First onboard lap of the new Yas Marina circuit

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Here's some footage from Bruno Senna's test/tour around the new Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.


Quite a unique track to say they least, with an extremely cool pit exit :)

I'm quite suprised how tight and off camber most of the corners are. All in all I think this circuit will really suit the KER's cars pretty well.
 
that is definitely a unique pit exit. but the track looked kinda dull to me. maybe once we get a proper look at it at full speed with other cars on track it might change my mind.
 
I'm glad they've managed to introduce some hills, though the second and third corners are nowhere near as steep as we'd been led to believe. But I'll take what I can get; I also like that I'm seeing several artificial hills in there.

But does anyone else feel like the colours are all washed out?
 
What hills? It is about as flat as any circuit on the calendar.
 
Pretty neat, can't wait to see the actual cars on track. That pit exit is going to me hella loud if your standing near it wow, very cool though. Are those light poles all around the track? Will this end up being a night race at some point? Or is it going to start at dusk and finish under the lights?

I had see the construction of this circuit on the Science Channel "Colossal Construction" show, I think that was the name anyways. They made the whole passing through the hotel thing sound much cooler than it looked there. Although it has nothing to do with the actual racing, I just thought it would be cool, I was picturing the tunnel at Monaco with people behind glass. If this race does run at night, the lights on that hotel are great looking, will really add to the cool factor.

Nice job finding the on board!
 
SagarisGTB
What hills? It is about as flat as any circuit on the calendar.
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The first sector clearly has a bit of a gradient, it's supposed to be like a reverse Eau Rouge.

LSX
Are those light poles all around the track? Will this end up being a night race at some point? Or is it going to start at dusk and finish under the lights?!
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The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be a twilight race.
 
SagarisGTB
What hills? It is about as flat as any circuit on the calendar.
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theres hills its just very subtle especially with it being an onboard camera you dont see it as much.look at 2:50-3:10 in the video and you can get an idea somewhat of the elevation change. its not some out rageous hills like spa but its not exactly the flattest part of the desert
 
NapoleonMikey
theres hills its just very subtle especially with it being an onboard camera you dont see it as much.look at 2:50-3:10 in the video and you can get an idea somewhat of the elevation change. its not some out rageous hills like spa but its not exactly the flattest part of the desert
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Television isn't the best medium for showing elevations like that. According to Bruno Senna, who did a walk-around with James Allen a while ago (possibly around the time this was filmed, and we're only seeing it now), the first hill is eighteen metres high, which is rougly the size of a three or four storey building. It's a bit deceptive, because from the looks of things, the cars don't actually come all the way down off the hill until they're well into the lap.

The thing you have to remember here is that Senna isn't going at full tilt. In fact, he's almost a minute slower around than the projected lap time; the organisers are claiming we'll be seeing 1min 40sec times, but here Senna does two laps in five minutes. I think that hill is going to be very interesting at speed, because both the turn-ins look to be blind, and the driver are going to have to go from one side of the circuit to the other very quickly to get both apexes.

And speaking of blind corners, the chicane at the far end of the circuit - not the one before the hairpin, the one at the other end - is blind because the corners are right on the crest. And I actually quite like the sharp section at the end of the straigh because one turn has a nice degree of camber and the other has the same in negative camber. I also like the final sector and the way the walls are super-close to the circuit.
 
Looks like plenty of overtaking spots there. Nice circuit, good looking stands too.
 
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But does anyone else feel like the colours are all washed out?
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This car hasn't got a HD camera fitted. If I'm correct, every F1 car should, in Abu Dhabi, have a HD camera for the first time. Now, only the Ferrari's, the mclarens, the red bulls and a renault have it.
 
Looks a good circuit but looks tight and clunky, that chicane after the tight hairpin after the long back straight is a bit pointless
 
Ian Poole
Looks a good circuit but looks tight and clunky, that chicane after the tight hairpin after the long back straight is a bit pointless
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It's an overtaking zone, and a car-breaker. The cars go from top speed to slowing for for a tight corner, and then accelerating to top speed once more down the second-longest section of track before weighing anchors once again for another sharp bend and overtaking zone. Combined with high heat and used engines, it is really going to stress cars, enines and drivers to the maximum.

Plus, the camber through those corners is a very rare example of negative camber.
 
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It's an overtaking zone, and a car-breaker. The cars go from top speed to slowing for for a tight corner, and then accelerating to top speed once more down the second-longest section of track before weighing anchors once again for another sharp bend and overtaking zone. Combined with high heat and used engines, it is really going to stress cars, enines and drivers to the maximum.

