Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2015 Preview: Start Time, TV Info, Weather, Schedule, Odds
Formula One returns to Asia this weekend for the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Set to take place at the Yas Marina Circuit, the race will bring the 2015 season to a close—after the chequered flag falls on Sunday, we won't see the cars in action again until mid-March next year.
Lewis Hamilton won the world championship in Abu Dhabi last season, but this time around, the title race is over. Nico Rosberg is secure in second place and Sebastian Vettel can only finish third.
But while the top positions are set, there's still plenty of pride at stake. Rosberg will be pushing hard to add his name to the list of drivers to have won at Yas Marina, while Hamilton and Vettel will be seeking their third and fourth victories at the circuit, respectively.
Kimi Raikkonen is the only other driver to have stood on the top step of the podium here, but his recent form suggests its unlikely he'll be celebrating another win on Sunday. Instead, he'll be aiming to finish ahead of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas to secure fourth in the championship.
Other battles further down the field mean we'll always have a scrap of some sort to watch, be it the fight between Lotus and Toro Rosso for sixth in the constructors' championship or the three-way tussle between Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen for 10th in the drivers' standings.
And those with an interest in South American drivers will surely be keeping an eye on Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Nasr. Both have 27 points to their name, and though it's only 13th they're fighting over, there's the potential for a firework or two.
We're due a good race, so hopefully Abu Dhabi can provide one.
Read on for a full preview of the weekend ahead, including a circuit map and detailed guide, TV times for UK viewers on Sky Sports F1 and American viewers on NBC, session times, tyre and DRS information, current standings, weather and odds.
Current Standings
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First, second and third places in the drivers' championship are now confirmed, but there's still a great scrap going on for fourth. Valtteri Bottas leads Kimi Raikkonen by just a single point; providing he's in the points, whichever Finn finishes ahead will take the position.
There's also a good fight going on for 10th between Nico Hulkenberg (52 points), Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen (both 49 points).
The current top 10 drivers are:
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | 363 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | 297 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | 266 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | 136 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | 135 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | 117 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | 94 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | 84 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | 68 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | 52 |
In the constructors' championship, first to fifth positions are now set in stone, but sixth remains up for grabs. Toro Rosso need to score 10 more points than Lotus—or nine more if they have a driver on the podium—to sneak ahead.
And McLaren could overhaul Sauber if they score 10 more points than the Swiss team. It's highly unlikely they'll do it, but stranger things have happened.
The current standings are:
| 1 | Mercedes | 660 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 401 |
| 3 | Williams | 253 |
| 4 | Red Bull | 178 |
| 5 | Force India | 120 |
| 6 | Lotus | 76 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso | 67 |
| 8 | Sauber | 36 |
| 9 | McLaren | 27 |
| 10 | Manor | 0 |
Data sourced from the official F1 website.
Yas Marina Circuit
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The Yas Marina Circuit hosted its first grand prix in 2009 and has been a fixture on the F1 calendar ever since. It holds the distinction of being the most expensive F1 venue ever constructed, with BBC Sport's Andrew Benson putting the cost at a staggering £900 million.
Unfortunately, the track doesn't quite live up to the price tag. It isn't the most exciting on the calendar, the run-off areas are far too forgiving and it's totally devoid of any sort of character.
Mark Webber once tweeted that 10 laps around Ferrari's Mugello circuit was "the same as doing 1000 laps around Abu Dhabi track in terms of satisfaction."
But, in fairness to the place, it's not all that bad. The floodlight system turns it into one of the most beautiful circuits on the planet, and amid the plethora of 90-degree corners, there are a few sparkling hidden gems.
The start of the lap is particularly well-designed.
Turns 1, 2, 3 and 4
A lap begins on the pit straight with a relatively short run to the medium-speed left of Turn 1. Taken at close to 150 kilometres an hour, this corner is more difficult than its profile suggests, and care must be taken to stay within the track limits at the exit.
Unusually, the pit straight here isn't considered an overtaking opportunity; those come later on in the lap.
The track begins to rise just after the exit of Turn 1, and the drivers keep their feet firmly on the accelerator pedal through the quick, flat-out left of Turn 2. An even quicker right (Turn 3) follows immediately after, completing without question the best corner sequence Yas Marina has to offer.
