Button finished in 5th place but won enough points to win the Driver's Championship for 2009.
Abu Dhabi F1 drivers list 2009
  Driver name Points¹ From Team Sponsor Salary² Salary
1 Lewis Hamilton 49 Stevenage, England McLaren-Mercedes Vodafone $18m AED66m
2 Heikki Kovalainen 22 Finland McLaren-Mercedes Vodafone $3.5m AED13m
3 Giancarlo Fisichella 8 Rome, Italy Ferrari Marlboro $1.5m AED5.5m
4 Kimi Raikkonen 48 Espoo, Finland Ferrari Marlboro $45m AED165m
5 Robert Kubica 17 Krakow, Poland BMW Sauber   $4.5m AED16.5m
6 Nick Heidfeld 19 Monchengladbach, Germany BMW Sauber   $2.8m AED10m
7 Fernando Alonso 26 Oviedo, Spain Renault ING $15m AED55m
8 Romain Grossjean 0 Geneva, Switzerland Renault ING $Nil Nil
9 Jarno Trulli 32.5 Pescara, Italy Toyota Panasonic $6.5m AED24m
10 Kamui Kobayashi 3 Amagasaki, Japan Toyota Panasonic    
11 Jaime Alguersuari 0 Barcelona, Spain STR-Ferrari Red Bull Toro Rosso $0.5m AED1.8m
12 Sebastien Buemi 6 Aigle, Switzerland STR-Ferrari Red Bull Toro Rosso $1.5m AED5.5m
13              
14 Mark Webber 69.5 Queanbeyan, Australia RBR-Renault Red Bull $5.5m AED20m
15 Sebastian Vettell 84 Heppenheim, Germany RBR-Renault Red Bull $6m AED22m
16 Nico Rosberg 34.5 Wiesbaden, Germany Williams-Toyota AT&T $8.5m AED31m
17 Kazuki Nakajima 0 Aichi, Japan Williams-Toyota AT&T $Nil Nil
18              
19              
20 Adrian Sutil 5 Grafelfing, Germany Mercedes Force India    
21 Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 Italy Mercedes Force India $Nil Nil
22 Jenson Button 95 Frome, England Brawn-Mercedes   $5m AED18m
23 Rubens Barrichello 77 Sao Paulo, Brazil Brawn-Mercedes   $1m AED3.7m
  Felipe Massa³ 22 Brazil Ferrari   $8m AED29m
  Timo Glock 24 Germany Toyota   $2m AED7.3m
  Sebastian Bourdais 2 France STR-Ferrari      
  Nelsinho Piquet 0 Brazil Renault      
  Luca Badoer 0 Italy Ferrari      
  1. Total points in drivers championship as of end of Abu Dhabi GP 01 November 2009.
  2. Earnings information for 2009 based on Arabian Business report 28 October 2009 (figures from Tom Rubython, an author and F1 expert), does not include Abu Dhabi F1.
  3. Felipe Massa not racing in Abu Dhabi due to injury.
F1 2010 Calendar released 21 September 2009

Not final pending updates. Final calender to be issued in December 2009?

Round Date Grand Prix City Country Notes
1
14 March 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Manama Bahrain Sakhir Circuit
2
28 March 2010 Australian Grand Prix Melbourne Australia Albert Park, 1700 start time
3
04 April 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Sepang, 1600 start time
4
18 April 2010 Chinese Grand Prix Shanghai China  
5
09 May 2010 Spanish Grand Prix Barcelona Spain Catalunya
6
16 May 2010¹ Monaco Grand Prix Monte Carlo Monaco  
7
30 May 2010 Turkish Grand Prix Istanbul Turkey 06 June if no Canadian GP
8
13 June 2010 Canadian Grand Prix Montreal Canada Gilles Villeneuve, tentative
9
27 June 2010 European Grand Prix Valencia Spain  
10
11 July 2010 British Grand Prix   Britain Silverstone or Donington Park
11
25 July 2010 German Grand Prix Hockenheim Germany Hockenheimring
12
01 August 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix Budapest Hungary Hungaroring circuit
13
29 August 2010 Belgian Grand Prix   Belgium Spa Francorchamps
14
12 September 2010 Italian Grand Prix   Italy Monza
15
26 September 2010 Singapore Grand Prix Singapore Singapore Marina Bay, 2000 start time
16
03 October 2010 Japanese Grand Prix   Japan Suzuka
17
17 October 2010 Korean Grand Prix   South Korea Inaugural South Korea F1 race
 
31 October 2010        
18²
07 November 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix São Paulo Brazil Interlagos
19²
14 November 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Abu Dhabi UAE Yas Marina Circuit, 1700 start time
  1. Changed from 23 May 2010 (FIA statement Wednesday 21 October 2009) to provide more time to get to Turkey (traffic jams in Romania and Bulgaria slow them down).
  2. Brazilian GP moved from 14 to 07 November 2010, Abu Dhabi GP moved from 31 Oct to 14 Nov making it the last race of the season again (Reuters report 11 December 2009).
Last update Monday 19-Aug-2013
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