Yas Marina Circuit

How it began

The circuit was built on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi to a design by Hermann Tilke. The first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place on 1 November 2009 and was the championship’s first race to start in daylight and finish at night under floodlights; Sebastian Vettel won for Red Bull.

Since 2014 the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has always closed the season, as it also did in 2009 and 2010. The contract has been extended until 2030.

The track

The lap runs along the yacht marina and under a hotel that spans the track, and the pit exit dives into a tunnel under the first corner. The original 5.554 km lap with 21 corners was criticised for its slow chicanes and lack of overtaking.

Before the 2021 race the layout was reworked: the chicane at the end of the long straight was replaced by a single hairpin, the sequence of slow corners before the hotel by a wide banked curve, and the corners by the hotel itself were widened. The lap was shortened to 5.281 km and 16 corners, and the race distance is 58 laps.

Memorable races

On 14 November 2010 Vettel won and became the youngest world champion, while Fernando Alonso, who had arrived as championship leader, spent the whole race unable to get past Vitaly Petrov. On 23 November 2014 Lewis Hamilton sealed the title at the only race in championship history to award double points. On 27 November 2016 Nico Rosberg became champion by finishing second behind Hamilton, and five days later he announced his retirement.

On 12 December 2021 Max Verstappen passed Hamilton on the last lap after a restart from behind the safety car and took his first title; the way the restart was handled caused a row, and over the winter the FIA removed race director Michael Masi.

On 8 December 2024 Lando Norris won, and McLaren took the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 1998.