Having risen several metres, the track falls back downhill at the exit as the drivers take plenty of kerb, flick through the left-hand kink of Turn 4 and head out onto a very short straight.
Turns 5, 6 and 7
The cars reach speeds of close to 300 kilometres per hour before the drivers brake hard for the tight, slow, left-right chicane comprising Turns 5 and 6.
Overtaking moves are possible into here, but the attacking car has to be very close coming out of the fast corner sequence—after the opening lap, don't expect to see much action.
As soon as they clear the chicane, the drivers head over to the right-hand side of the track for the best line into Turn 7—a very tight, slow hairpin left. This is the slowest corner on the circuit, seeing speeds of just 60 to 70 kilometres per hour.
A good exit here is essential because it leads out onto the fastest part of the track—the very, very long back straight.
Turns 8, 9 and 10
With assistance from DRS, the drivers of certain cars—Mercedes-powered ones especially—will reach almost 340 kilometres an hour before the brakes are called into action again for another tight, slow chicane.
This should be where most overtaking moves are completed in Sunday's race.
Turn 8 is the very tight, left-hand first part of the chicane, while Turn 8 is the right-hander that follows. The drivers tend to sacrifice a bit of speed through the first part of the chicane in order to get the best possible line through the second.
Plenty of kerb is taken at the exit, and the cars head out through the long, gentle left-hander of Turn 10 and onto Yas Marina's second-longest straight.
Turns 11, 12, 13 and 14
The straight isn't entirely straight, featuring gentle curves to the left at both the start and finish. Overtaking here is less common than on the preceding straight but not entirely unheard of.
Braking at the end brings the cars down from 330 kilometres per hour to just 100 for the tight and slow three-part chicane made up of Turns 11, 12 and 13. It's first left, then right, then left again.
The final corner of the trio is the most difficult; very off-camber, it leads out onto a short, strange straight on which the left-hand side of the track is noticeably higher than the right.
The off-camber theme is continued through the slow, 90-degree left-hander of Turn 12.
Turns 15, 16 and 17
The track now heads into the marina section. The circuit website claims this part of the track has "a waterfront setting to rival the likes of Monaco," but the lines of yachts parked a few metres away from the circuit (off to the drivers' right) don't really stand out at night.
The drivers accelerate down a short straight and through the flat-out right-hander of Turn 15. A similar corner, Turn 16, follows—but this one is much more difficult as it leads into the braking zone of the tight, slow right-hander of Turn 17.
This unusual approach can unbalance the car as the driver slams on the anchors; over the course of the weekend, we'll see plenty of cars running wide or missing the apex of Turn 17.
Turns 18 and 19
Providing they safely negotiated the tricky turn, the drivers flick across to the right-hand side of the track for the best line into the slow, 90-degree left of Turn 18. A brief throttle-squirt sends them under the spectacular Yas Viceroy hotel before another slow left-hander, Turn 19.
This off-camber corner has a two-stage exit, and the drivers take liberties with the generous run-off area on the outside. Nico Rosberg put all four wheels off the track on his pole lap last season, and he certainly wasn't alone.
Turns 20 and 21
A short straight follows before the drivers tap the brakes and attack the tricky, medium-speed right-hand kink of Turn 20. It's very easy to run wide here, and while it was OK to put all four wheels off the track in 2014, hopefully the stewards will crack down this year.
The track begins to gently slope downhill into the braking area of Turn 21, another 90-degree right-hander. It then drops away steeply before levelling out as the drivers cross the timing beam and set off on another lap.
Pit Lane
The pit lane entry is on the inside just before Turn 21. The unique exit passes below the circuit just before Turn 1 and emerges on the outside of Turn 3.
Tyres and DRS Zones
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The Yas Marina Circuit has a very smooth surface and features mostly low-speed corners; only the start of the lap and Turns 15 and 16 offer anything in the way of a high-speed challenge.
Mechanical grip at low speed is essential around a track of this nature, so Pirelli is bringing its softest, grippiest compound selection to the race—the red-marked supersofts and the yellow-marked softs. A performance gap between the two compounds of around one second per lap is expected.
Two stops was the winning strategy in 2014, and the same is expected this time around.
