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For the first time, the final race of the 2009 Formula One World Championship will be held at the new Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.  Despite rumours that the circuit will not be ready for the inaugural race in November, the circuit’s developers are confident everything is going according to schedule.

But should Formula One even be going to Abu Dhabi?

A report in the Observer on Sunday claims the US has videos of a member of the Abu Dahbi royal family torturing at least 25 people.  Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nayhan is the son of the late United Arab Emirates President Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the brother of the present ruler of Abu Dhabi.

A video shown on ABC News shows the prince, with the help of a man in police uniform, torturing Mohammed Sha Poor, an Afghan grain merchant.  In the video, the prince beats the man with a wooden plank with nails in it, sets him on fire and attacks him with a cattle prod before running him over several times in his Mercedes SUV.

The UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and in a statement said:

The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior.  All rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department.

WTF?

It turns out the Minister of the Interior is also a sibling of Sheikh Issa.

The new Yas Marina circuit looks like it could be pretty spectacular but it calls into question Bernie Ecclestone’s strategy of selling Formula One to the highest bidder.  The UAE might have lots of money but they have few Formula One fans and some serious human rights issues.

Peter Wahl, a partner of Hermann Tilke, has said that the changes being made to Donnington will make the track demanding and exciting with more opportunities for overtaking.

The Donnington Park grand prix circuit is undergoing a major upgrade to bring it up to Formula One standard before it takes over the British Grand Prix from Silverstone in 2010.  The last Formula One race at the circuit was in 1993 when Ayrton Senna won the European Grand Prix in spectacular fashion by lapping the entire field except for one car and finishing over a minute ahead of Damon Hill in second place.

According to Peter Wahl the modifications to the circuit will introduce a hilly new infield loop:

There is the new piece on the circuit infield, and that will be demanding and exciting.  It goes downhill steeply and into a left-hander – the drivers will feel the high pressure there, and then they will have to accelerate back uphill.

I’m starting to look forward to Donnington.  I don’t think there have been enough hills on the new circuits introduced to Formula One recently.  When you think about the great circuits of the world, the ones the drivers and fans love, a lot of them have quite significant changes in elevation; Spa, Laguna Seca, Bathurst and Monte Carlo all have hilly bits and the new Circuito Potrero de los Funes in San Luis, Argentina looks spectacular. 

I know there are limits to the elevation a Formula One car can handle and we’re unlikely to see a McLaren screaming round Mount Panorama or a Ferrari lapping an Argentinian volcanic lake but in 2006 Ricardo Zonta broke the lap record at Laguna Seca in a Toyota TF106.  Wouldn’t it be great to see a US Grand Prix there if F1 ever returns to North America?

And for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Bathurst circuit (technically a street circuit), here’s Peter Brock flying round the Mountain in 1991.

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Like a lot of F1 fans I was sorry to see Suzuka dropped from the Formula One calendar in 2007 in favour of Toyota’s Fuji Speedway.  With its unique figure 8 layout and demanding corners, Suzuka is one of the great circuits of the world.  It’s right up there with Spa as one of the fans’ and drivers’ favourite tracks.

Thankfully, the Japanese Grand Prix returns to Suzuka this year.  In a statement outlining its 2009 automobile motor sports activities Honda, who own Suzuka, said:

Full-scale renovation work will soon be completed.  As the opening event on April 12, the Circuit will be hosting the Start Suzuka Opening Thanks Day – F1 Kick-off Party. And after a break of two years, the Grand Prix of Japan, Round 15 of the Formula One World Championship, will be held, October 2-4.

“The Start Suzuka Opening Thanks Day – F1 Kick-off Party”.  What a great piece of Engrish!  It sounded like so much fun I went to the Suzuka website to see what I could find out.  There wasn’t anything there about the F1 Kick-Off Party but it sure made interesting reading.

In June 2006 Suzuka Circuitland Co. Ltd. merged with Twin Ring Motegi Co. Ltd to form Mobilityland Corporation.  According to the website:

Uniting the two enterprises of Suzuka Circuit, which has contributed to the spread of motorsports in Japan, and Twin Ring Motegi, which introduced to Japan the new mobility of American motorsports. By concentrating the power and know-how these two companies have accumulated, we hope to be a business providing joy, fun and excitement to the community through an ever richer mobility culture.

So it’s all about mobility, then.  Whatever that is.  Luckily the site has a definition:

People move because they have goals. Community begins when people move to another place and run into other people. Through these moves, they meet different kinds of people and learn about each other; it is there that new cultures and new values are born. We call such movement-related areas “mobility.” Pursue convenience, fun, and the value of mobility; have them take root in the lives of many people. This is what we call “mobility culture.” One of Mobilityland’s main missions is to promote a richer and safer mobility culture in society.

Right, well that clears that up, then.

I’ll leave you with a little old-skool Suzuka action and as you watch Ayrton Senna’s pole position lap of Suzuka in 1989 remember the Three Joys of the Basic Principles as described in the Mobilityland Philosophy:

1. The Joy of Buying
2. The Joy of Selling
3. The Joy of Creating

Er.  Ok.

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According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Formula One circuit designer, Hermann Tilke is in Rome analysing possible layouts for a Roman street circuit. The idea of Rome hosting a Grand Prix as early as 2011 was raised by former Formula Two driver, Maurizio Flammini last week. Italy already hosts a Formula One Grand Prix at the historic Monza circuit.

While the idea of F1 cars racing through the streets of Rome has a certain appeal, the Italian paper reports that three locations are being investigated all of which are in the Esposizione Universale Roma (EUR) business district south-west of the historic city centre. According to Wikipedia, “EUR offers a large-scale image of how urban Italy might have looked, if the Fascist regime had not fallen; wide axially planned streets and austere buildings.”

Ferrari Boss Luca di Montezemolo, no fan of street circuits himself, doesn’t like the idea of a Roman Grand Prix:

A new grand prix in Italy is absolutely unthinkable, given that we have so many underused circuits.

Now, I quite like the Fascist architectural style but if you were hoping to see Ferraris screaming around the Fontana di Trevi and past the Spanish Steps the reality, if it ever happens, will be quite different.

Image: lazymood

Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo has said he wants more “real tracks” instead of the new “tourist tracks” like Singapore and Valencia:

Having two or three Monte Carlos is too much.  Next time we can race inside the Coliseum, or maybe inside the Papacy. This is not racing.

Now as awesome as F1 cars racing around the Coliseum sounds (preferably with spikes on the wheels) I do agree to a certain extent.  Luca makes a good point when he says “we need to improve competition, so that the racing is good not only when it rains or the Safety Car creates a situation.”  How many times in 2008 did a fairly average race suddenly become more exciting because of wet weather?  The opportunity for exciting racing has to be the main consideration when choosing where to go racing.

I don’t agree with Di Montezemolo’s opinion of the Singapore Grand Prix, though.  I thought this was a fantastic event.  The cars looked awesome under the lights and there was real excitement watching the way the drivers dealt with the slippery surface. Now that most teams use those ugly wheel covers that hide the glowing disc brakes it was nice to see flames spitting from the exhaust in the low light.  I’m sure Ferrari’s poor performance in Singapore has nothing to do with his dislike of the circuit…

But just because Singapore worked doesn’t mean we should suddenly start adding night races everywhere.  This would detract from the specialness of Singapore.  In fact I would be happy for Singapore to remain the only night race on the calendar.  Monaco is special because of its history.  But it is also special because there is no other race like it.