2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Oct 30 - Nov 1)

[faksta]

You know, the drivers and all the rest spoke about how amazing the circuit is (Button: this is best curcuit; Ecclestone: the race will take place here for the next 100 years etc.), but I haven't noticed anything outstanding during the weekend. For me it is like Singapore - many talks, billions of money, but boring races. Yes, the infrastructure is amazing with that groundbreaking Yas hotel and handmade bay for yachts, but it has nothing to do with on-track action. Our commentator mentioned that in turn 1-3 there is a hill on a track. Sadly, I haven't noticed it anywhere except when they showed this place from Hamilton's cockpit. In general the track looks flat, and I hate flat tracks. Thank God Spa is still in a list...

[LeonOfTheDead]

Trulli told the Italian TV he didn't like the track, especially the last part.

The director passed more time showing the bay and the hotel (or the moon) than following the race, not that we missed something.

With all that bling going on out of the track, it reminded me of some videogames where I was always looking for the funny details on the background, or even in XGRA, where you could interact with the environment around you to kill the opponents, so you were paying more attention to the background than to the actual race.

Yas Marina, out now, for PS3, Xbox360 and Wii.

[Dino Scuderia]

Same here....I found I was looking at all the cool architecture around the track.

After I got bored of that I stopped watching at all.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by Dino Scuderia

Same here....I found I was looking at all the cool architecture around the track.

After I got bored of that I stopped watching at all.

The huge yacht parked just out of the track was pretty interesting, took me a while to get how large it was.

[RacingManiac]

the track reminds me of somesort of indoor karting place with the lights and all....doesn't feel like a proper race track....

[faksta]

Exactly my thought. Those latest flat tracks built on tiny spaces remind me of kartodromes. Of course, there you can watch the whole race from your tribune, which you won't be able to do at Spa or Le Mans, but they don't have a tiny part of an atmosphere those old circuits can provide.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by faksta

Exactly my thought. Those latest flat tracks built on tiny spaces remind me of kartodromes. Of course, there you can watch the whole race from your tribune, which you won't be able to do at Spa or Le Mans, but they don't have a tiny part of an atmosphere those old circuits can provide.

I don't think it would be worth to pay so much to watch a few cars 1 km away from you though.
This idea of the arena is pointless, You barely manage to see properly the corners around your tribune, let alone what's happening at 1 km from you.

Adria is a bit like this, the whole track is built in a small area and it is continuously trying to stay inside of a main ring. Only from tribune you can spot 75% of the track, but honestly only the second corner and the first chicane were at a decent distance, the first corner was barely invisible, and in the second corner you could hardly distinguish if something was going on.

If I want to see everything is going on on the track I know there is nothing better than stay at home in front of the TV, while if I go to a race, I know I'm going to miss a lot of on track action, but that it's compensated by the off track activity, spotting, the atmosphere.

This way they are building a boring track to watch on TV, and a pointless race to watch live.
I'm pretty sure the limited access to the paddock isn't even worth going there either.

[Rockefella]

I found myself having a lot of trouble watching the last few races of the season, and this race just embellished that point

[Ferrer]

Despite all the dreary action on the track, props to Kobayashi, sixth in his second ever F1 race.

[faksta]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Despite all the dreary action on the track, props to Kobayashi, sixth in his second ever F1 race.

Agree completely. He is a great driver. Seems like Kazuki has got a very strong rival for a place in Toyota next year.

[TheScrutineer]

Yes certainly impressive over agressive performances from Kobayashi over the final two races. In my view more of a highlight than Trulli has managed all season.

[wwgkd]

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

I don't think it would be worth to pay so much to watch a few cars 1 km away from you though.
This idea of the arena is pointless, You barely manage to see properly the corners around your tribune, let alone what's happening at 1 km from you.

Adria is a bit like this, the whole track is built in a small area and it is continuously trying to stay inside of a main ring. Only from tribune you can spot 75% of the track, but honestly only the second corner and the first chicane were at a decent distance, the first corner was barely invisible, and in the second corner you could hardly distinguish if something was going on.

If I want to see everything is going on on the track I know there is nothing better than stay at home in front of the TV, while if I go to a race, I know I'm going to miss a lot of on track action, but that it's compensated by the off track activity, spotting, the atmosphere.

This way they are building a boring track to watch on TV, and a pointless race to watch live.
I'm pretty sure the limited access to the paddock isn't even worth going there either.

With more and more coverage through cameras placed around the track, I have to agree with you that this is probably not the best direction to be moving in track development. Seems like they're trying to play to fans who have never seen an F1 car run in person, but really how great of a continued audience will that be?

It seems to me that it would be a much better investment to build an exciting track with great camera coverage then provide a multitude of screens for those lucky enough to be there in person. That way everyone gets to see as much of an exciting race as possible, while those there in person get the added benefit of the events and atmosphere.

Also, props to Kobayashi for a good performance.

[RacingManiac]

personally if you want to see great on-track stuff in person, they should change the way the people are admitted to races....sitting in the same grand stand is always going to be limited in scope, and you ended up watching the race on jumbotron anyway.

Most new F1 tracks now are no longer friendly to general admission holder, you can't go from corner to corner and view the races from different places anymore...

[fpv_gtho]

I thought Abu Dhabi was supposed to still be half street track or something, similar to Valencia. Both of them look like purpose built facilities.

[faksta]

Originally Posted by wwgkd

With more and more coverage through cameras placed around the track

By the way, I have noticed there was no single TV helicopter during the coverage - all the cameras were placed on track objects, including the highest roofs. Are there any other F1 tracks with such a feature?