Plus, the camber through those corners is a very rare example of negative camber.
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It will definitely be quite entertaining to watch the drivers/cars (especially KER's cars) try to lay power down cleanly through the off camber exits :sly: I can't wait :dopey:
 
Of corse, I'm probably going to be proven wrong when there are no engine failures at all over the weekend.
 
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Of corse, I'm probably going to be proven wrong when there are no engine failures at all over the weekend.
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When was the last engine failure this year in a race?
 
the track is ok. I already drove it a few weeks ago, though. rFactor FTW! ^_^
 
Hmmm, interesting track. For the most part, its ok. I really need to see it at full speed as well as from different angles to really get a look of it.
 
That pit exit is epic! Rest of the track looks a wee bit boring to be brutally honest. Might be better when there is some flat out racing on it though. Heres hoping :cheers:
 
There'll be chaos if someone crashes in the pit lane tunnel!
 
PeterJB
There'll be chaos if someone crashes in the pit lane tunnel!
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It would be funny at the same time tho, you would get all of the comedy clippers on youtube putting some stupid music behind it
 
Impressive track, I'd certainly expect great racing from other series there, so hopefully F1 will produce a good spectacle, even if the championship has already been decided 👍

As for crashing in the pit exit tunnel....well Coulthard managed to crash on the entry way back when and I recall a few pit-exit incidents (I think Berger once spun out of the pitlane? I will have to look on youtube). So it its not beyond the realms of possibility with someone like Grosjean or the like.

Edit: Yeah, Berger at Estoril 1993, floored the throttle staight into the barrier :lol:
 
Don't forget Rosbergs Pit Exit calamity in Singapore this year!

C.
 
Ardius
Impressive track, I'd certainly expect great racing from other series there, so hopefully F1 will produce a good spectacle, even if the championship has already been decided 👍
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I agree.

I really think this track will provide some of the best racing we've seen all year long. The off camber slow corners will likely exaggerate any mistake made on corner exit acceleration, which will definitely make for a nice race down the rather long straights to heavy braking, if there is another car following closely behind at the corner exit (especially a KER's car). The circuit designer, Gurdjan, really did a good job of providing a lot of passing opportunities, especially for the particular characteristics of F1 cars nowadays. I also see a lot of passing taking place exiting the last corner as well, as it is a rather technical entry to link together from the previous turn (as it falls off a bit upon turn in), and you can really use A LOT of the road and curbing to your advantage to maximize apex speed (which Vettel and Kimi are especially known for).

Too bad it doesn't rain much in Abu Dhabi because the pit lane exit would be an absolute circus with no room for error...in the last race of the season :sick: :lol:
 
Im really looking forward to this race first time I will see a sun setting race, I think the hotel windows are tv's or something, according to the article in topgear about Yas Marina they are goin to light up a checkered flag at the end, does anyone want to predict pit time? including the entry exit of the pit, it looked really long so im guessing they will try minimise pit stops.
 
I think people are getting way too worked up over the pit lane exit. It's clearly wide enough for two cars, and you can't honestly believe the organisers would be stupid enough to ignore it? Look at the Interlagos pit exit which is even longer and just as blind. When was the last time anyone crashed in the pit exit, anyway?
 
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I think people are getting way too worked up over the pit lane exit. It's clearly wide enough for two cars, and you can't honestly believe the organisers would be stupid enough to ignore it? Look at the Interlagos pit exit which is even longer and just as blind. When was the last time anyone crashed in the pit exit, anyway?
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Good point. I think the main issue is just how blind the run through the pit exit is, otherwise I agree, it's not much worse than Interlagos. If a car did happen to hit the wall, it looks as if they have a yellow light up board before the left turn under the tunnel...and I'm sure they'd have a flagger or two there anyway.
 
lpb-nissan-gt-r
Im really looking forward to this race first time I will see a sun setting race, I think the hotel windows are tv's or something, according to the article in topgear about Yas Marina they are goin to light up a checkered flag at the end.
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I don't think they are TV's, just led's that can display shapes and colors, or I could be wrong and it could be more like a giant tv.

All I know is that it's going to look great.
Abu-Dhabi-588.jpg
 
LSX
I don't think they are TV's, just led's that can display shapes and colors, or I could be wrong and it could be more like a giant tv.

All I know is that it's going to look great.
Abu-Dhabi-588.jpg
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That is pretty, but I saw this the second I saw the picture, and I don't mean to be "this guy" but that lighting thing looks like a penis.:dunce:
 
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