Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, Yas Marina, 2020

Drivers tip Yas Marina changes to stop ‘boring races’

2021 Austrian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by and

Drivers are looking forward to the prospect of more entertaining grands prix at the end of this season on revised layouts at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi and Albert Park in Australia.

The changes to Yas Marina, revealed last week by RaceFans, include the removal of the chicane at turns four and five, replacing the turns 11 to 14 complex with a single, banked left-hand curve, and modifications to the final sector to open up four of its corners.

Work began at Albert Park in March and focuses on raising the average speed of the lap. The chicane at turns nine and 10 is more flowing, the negative camber of the turn 13 right-hander has been removed, and several corners have been widened to promote overtaking opportunities. The whole circuit has been resurfaced too, which could remove Albert Park’s characteristic bumps.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez believes the alterations to will improve both tracks.

“I think it’s a good thing, definitely, to try to improve the racing,” was Perez’s opinion.

Artist's impression: Changes to Yas Marina circuit for 2021
Analysis: Will Yas Marina’s three key changes put an end to F1’s follow-my-leader finales?
“Abu Dhabi, for example, it’s a great track, but sometimes the racing tends to be a bit on the boring side. And so hopefully if that works, there are potentially other circuits that can do something about it as well.”

Raising the speed of both tracks, particularly with more high-load corners, may aid on-track overtaking. The increased demands on tyres created by higher cornering speeds may also prompt teams to consider strategies other than the single pit stops typically seen in races at both tracks.

“We’ll see. I think if we can have a better race, it’s just better,” said Giovinazzi.

“We don’t care if it will be a different track and everything, but if we can overtake, if we can have more possibilities to overtake, then why not? It’s good.

“For Melbourne I think it is the right one because we can have a long straight there and it can make our life a little bit more easy to overtake. For Abu Dhabi as well. But we need to wait after the weekend and we can understand if it’s better or not.”

Fernando Alonso has also given his approval to the planned changes at the home of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2021 Austrian Grand Prix

Browse all 2021 Austrian Grand Prix articles

Author information

Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

4 comments on “Drivers tip Yas Marina changes to stop ‘boring races’”

  1. AusGP will likely face cancellation, so I don’t count much on it occurring this year as rescheduled. I’m not a person who holds false hope if something is inevitable. Since the Abu Dhabi GP could also lose out, we may have to wait until next season for the respective impacts, at least concerning the former.
    I still hold a reservation on overtaking at YMC because following is generally harder through higher-speed corners than slower ones but more hopeful of Albert Park.

    1. Your comment makes no sense concerning Abu dhabi happening

  2. Raynaud (@)
    2nd July 2021, 8:28

    Just dont allow DRS in the straight. And BAM an interesting race is born.

    1. pastaman (@)
      2nd July 2021, 13:02

      There’s already a drivers parade before the race, with an extended version at Monaco

Comments are closed.