?? THE 2019 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
ROUND 21. 29th November – 1st December.
1018TH F1 GRAND PRIX | 11TH ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX | 11TH GRAND PRIX AT YAS MARINA CIRCUIT
2018 POLESITTER: LEWIS HAMILTON | 2018 WINNER: LEWIS HAMILTON
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday 29th November
Free Practice 1 (1pm Local Time/ 9am UK Time)
Free Practice 2 (5pm Local Time/ 1pm UK Time)
Saturday 30th November
Free Practice 3 (2pm Local Time/ 10am UK Time)
Qualifying (5pm Local Time/ 1pm UK Time)
Sunday 1st December
The 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (5:10pm Local Time/ 1:10pm UK Time)
?? WEEKEND MILESTONES AND RECORDS
This weekend, Yas Marina will equal Watkins Glen as the circuit to have hosted the second-most season-closing races, with eight, behind only Adelaide (11). United Arab Emirates will also equal Japan as the country to have held the third-most season finales (8, behind USA on 12 and Australia on 11)
Kimi Raikkonen will become the second-most experienced F1 driver this weekend, surpassing Fernando Alonso’s tally of Grand Prix starts.
The 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will mark Lewis Hamilton’s 250th Grand Prix appearance.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will join the top ten of the longest lasting team-mates this weekend.
Haas will equal the Prost team’s tally of 83 Grand Prix appearances this weekend; which will put them an equal 34th in the all-time list.
This will be only the fourth Formula 1 race to have been held in December. Since 1979, February and December have been tied as the months to have held the least F1 races, with three in each month.
You can find more information about the records which could be beaten this weekend in our Milestones and Records to Beat post.
ALL THE INFO
Click the links below to see all the stats and circuit history you could need ahead of the 2019 race!
- The Ultimate Track Guide
- Track Stats (Coming Soon)
- Team Form (Coming Soon)
- Driver Form (Coming Soon)
- Lucky and Unlucky Grid Positions (Coming Soon)
2018 RACE RECAP
The 2018 Formula 1 season came to a close as Lewis Hamilton sealed an 11th win of the season and Fernando Alonso celebrated the final race of his F1 career.
Lewis Hamilton took pole for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi as Valtteri Bottas ensured Mercedes locked out the front-row. Hamilton kept his lead at the start, but there was carnage further back as Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg collided, sending the latter into a barrel roll. Hulkenberg emerged unscathed from the accident, which was deemed to be a racing incident. After their antics in Brazil, Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon got close to one another on track once again, this time with the Red Bull emerging unscathed. Kimi Raikkonen came to a halt on the pit straight and was forced to retire from his final race for Ferrari, prompting a Virtual Safety Car period. Hamilton pitted while the VSC was called and emerged in fifth. He was just nine seconds off the lead despite stopping. The rest of the leading drivers pitted; though Daniel Ricciardo stayed out. Further back, Stoffel Vandoorne pulled off an impressive double overtake on Ocon and Grosjean. Ricciardo finally pitted with 21 laps remaining, rejoining the order in fifth. Sebastian Vettel made his way past Bottas for second place and Verstappen soon followed suit for the final podium position. Ricciardo also passed the Mercedes. Marcus Ericsson, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly all retired from the race on their final appearances for their respective teams. Hamilton took the win, with Vettel and Verstappen the other podium finishers. After the race, Hamilton and Vettel joined the departing Fernando Alonso for donuts on the main straight as the chequered flag fell on the Spaniard’s career and the 2018 season.
PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULES
The world’s media will have the opportunity to talk to the drivers on the Thursday before the race. Appearing in the Drivers’ Press Conference for this race weekend will be:
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
Carlos Sainz (McLaren)
Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
The media also be talking to prominent members of Formula 1’s teams on Friday. Appearing in the Teams’ Press Conference for this race weekend will be:
Mattia Binotto (Ferrari)
Zak Brown (McLaren)
Toto Wolff (Mercedes)
Cyril Abiteboul (Renault)
Claire Williams (Williams)
DRIVER STEWARD
Each weekend a former Formula 1 driver, or a driver from another prominent series of motorsport, joins the stewards to help judge any incidents from a drivers’ perspective. The Driver Steward this weekend will be Derek Warwick.
WEATHER FORECAST
The weather forecast for the week ahead at the circuit currently looks like this:
[wpc-weather id=”4471″/]
FASTEST EVER LAP
1:34.794
The fastest ever lap of the circuit was set by Lewis Hamilton in 2018. Will it be beaten over the race weekend?
TYRE CHOICES
Each weekend, the tyres will be known as Soft (red), Medium (yellow) and Hard (white), but the actual compounds will change each race weekend.
Pirelli will supply the C3, C4 and C5 tyres for this race weekend. Each driver’s selection of tyres can be found below:
2018 FASTEST LAP IN EACH SESSION
| Free Practice 1 | 1:38.491 (Max Verstappen) |
| Free Practice 2 | 1:37.236 (Valtteri Bottas) |
| Free Practice 3 | 1:37.176 (Lewis Hamilton) |
| Qualifying | 1:34.794 (Lewis Hamilton) |
| Grand Prix | 1:40.867 (Sebastian Vettel) |
ON THIS DAY
The 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the first ever F1 race to have been held on 1st December. In fact, it’ll be only the fourth race to be held in the month of December. Since 1979, February and December have been tied as the months which have held the least F1 races, on three apiece. The 1959 US Grand Prix was held on 12th December, while the South African Grands Prix of 1963 and 1962 were held on 29th and 28th December respectively. Two champions have been crowned in the month of December; Jack Brabham in 1959 and Graham Hill in 1962.