Formula 1 will continue to race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi until at least 2030 after announcing a new deal with the promoters.
The track has been extensively revised ahead of this year’s race. More than half of its corners have been reconfigured, many of them drastically, in a bid to produce a faster layout which will create better racing.The Emirati venue joined the F1 calendar in 2009 and has held the last race of the season every year since 2014. This year it will hold the championship-deciding race for the first time since 2016, as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton arrive level on points.
“We are hugely looking forward to the season finale this weekend when more Formula 1 history will be made,” said team principal Stefano Domenicali.
“The promoter, ADMM, always creates an incredible show for the final race of every F1 season and combined with the changes made to improve the racing on the Yas Marina Circuit we are excited for many years of racing in Abu Dhabi that is ahead of us.”
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Luca Goodoer
9th December 2021, 11:08
Autosport reporting it’ll continue to be the season finale… so much for races not holding fixed slots going into the future.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th December 2021, 11:26
@Luca Goodoer, I reckon this is an exception since Abu Dhabi pays for holding the final round.
Mike
9th December 2021, 11:29
I believe all tracks that had fixed first or last race were paying for that, Including Australia.
So that makes it not an exception. It might be that the exception is that ADMM will continue to be allowed to be paying for it…
nickthegreek (@nickthegreek)
9th December 2021, 11:10
Keith, i think you meant to type “F1 CEO Stefano Domenicalli” not “team principal”
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th December 2021, 12:37
Recurring gaffe.
Look on the bright side that is only 10 years until the next track fix.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th December 2021, 11:25
I’m happy with Abu Dhabi GP as the final round, so I don’t mind.
YMC’s long-term continuation was never under threat anyway, so an inevitability.
Gusmaia
9th December 2021, 11:46
I know that nice races alone dont pay bills and the events around the race seems to work, but this track is horrible.
It is a street like track, without the race enhancing risks that come from a street track.
It is a road like track, without the race enhancing features that benefit a road track.
And it always amazes me that apparently there is a couple of alternative configurations there, but it took a century for them to change the track.
Stephen H
9th December 2021, 11:57
I find it very hard to be excited or thrilled by this news …
tielemst
9th December 2021, 12:39
Let’s see if the changes they made actually make for a good race. If it does it’s fine by me.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
9th December 2021, 12:45
Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man’s world
KaIIe (@kaiie)
9th December 2021, 14:26
Unexpected news, because I thought they already had a 100-year deal or something like that.
Let’s hope the new modifications make the race and racing better. It’s no Adelaide, Suzuka nor Interlagos, but it could be at least “good enough” place for a finale.
David BR (@david-br)
9th December 2021, 17:13
@kaiie +1 let’s hope so.
anon
9th December 2021, 21:37
@kaiie the thing is, it’s quite rare for Interlagos to have been the closing round – for a start, there have been 17 races with Interlagos near the end of the calendar, but 21 where it was near the beginning of the season.
The 2004 race was the first time that Interlagos was ever the closing round, and out of the 38 races held there, only four have ever been the closing round – 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The idea of having Interlagos as a season closing race is a bit of a modern artefact.