In addition to its normal race weekend complement of rubber, Pirelli is also bringing its new-for-2016, purple-marked ultrasoft compound tyres to Abu Dhabi. They will be used in a two-day test the week after the race.
DRS Zones
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will feature two DRS zones running from separate detection points.
The first zone will have its detection point between Turns 6 and 7 (the first chicane exit and the hairpin). The activation line will be 390 metres after Turn 7, and the zone will end with braking for Turn 8.
The second zone's detection point is just after the exit of Turn 9. The activation point will be at the apex of Turn 10 (the flat-out left-hander forming the start of the second long straight), and the zone ends with braking for Turn 11.
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Weather
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Abu Dhabi has a hot desert climate with very hot summers and warm winters. Average annual rainfall amounts to a little over five centimetres (two inches).
Late November typically sees temperatures in the high 20s degrees Celsius and precipitation of any form is rare—the average total for the whole month is around 0.3 millimetres. For the sake of inserting an interesting fact, that's two millimetres less than the minimum depth of the grooves on a wet tyre, according to the 2015 F1 technical regulations.
The forecast for the weekend ahead is for dry, sunny weather on all three days. Ambient temperatures will be around 27 degrees Celsius, falling only a couple of degrees as the sun sets and the racing begins. Though track temperatures should drop away a little quicker, the change won't be extreme.
BBC Weather will have the latest.
Odds
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Lewis Hamilton is pre-qualifying favourite for the 38th race in a row, with team-mate Nico Rosberg next up (as he has been for every race since the start of 2014, bar the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix). Sebastian Vettel rounds out the year as third-favourite to win.
The top 10 favourites are:
| Lewis Hamilton | 4-5 |
| Nico Rosberg | 11-8 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 9-1 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 50-1 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 66-1 |
| Felipe Massa | 80-1 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 125-1 |
| Daniil Kvyat | 150-1 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 300-1 |
| Sergio Perez | 300-1 |
Selected Others
The safety car had a race off in Brazil—though it should really have emerged when Carlos Sainz Jr. broke down on the first lap—and the bookies seem to think there's a 50/50 chance of it coming out in Abu Dhabi. It's 5-6 for an appearance and 5-6 to stay in the pits.
Carlos Sainz Jr. needs a big result at Yas Marina; our driver to watch for the weekend ahead has just 18 points to his name, while team-mate Max Verstappen has 49. It's 6-4 for Sainz to finish in the top 10 on Sunday and 10-11 for Verstappen to do it.
The two McLaren drivers are 3-1 for points, longer odds than anyone except the Saubers and Manors. But Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are joint-favourites in another market—both are 10-1 (along with Sainz) to be the first retirement of the race.
All odds sourced from Oddschecker.com and correct at the time of publication.
TV Times and Session Times
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As always, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend will consist of three free practice sessions, qualifying and the race.
The session times are as follows:
| Practice 1 | Friday | 1 p.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 5 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 2 p.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 5 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 5 p.m. |
All times given are in Abu Dhabi local time (GST, UTC+4). The official Formula One website has a useful tool on its homepage to convert them to your own time zone.
TV Times
In the United Kingdom, live coverage of all sessions will be provided by Sky Sports F1 and the BBC across channels One and Two and on the Red Button. The programming times are as follows (all times GMT):
| Practice 1 | Friday | 9 a.m. | 8:45 a.m. | 8:55 a.m. (Two) |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 1 p.m. | 12:45 p.m. | 12:55 p.m. (RB) |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 10 a.m. | 9:45 a.m. | 9:55 a.m. (Two) |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 1 p.m. | 12 noon | 12:10 p.m. (One) |
| Race | Sunday | 1 p.m. | 11:30 a.m. | 12:10 p.m. (One) |
In the United States, live coverage is provided by the NBC network on NBCSN, CNBC and NBC Sports Live Extra (SLE). The times for U.S. coverage are as follows (all times EST):
| Practice 1 | Friday | 4 a.m. | 4 a.m. (SLE) |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 8 a.m. | 8 a.m. (NBCSN) |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 5 a.m. | 5 a.m. (SLE) |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 8 a.m. | 8 a.m (CNBC) |
| Race | Sunday | 8 a.m. | 7 a.m. (NBCSN) |
Enjoy the weekend!
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