“We’ve been listening to our spectators”– Abu Dhabi to modify the Yas Marina circuit to make the racing more visually pleasing.
The last race of the year usually happens in Abu Dhabi, and at that point in time, the championship is mostly decided, so there is little excitement. But on top of that, the circuit’s layout also doesn’t add to the excitement.
So, most of the F1 fanbase doesn’t look forward to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hence, the authorities have decided to redesign the Yas Marina circuit to have more exciting races.
Saif Al Noaimi, acting CEO Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management, is quoted by Autosport as saying: “We’ve been looking at improving the racing on the track
“We’ve been listening to our spectators, the fans, the drivers, F1 and the FIA, and we’ve been working on making some changes, exciting changes, this year to the layout of the track.
“We will be undergoing some modifications to the track over the summer in time for this year’s edition of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.”
The heavy burden of adding excitement
F1 is heavily pressurized by fans to provide more excitement to the competition, especially since the start of the hybrid era where Mercedes have been dominating for the past seven years.
Before that the fans were also bored to view the four years of dominance by Red Bull. So, the new alterations are being introduced to inject more unprecedented actions or to level the field.
Additionally, like Abu Dhabi, there are other circuits that have modified their layouts to give more exciting turns. For example, Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia has redesigned several turns to give more overtaking opportunities to the drivers.
Also, the Baku City Circuit also made a minor change at the infamous turn 8 that apparently can increase about 10mph speed of that car in that area.
