It’s that time of year when the rich and famous descend on Abu Dhabi for the Formula One Grand Prix weekend. With its growing reputation as the “Hollywood of the East”, celebrities seem to be increasingly drawn to the capital. Here’s the scoop on where you are most likely to spot the stars while they’re in town.
Prime location
The best seats from which to watch the racing action are in the prestigious Paddock Club on the upper, air-conditioned floors of Yas Marina Circuit’s pit building. Priced at US$5,400 (Dh19,835), the three-day Paddock Club tickets give you exclusive VIP access to the pit area, including scheduled pit-lane walks, an open bar, top nosh and your own set of ear plugs for when the roar of the engines gets too much.
Around town
When the sun goes down, the stars come out to play. The party atmosphere is always particularly revved up on the Sunday night after the last race on the F1 calendar, as it’s an opportunity for the drivers to wind down, too, after a gruelling nine months of racing.
Dinner digs
Hakkasan
Although it’s a drive across the city from Yas Marina Circuit, many celebs will make the journey to Hakkasan at Emirates Palace for dinner. The gourmet Chinese restaurant and bar has a growing reputation for celebrity clientele – F1 chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone, was spotted dining there last year.
Iris
During previous F1 weekends, trendy bar and restaurant Iris says it hosted the likes of actress Demi Moore, Furious 7 star Michelle Rodriguez and watchmaker Franck Muller.
Iris’s marketing manager, Sara Stosic, says: “Being an award-winning venue located on Yas Island, where the race actually takes place, means we have an exciting mix of international fashion, sports and music personalities.
“F1 represents one of the busiest weekends of the year, and it is a weekend that we start prepping months in advance. It is certainly a super-exciting time for the capital and puts Abu Dhabi on a grand scale of comparison with the likes of Monaco.”
Iris, which also has restaurants in Dubai and Beirut, is located at Yas Marina, boasting views of the luxury yachts and the circuit itself in the distance.
Cipriani
The Yas Marina Italian restaurant Cipriani has that opulent feel that goes hand in hand with the F1 experience. The track can be glimpsed from Cipriani’s terrace – one regular F1 partygoer told us that the best tables are always booked months ahead of the Grand Prix. The restaurant assures us that they are never short on celebrity guests at racing weekend, but would not name any.
Looking for Lewis
After Lewis Hamilton’s recent road accident in Monaco, which he attributed to “exhaustion from over-partying”, Hamilton’s off-track movements are sure to be under the media spotlight in Abu Dhabi.
You might catch him post-race at a crepe cafe. He told The National last year, after winning the Grand Prix: "People celebrate in different ways. Some people like one big blowout. I prefer to stretch it over many days, have some nice dinners and eat lots of pancakes. I can't eat whatever I want during the season, so I'm going to indulge."
The hotels
Yas Viceroy
A popular hotel with many of the racing teams is the Yas Viceroy, which is built over the F1 track.
Andrew Humphries, the hotel’s general manager, says it is always great fun hosting the drivers.
“Except on race day, when they’re fully focused, the drivers are actually very generous with their time,” he says. “If they’re going through the lobby and heading out to practice sessions, it’s easy for the fans to talk to them – they’re very accessible. That means there’s a real buzz in the air here.”
As Humphries spends most of F1 also meeting and greeting people in the lobby, he gets to see the chemistry between the drivers up-close and personal.
“They’re all fiercely competitive people, competing against each other in a very intense environment,” he says. “So you do get to see some camaraderie – they’re on cordial terms with each other, but they are still competitors.”
Humphries says the hotel also plays host to plenty of other personalities over the Grand Prix weekend.
“The ex-F1 drivers are also great characters,” he says. “But it’s not just the racing community, there are lots of celebrities from the world of music. We hold a very exciting event up in Rush nightclub, and those will be sell-out events every evening.”
Humphries says the Sunday race-night parties are when the F1 frenzy reaches its peak.
“That’s when the venues are always really lively,” he says. “The teams don’t make their mind up until the last minute which parties they’ll attend, but we’ve always had two or three of the teams partying in our venues at the end of the race season and that’s pretty exciting. Being the last race, they’re there to let off a bit of steam.”
Humphries admits that he spends quite a bit of his time during F1 catering to special requests from VIPs.
“As they sometimes leave planning until the last minute, when everything’s already booked up, normally we have to try to get them into venues that they can’t get into,” he says. “We have to work very hard to try to shoehorn them in. I use my influence at the concierge desk, and there’s also a few phone calls from me to friends to try to get them into venues that they hadn’t thought about.”
Even the stars are out of luck sometimes
If you don’t manage to get into the glamorous party you had in mind, take comfort from the fact that even the A-listers get turned down occasionally.
At last year's Grand Prix, Furious 7 star Tyrese Gibson took the mic during the F1 launch party at Yas Viceroy's Rush nightclub on Friday evening, but there was an unexpected twist the following night.
He posted on Instagram: “I tried to get in [to the club] wearing the highly respected traditional Kandura and I didn’t know it wasn’t allowed ... I respect the culture and gladly went home. Rumour has I was kicked out of club cause I was getting at Kim K ... So far from the truth it’s laughable ... Blessings all around.”
Don’t feel too bad for Tyrese, though – he got to party with Prince Harry on Sunday night.
Other spots popular with celebs during F1
Park Hyatt
During last year’s Grand Prix weekend, Tyrese also posted on Instagram a picture of the stunning view of the pool and beach at the Park Hyatt Hotel on Saadiyat Island, with the caption: “I woke up like this – #AbuDhabi.”
St Regis Abu Dhabi
This year, we know that Trey Smith (the oldest son of actor Will Smith) will be staying at St Regis Abu Dhabi. He is DJing on the second night of Beats on the Beach, a series of free concerts on the Corniche, as part of the Yasalam Grand Prix celebrations. We were also told by a source at the hotel that “as well as DJing at a couple of locations, Trey is filming an upcoming documentary”.
artslife@thenational.ae
