Yas Marina by numbers
Circuit length: 3.452 miles
Type of circuit: Purpose-built race track
Track layout: 21 corners; 12 left and nine right. Anti-clockwise direction
Number of laps: 55
Estimated lap time: 1m40s
Estimated top speed: 197mph (on straight between turns seven and eight)
Fastest corner: Turn 15, a sixth-gear 170mph right hander
Usual weather: Like F1’s established Middle Eastern race in Bahrain, blue skies and sun are pretty much guaranteed for Abu Dhabi. The F1 fraternity, however, will welcome the race’s late October slot as the month marks the start of the emirate’s ‘cooler’ period – that means temperatures ‘only’ tend to range between 30-35C.
Overtaking opportunities: Unknown. The Yas Marina circuit’s composition of long straights, including the longest straight in F1, heading into slow corners should make passing possible, although the inevitable dust that comes with racing in desert countries may make running off-line treacherous.
The knowledge on Abu Dhabi
* The largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi occupies the western half of the UAE and makes up approximately 86% of the country’s total land area.
* Nearly 200 islands fall under Abu Dhabi’s territory, including Abu Dhabi city itself which is the capital of the UAE.
* Abu Dhabi is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil courtesy of the massive reserves it sits on, but it has successfully grown its economy in other areas in recent years with its main income now coming from industry, construction and financial services.
* Yas Island is a 2,500-hectare man-made island built just off the coast of Abu Dhabi city which has been designed to boost tourism to the UAE. In addition to the race circuit, the project will also include the first Ferrari World theme park [due to open in 2010], a Warner Bros. theme park, a water park, over 20 hotels and several marinas.
* The Yas Marina circuit project was originally planned as a street circuit with a semi-permanent section, but later design revisions saw the blueprint altered so to create a full purpose-built track.
* The all-new circuit has been set up to run in three configurations: The F1 layout runs to 3.45 miles, with the second and third configurations at 1.9 miles and 1.46 miles respectively.
* The cost of the Yas Marina circuit has not been divulged, but organisers say it is in line with other major sporting venues such as Wembley Stadium (£757m) and the Yankee Stadium in New York (US$1.5bn).
* The circuit includes several novel features: F1’s first tunnel re-entry onto the track from the pit lane; a raised grandstand with run-off area below; the longest straight on the calendar and grandstands which are all covered.
* The imposing VIP Shams Tower which stands at the end of the pit straight is powered by one of Abu Dhabi’s main resources, the sun. The track also passes under the venue’s other major landmark, the new five-star Yas Hotel which sits on the waterfront.
* Sunday’s race will be the first F1 event to start in daylight hours and finish under floodlights in the early evening. A seamless transition from light to dark will be achieved by the lighting system, erected during the circuit’s construction, remaining on from the start of the race.
Yas Marina fast facts
• Work on the circuit started in February 2007
• Organisers employed a workforce of 14,000
• 35 million man hours invested
• 1.6 million cubic metres of earthwork were shifted
• 720,000 square metres of asphalt laid
• 25 kilometres of electrical cabling
• 17 kilometres of drainage installed
• 5,000 trees planted
• 430,000 square metres of ground landscaped
• 40 kilometres of curb-stones installed
• 70 garages housed in two pit buildings
• The five-star Yas Hotel straddles the circuit