Following on from Sebastian Vettel’s title clinching victory in India last weekend, Formula 1 makes the relatively short trip to the United Arab Emirates for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The destination this week is the Yas Marina Circuit, home to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the 17th round of the season, exclusively live on Sky Sports F1.
Formula 1’s only day to night race presents an interesting challenge to teams and drivers alike, with each sector asking a different set of questions.
Sector one features high-speed cornering, then, after the hairpin the two long back straights make for a high-speed, heavy-braking section demanding good traction out of the corners.
Finally, Yas turns into a street circuit with a twisty, low-speed final sector, skirting the perimeter of the yacht basin and diving under the Yas Viceroy hotel.
The demands of each sector are far from complimentary, making the best compromise on set-up even more difficult to locate than is usually the case.
Tyre wear may be less of a factor than was the case in India. While Pirelli is bringing the same pairing of medium and soft compounds to Yas, this circuit in the past has shown itself to induce less wear than Buddh International.
The race does, however, introduce the quirk of a swiftly falling temperature gradient.
The rapid transition from day to night in the Gulf state means the race may finish with track temperatures 15°c lower than those experienced in the early laps.
Kimi Raikkonen’s famous victory from fourth at last year’s Abu Dhabi race is the only occasion on which the race has been won from behind the front row.
The Finn’s victory was the first of his return to F1 after a two-year sabbatical and was the 19th F1 win of his career, as well as the first victory for the Enstone-based team since Fernando Alonso’s win at Fuji in the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix.
Despite both championships being mathematically decided last week in favour of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, the final three races of the season are far from dead rubbers.
The battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship is intense and will surely go down the wire in Brazil later this month.
This is thanks to a double-points finish in India for Mercedes, who moved marginally ahead of Ferrari in the standings, while Lotus also made ground.
Meanwhile, at the back Marussia and Caterham are scrapping over the all-important tenth spot.
There’s much at stake this weekend and Sky Sports F1 will be the only place to see every session live, while BBC Sport will screen extended highlights of both qualifying and race.
OFFICIAL F1 WEBSITE TRACK GUIDE LIVE TIMING
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FORMULA 1 2013 ON SKY SPORTS F1 HD
Sky Sports F1 HD has exclusive live coverage all the on-track action from this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.
Every practice session, Saturday’s qualifying and the race itself will be shown live in high-definition.
Simon Lazenby will present full coverage of the Friday practice sessions, qualifying and the race itself, where he will be joined throughout the weekend by Martin Brundle, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert.
Ted Kravitz and Natalie Pinkham will provide the latest news and reports and from the pit lane, while commentary on all sessions comes from David Croft.
Martin Brundle joins Croft in the commentary box for both qualifying and the race, while Anthony Davidson will call the practice sessions as well as offer his insights from the Sky Pad during the weekend.
During the race, a host of interactive additions, including on-board cameras, pit-lane feeds, the latest race stats and much more available via the red button and the Sky Sports for iPad app.
For those who won’t be at home, every second of the action can be seen via computers, laptops, mobiles and tablet devices on Sky Go.
Further information, news and video content can be found at skysports.com/f1, and viewers are encouraged to interact with the live programmes via Twitter – @SkySportsF1, #SkyF1.
Sky Sports F1 will also screen the season finales to both the GP2 and GP3 Series in Abu Dhabi with commentary by Will Buxton.
Following Sky F1’s live race coverage, Steve Rider presents the latest in the ‘Architects of F1’ series in which he interviews former long-time McLaren team co-ordinator Jo Ramirez, who was charged with keeping the peace between bitter rivals Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost during the late 1980s.
Friday 1st November
Practice 1 | Start: 09:00
LIVE: 8.45am-10.50am Sky Sports F1
Practice 2 | Start: 13:00
LIVE: 12.45pm-3.00pm Sky Sports F1
The F1 Show
LIVE: 5.00pm-6.00pm Sky Sports F1
Saturday 2nd November
Practice 3 | Start: 10:00
LIVE: 9.45am-11.10am Sky Sports F1
Qualifying | Start: 13:00
LIVE: 12.00pm-2.45pm Sky Sports F1
Sunday 3rd November
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Race Start: 13:00
Track Parade: 11.30am-9.30am Sky Sports F1
RACE LIVE: 12.00pm-3.15pm Sky Sports F1
Paddock Live: 3.15pm-4.15pm Sky Sports F1
Highlights: 7.00pm-8.00pm Sky Sports F1
Architects of F1: Jo Ramirez
4.15pm-5.15pm Sky Sports F1
The BBC will broadcast free-to-air highlights of the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on BBC One and BBC One HD.
Suzi Perry introduces all the action from the Yas Marina circuit alongside David Coulthard, who will be on hand to provide analysis and discussion in the pits and paddock.
BBC One will broadcast extended tea-time highlights of the qualifying session on Saturday at 5.10pm, with comprehensive race highlights the following day, also on BBC One, at 4.30pm.
Commentary on qualifying and the race comes from Ben Edwards and David Coulthard, with updates from the pit-lane by Tom Clarkson, Lee McKenzie will conduct interviews with the drivers and team personnel and Gary Anderson will be on hand with the latest views on strategy.
McKenzie will also host the BBC’s preview programme Inside F1 on the BBC News Channel on Friday at 6.45pm and Saturday at 7.45pm.
The BBC Sport website will have live streaming of BBC One’s broadcasts, as well as additional video content including highlights of practice sessions, qualifying and the race, plus interviews and analysis.
All of the BBC’s TV coverage will be available to view shortly after transmission on BBC iPlayer.
BBC Radio 5 Live will also have live audio commentary of every on-track session from Abu Dhabi.
Saturday 2nd NovemberF1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying Highlights: 5.10pm-6.15pm BBC One Sunday 3rd November F1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – RACE Highlights: 4.30pm-6.00pm BBC One
