GEC NEWS WIREThe biggest motorsports event in the region unfolded this weekend, as some of the fastest cars in the world zipped around the Yas Marina Circuit during the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019. They negotiated 21 bends on a 5.55 km long circuit, in a gruelling race that lasted 55 laps and cover a distance of 305.35 km.
Here are some of the highlights.
Race goers were thrilled by a spectacular Etihad Airways and Fursan Al Emarat fly past minutes before the start of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019. Etihad Airways’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Airbus A380 led the aerial parade over Yas Marina Circuit’s start line at 16:57 pm. A sell-out Grandstand crowd witnessed the impressive display that saw Eithad Airways’ two aircraft and the seven Aermacchi MB-339A fast jets of Fursan Al Emarat flying at 400 km per hour at 800 feet above the start/ finish line just minutes before the start of the F1 season finale at Yas Marina Circuit.
American singer and songwriter, Lana Del Rey, was spotted in the paddock of Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday, as a guest of title sponsor Etihad Airways. This was ahead of her much-anticipated Yasalam After-Race Concert at the du Arena on Yas Island.
Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte was among the thousands of spectators spotted on Saturday at the Yas Marina Circuit, during the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019. The Premier League star looked in fine spirits as he met with Tony Douglas, CEO of title sponsor Etihad Airways, ahead of Sunday’s race day.
Crowds flocked to see the line-up of hypercars and classic F1 collectibles on display in the F1 Fanzone ahead of the first Grand Prix Auction, which took place on Saturday evening, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Many of the 40 cars going under the hammer were offered with low-mileage and from their original owners and included a 2005 Maserati MC12, a 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLR Stirling Moss, a 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0 SE, a 2014 Koenigsegg Agera R and a 2015 Jaguar C-X75, which featured as the villain’s car in the James Bond film, Spectre.
With the five-day Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 race festival well underway, F1 superfans are already gathering at fan favourite Abu Dhabi Hill to cheers on their heroes. The most popular ticket category, Abu Dhabi Hill sells out early every year, thanks to the superb atmosphere and some of the best views of turns 4, 5, 6 and 7, the north hairpin as well as the famous straight, which is the longest in Formula 1. For the hardcore F1 fan and their families, this is the place to watch the race unfold.
With the five-day race festival of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 weekend underway, Yas Marina Circuit has lined up a wide range of performers and activities to entertain F1 fans from around the world. Ticket holders have been enjoying the range of amazing food outlets as well the world-class line-up of music, street performers, dancers and much more across the sold-out Grandstand Oasis areas at Yas Marina Circuit.
UAE’s first female racing driver, Amna Al Qubaisi, gave the local fans at Yas Marina Circuit plenty to cheer by claiming pole in qualifying for the F4UAE Trophy Round in Abu Dhabi. The 19-year-old was competitive right from the start at Yas Marina Circuit, leading a curtailed morning practice session and then emerging victorious in a tight duel to decide the grid for Saturday’s Race 1.
Amna and her sister Hamda Al Qubaisi were the first cars on track for Abu Dhabi Racing in the practice session, and would lead by example on home turf sitting P1 and P2 almost throughout the session. The more experienced of the pair, Amna had a strong lead of 1.1s over her younger sibling, posting a 2:14.104s.
Only Alex Connor in the No.27 Xcel Motorsport would briefly break the family gathering, taking second, but Hamda responded with her last flying lap to once again finish behind her sister. 30 minutes were planned for practice, but only 13 would be used as a red flag caused by Logan Hannah brought an early end to the session.
The Scot broke the front-left suspension on her No.9 Dream Racing machine over the sausage kerb at the Turn 5 and 6 chicane before coming to a halt on the straight after the hairpin. Just before that, Saudi driver Reema Juffali had broken the front wing on her car, also from a kerb strike.
Later in the day, the serious action of qualifying took place to decide the grid for Race 1 on Saturday. This became a real tussle between Amna Al Qubaisi and Nicola Marinangeli as they traded fastest times throughout the 20-minute session.
Ultimately, it was the Emirati who just had the pace, posting a 2:12.727s to take pole from the Italian by just a tenth of a second. Tijmen van der Helm tried to join the battle for P1 early on but would finish four-tenths down on the leading pair in third for Xcel Motorsport.
Alex Connor followed in fourth as Hamda Al Qubaisi couldn’t quite repeat her practice position in fifth, almost a second slower than her sister. Jordanian Manan Hajjawi was a solid sixth for Dragon Racing on debut in UAE F4, while a returnee to the Middle East series, Nico Goehler, was seventh.
Rodrigo Almeida was eighth with Iranian Mehrbod Shameli ninth and Reema Jaffali completed the top 10 for Dragon Racing. Ivan Peklin, Constantin Reisch and Logan Hannah would round out the 13 runners.
As Yas Marina Circuit prepares to put on a motorsport spectacular this weekend, there’s one event on the bill you might not know much about: F4UAE. This is the first time the category has accompanied the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend and will showcase one of the most important steps on the motorsport ladder in Abu Dhabi. Formula 4 is a relatively new addition, only starting in 2014, and sees championships in individual countries as opposed to a world championship. As of right now, 15 individual F4-spec series’ have been created with Brazil set to make that 16 in 2020.
For many of the next generation of drivers, their career in open-wheel racing starts in F4 after breaking out of the karting scene. The cars are identical in each championship but four chassis and four engine manufacturers are homologated by the FIA. Those engines are limited to four cylinders and a maximum output of 160 horsepower.
Despite only running for five years, F4 already boasts its first F1 graduate in McLaren’s Lando Norris, who won the first British F4 title back in 2015 and the 20-year-old is likely to be the first of many to follow a similar path to F1 in the future. In the case of the F4UAE championship, the first edition took place in 2016-17 and next season will see a total of 20 races take place across five rounds on different layouts at Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome.
Current DTM driver Jonathon Aberdein became the first champion back in 2017, doing so in dominant style winning 14 of 18 races. The next year was a little closer with nine different winners before Belgian Charles Weerts won the final four races to secure the title.
Finally, Italian Matteo Nannini was crowned the current champion in 2018-19 as nine podiums in the final 10 races saw him finish 68 points clear of Dutchman Joshua Duerksen. This weekend’s races at Yas Marina Circuit are considered part of a Trophy Round with no championship points available, but that means action is guaranteed as the youngsters go all out for victory!
