Haas F1 Team boss Guenther Steiner reckons Abu Dhabi GP works best as the final race in the season as opposed to Brazil GP as he compares it with Australian GP.
In recent times, the Abu Dhabi GP has come under fire for not producing good enough racing at Yas Marina circuit, after a slew of mediocre grand prix races at the track in these past years saw people suggest returning to Brazil for the final race.
Despite this poor racing, however, Haas F1 team principle Steiner feels Abu Dhabi GP works as the best spot for the season’s final race, on the basis that its atmosphere excels above other tracks, as he also spoke briefly on why people may not like it.
“I think as a venue, it’s a very nice place to finish the season in my opinion,” said Steiner to media including FormulaRapida.net. “Racing here, I don’t know. It is, because of the track layout, obviously, never been really, [a] good show.
“I don’t think it [Abu Dhabi GP] is that bad as a show. If you see this year, some of the races were very interesting, I must say, so you always compare it. This was good, but then, if something is just mediocre, it’s bad, you know?
“So I don’t think it’s the wrong place, because, would you like to finish the season in Brazil? Not really, I mean, from the sporting point, maybe yes, but the whole atmosphere, I mean, it’s great here. More like, for the people, for the show, I call [it] the show not the sport.
“Look at the amount of people that come here for Abu Dhabi GP and the amount of people having fun, I think it’s a very good place. When the racing is sometimes not the best here, but maybe, we always say, ‘ah you need to have better race cars’.
“We judge after Melbourne which don’t produce a lot of interesting racing, but it’s always a good show in Melbourne with Australian GP because it’s the first race, you know? So, I don’t think it’s the wrong place to have the last race here.”
Steiner also played down the idea of Abu Dhabi hosting the post-season tyre test which may not be possible in Brazil when asked by FormulaRapida.net. The Italian clarified that it is possible to test in Brazil too but it majorly depends on the wish, if everyone wants to.
Abu Dhabi GP first took place in the 2009 F1 season and was the final race but Brazil returned between 2011 and 2013 for three years. The Middle East circuit was back being the finale since 2014 and has been the same until the current period.
Here’s the stat list from 2019 Abu Dhabi GP
The story was written by Duncan Leahy and edited by Darshan Chokhani