Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - 5 things you need to know

Rewind to 2012, and the Abu Dhabi GP was probably the best race of the year. It had it all the ingredients of an action packed Formula One race – penalties, collisions, opportunistic overtaking moves, Safety Cars and an emphatic podium finish by Sebastian Vettel after starting the race from pit-lane and the famous radio message from Kimi Raikkonen made it one of the most memorable races in recent times.

Fast-forward to 2013 and Abu Dhabi promises to host another battle among roaring Formula One cars in the sands of the Middle-East. Even though both titles are in the bag for Red-Bull, there’s plenty of action left for second,third and fourth places with only three races remaining in the season.

Here are the five things that you need to know about the Abu Dhabi GP.

The spectacular venue

The Abu Dhabi GP is the only twilight race on calendar.

The Grand Prix is host to Formula One at the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit that made it’s way to the Formula One calendar in 2009 for the first time. It is the first and only twilight race of the season race that begins in daylight and ends just after sunset under artificial lighting.

One of the five anti-clockwise circuits in the season, the circuit is build on the man-made Yas Island, and has the Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hotel, a first of a kind hotel to be built over an F1 track. The track is built at a mind-boggling cost of more than £800 million ($1.3 billion).

The track also has a unique pit lane exit passing through a tunnel under the first corner.

The Start of things to come

Sebastian Vettel won his first Driver’s Championship at the Abu Dhabi GP in 2010. He is a four time Champion already heading into the 2013 edition.

It all started for Vettel at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was the race that decided the Championship. The last race of the season was set for a close finish. Fernando Alonso was the Championship leader before the race. Webber and was eight points behind ,Vettel seven points further back and Lewis Hamilton having an outside chance (read mathematical) at the title.

The German took the Chequered flag and won the Championship as Alonso and Webber could only managed to finish seventh and eighth respectively. Three years later Vettel heads to Abu Dhabi as a Champion for the fourth time.

Poisoned pole

The pole sitter at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has won only once in the 4 yer history of the race.

At Abu Dhabi, starting at the front remains ominous as the pole sitter has won only once in four previous editions with Vettel winning a crucial race in 2010. Lewis Hamilton had retired with a brake problem at the inaugural race and in 2012 after problems with fuel pressure. Sebastian Vettel who started at the front of the grid in 2011 retired with a first corner puncture.

Starting second on the grid remains a safer bet with a 50 percent winning ratio. Vettel won from second in 2009 and Lewis Hamilton in 2011. Raikkonen is the only exception winning the race last year starting fourth on the grid.

Speed guns

The speed guns reach upto 320 km/hr at the Yas Marina Circuit thanks mostly to the 1.2 km long straight.

The drivers are on full throttle for close to 70 percent of the lap distance at the Yas Marina Circuit with top speeds clocked at 320km/hr and average speed of just over 200km/hr. The track also has the second highest number of turns on the calendar with 21 behind Singapore which has 23 turns.

Safety car

The Safety Car made its appearance twice in the 2012 edition.

The safety car has made for an interesting visitor at the Yas Marina Circuit and made its appearance three times in two of the previous four races. It was out in the first lap in 2010 and in 2012 on lap 9 and lap 38 and had quite an impact on the result of the race.