What The Papers Say About Yas Marina

Monday 2nd November 2009

Fleet Street had very little to say in the way of praise for the new Yas Marina circuit because for all the money in the world, it did not deliver in F1's season finale...

'Thank goodness for Jenson Button. For an hour and a half, the circuit that has everything - at a cost of £800million - could barely muster a decent race, before the world champion's cameo.

'Liberated after winning the title a fortnight ago, Button planted the nose of his Brawn GP within a foot of Mark Webber's Red Bull.

'It was greeted as balm after the bore of this inaugural, season closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In the end Button could not prise a way through, wriggle and dance though he did in those last couple of laps.

'He finished third behind Webber, with Sebastian Vettel claiming his fourth win of the season and securing runners-up place in the championship.' - Jonathan McEvoy, The Daily Mail

'Despite all the opulence, and the stunning Yas Hotel roof whose colours flickered dramatically as day turned to dusk in the inaugural day/night race here, only Jenson Button's late charge in pursuit of Mark Webber saved the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from being the Abu Dullbi race.

'Once a brake problem had stymied Lewis Hamilton's bold surge from pole position in his McLaren, Sebastian Vettel had no competition as he led Webber home in a season-ending Red Bull one-two. The young German's brilliant win cemented second place for him in the drivers' world championship behind Button, who exorcised all his ghosts of any shaky performances this season to enliven what had hitherto been a very tepid affair.' - David Tremayne, The Independent

'In Abu Dhabi, there was little at stake with the drivers' championship settled as the sport confronted its first end-of-season "dead rubber" since 2005. This gave the weekend in the administrative capital of the United Arab Emirates a slightly empty feel as Formula One settled down in the surreal surroundings of the most expensive race track on earth, complete with its own fleet of hotels built from scratch on an island in the desert.

'Money, to put it mildy, was no object on this multibillion pound project, so there was plenty of interest in what sort of race the immaculate new Hermann Tilke-designed circuit produced. It certainly looked good under floodlights, as dusk turned to darkness with the colourful blue wave motif on the roof of the Yas Hotel at its heart, the boats in the marina and a few celebrities dotted around the paddock for light relief, among them Andrew Flintoff, Naomi Campbell and Jay Kay, the singer.

'The grand prix was no classic and there was some evidence that the layout tended to spread the cars out, much in the way of the street circuit at Valencia, leading to little in the way of wheel-to-wheel action. Whether this was primarily the fault of the track configuration or the nature of Formula One car design was the subject of some debate.' - Edward Gorman, The Times

'It was a spectacular end to a truly spectacular season. As a helicopter tracked the action from above, showing off the dazzling Yas Marina circuit in all its neon-lit glory, the crowd rose to their feet to applaud new world champion Jenson Button going wheel-to-wheel with Mark Webber.

'They may only have been fighting for second place - victory went instead to Webber's Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, his fourth of an impressive season - and Button may not have made the move stick, but it sent 50,000 race goers off into the desert night chattering excitedly about an event that for a long time looked like being a billion-dollar procession.

'The circuit may not have won universal approval from racing purists but it was enough for now. The most expensive Formula One race in history could be classified a success.' - Tom Cary, The Telegraph

'If the plan is to leave the audience wanting more, then at least new world champion Jenson Button did that by providing two laps of entertainment here.

'The problem for the best drivers in the world was whether they could outshine the most spectacular F1 venue on the planet.

'The £800 million venue won the contest as Red Bull took the one-two with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, as Button finished third in the Brawn.

'That was apt, as those two teams have battled at the front from day one in Australia. Yet it was all a bit of an anti-climax - and not just because Button and Brawn had won the titles two weeks earlier in Brazil.

'Surely it is possible in days of computerised planning and fluid dynamics, particularly when money is no object in this desert kingdom, for designer Hermann Tilke to scientifically create a circuit with half-a-dozen real overtaking areas.

'Button had been concerned about overtaking from his first drive round and said turn 11 was about it before the race.

'He was right. In the magnificent setting of the Yas Island, the cars were strung out like necklace beads.

'It is a pity, because it is an interesting 3.4-mile track - thanks to the marina, the traditional feel of the sand-coloured circuit buildings and the centrepiece - in layout and adverse camber corners which move the cars around the spectacular Yas Hotel, draped in a lighting curtain which flashed the biggest-ever chequered flag at the end.

'But, in truth, little happened in 55 laps.' - Bob McKenzie, The Daily Express

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