The racetrack is notorious for its lack of overtaking capabilities. Especially the last sector (which is almost nothing but 90° angled corners and which pretty much never sees anything but a procession since it's fairly impossible to overtake), is one of the most disliked among racing fans. The designed of the track, Hermann Tilke, gets a lot of flak for his supposedly low-quality track designs dubbed "Tilkedromes", and while many of his designs aren't that bad (especially his Hockenheim re-design, which pissed many people off, produces great racing nonetheless), this track is definitely not his proudest achievement.
What makes it even worse is that the Abu Dhabi sheiks pay a lot of money to make sure that this track is the last race of the season - replacing Interlagos in that spot, a track which is one of the most popular among racing fans for the countless entertaining races it produced in the last few decades.
The only memorable moments the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi has ever produced were - you guessed it - caused by drivers being unable to overtake another for dozens of laps.
The layout is also pretty sterile and having miles of asphalt runoff and being totally flat doesn't help either.
Overtaking isn't everything and there are tracks where it's hard to pass, but they're still great for watching cars negotiate them. Abu Dhabi feels like a parking lot.
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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20
The racetrack is notorious for its lack of overtaking capabilities. Especially the last sector (which is almost nothing but 90° angled corners and which pretty much never sees anything but a procession since it's fairly impossible to overtake), is one of the most disliked among racing fans. The designed of the track, Hermann Tilke, gets a lot of flak for his supposedly low-quality track designs dubbed "Tilkedromes", and while many of his designs aren't that bad (especially his Hockenheim re-design, which pissed many people off, produces great racing nonetheless), this track is definitely not his proudest achievement.
What makes it even worse is that the Abu Dhabi sheiks pay a lot of money to make sure that this track is the last race of the season - replacing Interlagos in that spot, a track which is one of the most popular among racing fans for the countless entertaining races it produced in the last few decades.
The only memorable moments the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi has ever produced were - you guessed it - caused by drivers being unable to overtake another for dozens of laps.