The wait is all for 4pm today, Sunday 7 December: a week after the Qatar GP, the spotlight on Yas Marina they will light up for the grand finale of the season. It will be the last act of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship, the decisive race that will award the world title in the incredible three-way challenge between Lando Norris, Max Verstappen And Oscar Piastri. The race will be held on the circuit of Yas Marina it is located on the artificial island of Yas, about 30 minutes away from the capital Abu Dhabi. It opened in 2009 and cost approx 800 million euros: a figure that makes it the most expensive track in the entire Formula 1.
The route as we know it today underwent major changes in 2021 to facilitate overtaking, the track then presented 21 curves in the presence of 16 current. The result is a more modern circuit and much more suitable for current single-seaters. It is no coincidence that the famous duel arrived with the new layout Verstappen-Hamilton of 2021which marked the spectacular rebirth of Yas Marina. The record lap in the race belongs to Kevin Magnussen with Haas setting the lap time in 2024 1’25″637. The works on the route also resulted in a reduction in length, which it measures today 5281 meters. The pilots will travel i 58 laps expected for a total of 306,183 km.
At the Yas Marina circuit, traction counts: the analysis of the three sectors of the circuit
Yas Marina is a “double soul” track: straight And fast corners in the first two sectors, followed by a totally different third sector, made up of slow curves and restarts. It is this mix that makes the traction a decisive factor: those who emerge strong from the curves of the third sector can earn a lot. The curves are 16of which 8 on the right and 8 on the left. A fundamental characteristic of the circuit is the effectiveness of the DRSthe system that opens the rear wing reducing aerodynamic resistance. Precisely in Abu Dhabi, in 2010, Alonso’s difficult overtaking on Petrov, which cost him the world championship, pushed the FIA to introduce this system the following year. There are two activation zones for the mobile wing: la Before leaves immediately after leaving the curve 5on the longest straight of the track, the second is activated after curve 7.
According to the engineers of Brembothe Yas Marina circuit is classified as moderately challenging for the brakes: level 3 out of 5. In the course of a tour they are there 9 braking zonesbut only 4 I really am “Hard” and just 2 fall into the category “Medium”. In practice, the brakes remain active for less than 13 seconds per lap: very little, if you consider the length of the track. Only in two curves the drivers brake for at least 2 consecutive seconds. The most challenging braking section is at curve 6. The single-seaters arrive at 321 km/h and they go down to 78 km/h in just 2.67 secondswalking 114 meters. Here the pilots experience a deceleration of 4.7gwhile the brake pedal requires a pressure of 148kg. Over the course of one lap, riders push at full throttle for approximately 60% of time. High stress instead with regards to change: within the Grand Prix approx 3200 changed.
When the traffic lights go out, the distance between the first stand and curve 1 is approx 200 meters. The pole man starts from the right side, taking advantage of the clean trajectory, and in a quick lap the riders pass the finish line at approximately 240 km/h.
The first sector it starts immediately after the starting line and ends halfway down the straight leading to turn 5. The key point is curve 3a very fast bend to the right at the highest point of the track, a 22 meters asl The pilots tackle this curve in sixth gear about 270 km/halmost always keeping the throttle fully open to make the most of the fast section. Immediately after, the section 2-3-4 requires attention to the settings of the differential. A slight descent leads to the conclusion of the first sector curve 5where a sharp braking precedes the start of the second sector.
The second sector it is the fastest on the circuit, which starts from turn 5 and reaches the bank number 9. After braking on turn 5, the drivers face the longest straightwhere you can activate the DRS and reach top speeds of up to 330 km/h. The braking section of Turn 6 is the most demanding on Yas Marina, with a speed of around 250 km/h: getting the braking point right is essentialotherwise you risk wasting a lot of time. Between turns 7 and 9 the throttle is partialled to better manage the change of direction, while on the following straight the aerodynamic efficiency of the single-seater allows maximum speed to be obtained before the bank.
The third sector it is the most technical part, from the bank to the finish line. Here there are several slow 90° bends, where the rear stability and the outgoing traction become decisive. Turn 9, the fastest in the sector, can be taken at approx 175 km/hwhile turns 10 and 11 face each other in full force. The braking of turn 12, before a sequence of medium-slow corners, requires great precision with thesteering wheel corner. The curves under the hotel are taken with partial throttle, and at the exit of turn 14 the differential must guarantee the right traction to reach the finish line with the maximum possible speed.
Tire management at the Abu Dhabi circuit and strategies
For thelast race of the seasonPirelli confirms the same compounds as last year: C3, C4 And C5 will be respectively Hard, Medium And Soft. Yas Marina is historically a circuit where you can have some grainingbut with this year’s more resistant tires the phenomenon is reduced to a minimum. The degradation remains thermalfocused above all on rearput under pressure by the last sector where a lot of traction is needed to exit the slow corners well, but in general wear and tear is expected on this track medium-low. It should not be underestimated that the Abu Dhabi GP is the only one on the calendar that starts in daylight and ends in nocturnalthis leads to a significant lowering of the temperature of the asphalt.
There pit lane of Abu Dhabi is particular: approximately 450 metersruns inside a tunnel under the main grandstand and takes approx 20-22 seconds for a complete stop, not counting entering and exiting the track. For the strategythe most effective solution remains that of one stop only: start with Mediummake the change to the Hards in the second stint and manage the race pace without forcing the degradation too much. This was the most popular strategy in the last edition. Alternatively, those who want to dare can start with the Soft to gain initial positions and then move on to the Medium or Hard, taking advantage of the fact that degradation is limited and modern tires hold up well even in the final fast sector.
All the numbers of Yas Marina: records and statistics that tell the story of the circuit
This year’s will be the 17th edition of the Abu Dhabi GP and we immediately find an interesting statistic regarding qualifying: in 11 editions the winner always started from pole position (68.75%). This confirms the enormous value that qualification takes on, despite the fact that overtaking is not impossible (last year there were many 96). Furthermore, in 15 occasions the winner started from the front row (93.8%). The only driver capable of climbing to the top step of the podium without starting from the front row was Kimi Räikkönen in 2012 when he won with Lotus starting from fourth position.
The Yas Marina circuit is also synonymous with the “prom” of Formula 1, some of the most iconic and memorable pages of this sport were written here: since 2010, when four pilots they reached the last race yet in the running for the World Championship And Sebastian Vettel he overturned all predictions by winning his first title, at 2021with the most talked about latest round of the modern era between Lewis Hamilton And Max Verstappen with the first title won in his career by the Dutchman. Here are some of the most interesting numbers on the Arabian track:
- Drivers with the most victories: the name of stands out in this ranking Lewis Hamilton which he got 5 wins at Yas Marina, followed by Max Verstappen (4) and Sebastian Vettel (3).
- Most successful teams: as far as teams are concerned, dominates Red Bull with 7 successes ahead of the Mercedes that triumphed here 6 times and at McLaren with 1 win conquered just last year.
- Pole position: here too at the top we find the name of Lewis Hamilton with 5 poles conquered, followed by Max Verstappen (4), Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg (2).
- Drivers with the most podiums achieved: Lewis Hamilton (10), Sebastian Vettel (7), Max Verstappen (6), Charles Leclerc (4).
- Drivers with the most laps completed in the race: Lewis Hamilton (818), Fernando Alonso (747), Sebastian Vettel (721), Daniel Ricciardo (679), Sergio Perez (672).
- Record lap in the race: 1’25″637, signed by Kevin Magnussen in 2024
- Record lap in qualifying: 1’22″109, signed by Max Verstappen in 2021
