About

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a Formula One race currently held at the Yas Marina Circuit. The circuit made its Formula One Debut in 2009 with Sebastian Vettel winning the inaugural race from Lewis Hamilton. The circuit has been a permanent fixture as the F1 season more often than not comes to a close on this circuit. It is Formula One’s first day-night race. The track looks spectacular under floodlights and the event has been considered one of the spectacles for Formula One ever since its inception. The track however has come under criticism from the beginning because of a lack of overtaking opportunities on the track. According to the current schedule, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is supposed to be the last race of the 2021 season on December 12.

Racing History

The Yas Marina Circuit held its first race in 2009. Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull would dominate the weekend by taking pole and winning the race comfortably.

The 2010 season however would feature one of the more fascinating finales to the World Championships. Sebastian Vettel, despite being a complete outsider in the championship fight would win the title after Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso would famously trip over themselves and end up behind Vitaly Petrov for most of the race. The race would help Sebastian Vettel in becoming the youngest Formula One Champion of all time. 

The 2011 season would see Lewis Hamilton win the race after Sebastian Vettel retired at the beginning of the race. The 2012 season would feature Kimi Raikkonen come up with the famous “Leave me alone I know what I’m doing” quote as the Finn would win his first race on his return to Formula One. 

The 2013 season would see Sebastian Vettel win the race after dominating the field throughout the weekend. The 2014 season would feature unique stipulations as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton headed to the race with both the drivers having an opportunity to win the race and with it the championship. This was the only race that carried twice the number of points of any other normal race in the calendar. The race however was not much of a spectacle as Nico Rosberg encountered car problems and would drop out of contention.

The 2015 season saw Nico Rosberg win the race with Lewis Hamilton coming in second. In 2016 the titanic battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton would culminate in Abu Dhabi. Despite Hamilton trying multiple antics to bring the field closer and have a chance to overtake Rosberg, he was unable to be successful in doing that. Rosberg would win the title despite Hamilton winning the race. 

2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons were more of the same for Mercedes as the team dominated the track with Valterri Bottas winning in 2017 and Hamilton in 2018 and 2019. Max Verstappen would however put an end to Mercedes’s dominance at the circuit by dominating the weekend in 2020 and winning the race comfortably. 

Mercedes and Red Bull have enjoyed great results on this track with Mercedes winning 6 and Red Bull 4 times on this track. Lewis Hamilton has been the most successful driver here with 5 wins.