Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Choosing a grandstand and booking a hotel

Yas Marina Circuit seats 60,000 people across five grandstand areas: Main, North, South, West and Marina. Seats that look over the yachts and those facing the stretch where the track runs beneath the W Abu Dhabi hotel are the first to go, so if either matters to you, buy as soon as sales open. Tickets come only from the official channels and live as digital passes in the Abu Dhabi GP app.

Rooms on Yas Island are the hardest part. The island hotels, among them the Crowne Plaza and the Park Inn that looks across the golf course to the track, are booked months in advance. Saadiyat Island and central Abu Dhabi are cheaper and still workable, but transfers from either crawl on race days. The drive from Dubai takes roughly an hour and a half, which suits fans who want a different city in the evenings and accept two long drives a day.

Read your government's travel advice before paying for anything. The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds were cancelled in April 2026 over regional security concerns, while Abu Dhabi stayed on the calendar. Check again in the week you fly, through official race channels.

The Yas Marina circuit and its title-deciding races

The circuit opened in October 2009, designed by Hermann Tilke on a headland that a canal separates from the mainland. Its first Grand Prix, on 1 November that year, was the sport's first day-night race, started at 17:00 local time under a permanent lighting rig billed at the time as the biggest of its kind at a permanent sports ground. Every season since has ended here, and a 2021 agreement guarantees Abu Dhabi the closing round through 2030 at the earliest.

That same year the track was reshaped to encourage overtaking. Today a lap covers 5.281 km with 16 corners and a longest straight of 1.14 km, and the pit-lane exit dips beneath the track itself, while one run-off area sits under the West grandstand.

The final-race slot makes for history. Sebastian Vettel sealed his first title here in 2010. Lewis Hamilton clinched his second in 2014, the year of double points. In 2021 Max Verstappen took his first crown on the last lap after a disputed safety-car call, and in 2025 Lando Norris became champion by two points.