Yas Marina Circuit
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Yas Marina Circuit is a permanent track built around the Yas Marina waterfront, threading past a hotel that straddles the track itself and a harbour lined with yachts during the event. It traditionally hosts the final race of the season under twilight-to-night floodlit conditions, giving it a distinctive visual atmosphere. A reprofile in 2021 removed several low-speed sections to improve overtaking, sharpening its earlier reputation as a procession-prone circuit.
Length
5.281 km
Turns
16
Race Laps
58
Elevation
5m
First GP
2009
Lap Record
1:26.103
Max Verstappen (2021)
Location
Nearest Town
The circuit sits on Yas Island, a purpose-built entertainment and leisure district in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Yas Island also hosts theme parks and shopping destinations, making it a self-contained resort area distinct from Abu Dhabi's main downtown. Abu Dhabi itself is a wealthy, rapidly developed city on the Persian Gulf coast.
Getting There
Abu Dhabi International Airport is only around 15-20 minutes' drive from the circuit, one of the shortest airport transfers on the calendar. There is no metro system in Abu Dhabi, so fans typically rely on taxis, rideshares, or shuttle buses connecting Yas Island to the wider city.
Circuit History & Trivia
Notable Incidents
Rather than an on-track crash, Yas Marina's most consequential incident was a procedural controversy: the 2021 season finale, in which race director Michael Masi permitted only the five lapped cars separating Max Verstappen and championship leader Lewis Hamilton to unlap themselves behind the safety car, then ended the safety car period a lap earlier than the sporting regulations specified, allowing Verstappen a final-lap pass on fresher tires to win both the race and the world championship. Mercedes lodged an immediate protest, arguing the procedure deviated from established rules, but stewards dismissed the appeal citing the race director's discretionary authority. The FIA's subsequent investigation found the relevant regulations had been ambiguous and concluded Masi acted in good faith, but the fallout was severe enough to prompt his removal as race director and a broader overhaul of safety car procedures for future seasons.
Design History
Yas Marina Circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke and built by contractor Cebarco-WCT WLL, breaking ground in May 2007 and opening in October 2009 at a cost of approximately $1.322 billion. Ahead of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the circuit underwent its most significant layout change since opening: turns 4, 5, and 6 were replaced by a single, less severe hairpin, while turns 11 through 14 were reshaped into a sweeping banked curve, changes made specifically to reduce the procession-like racing the original layout had produced. The track surface uses graywacke aggregate shipped from Shropshire, England, chosen for its high grip properties despite causing greater tire wear than typical circuit surfaces. These combined changes marked a deliberate shift from a technically intricate but low-overtaking layout toward one designed to encourage wheel-to-wheel racing.
Records & Notable Races
The current Formula One race lap record on the reprofiled Grand Prix layout stands at 1:25.637, set by Kevin Magnussen in a Haas during the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As the traditional season finale, the circuit has repeatedly been the stage for championship-deciding drama, most notably the contentious conclusion to the 2021 title fight between Verstappen and Hamilton. Driver reactions to the original layout were famously mixed: Nico Rosberg praised its individually unique corners, while Kimi Räikkönen was blunt in his criticism of the early sections beyond the opening turns. Since the 2021 reprofile, race organizers and drivers have generally reported improved overtaking compared to the circuit's earlier, more procession-prone years.
Fun Facts
Part of the circuit runs directly beneath the W Abu Dhabi hotel, with the pit lane exit passing through a tunnel underneath the building, a genuinely unusual piece of track architecture unmatched elsewhere on the calendar. The venue holds the distinction of hosting the world's largest permanent sports-venue lighting installation, supplied by Musco Lighting, which enables its signature twilight-to-night races under floodlights. Its track surface aggregate is imported specifically from Shropshire, England for its grip characteristics, an unusual global supply chain for a circuit located in the Arabian Gulf. The marina setting, with yachts moored alongside the circuit during race weekends, gives Yas Marina one of the most visually distinctive backdrops in Formula One.