No sooner had last weekend’s grand prix concluded in Qatar, than it was confirmed Abu Dhabi would be the venue for a three-way title fight between Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri for the Formula One drivers’ championship on Sunday.
The last time more than two drivers were in title contention heading into the final race weekend was 15 years ago, when four racers had hopes of winning the championship in Abu Dhabi, which was the final race of the season then, as it is now.
Keen F1 followers will recall what happened next, in what was a 19-race season that finished in mid-November 2010, compared to this year’s 24-race title chase, which stretches into December.
Sebastian Vettel won the 2010 championship by winning the race at the Yas Marina Circuit, leaving his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton trailing behind on points. The young German champion’s beaming smile illuminated our race report that evening, which bore the headline “Vettel scripts history in UAE capital”.
Most post-race analysis judged Ferrari to have made a tactical misstep by pitting pre-race title favourite Alonso too early at the Yas Marina Circuit and then getting stuck in traffic, something the team strategists of today will surely have taken note of. Any mistake in race planning on Sunday is likely to prove just as costly in this year’s title chase of fine margins.
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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit, and with it the drivers' world championship. AFP -
Sebastian Vettel won the 2010 championship after a four-way battle with Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. getty -
Fernando Alonso at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. -
Race winner and 2010 world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull celebrates at the Yas Marina Circuit. Getty -
Sebastian Vettel became Formula One’s youngest world champion with a pole to flag victory in Abu Dhabi. Andrew Henderson/The National -
Sebastian Vettel, of Red Bull Racing, won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Sebastian Vettel takes the chequered flag at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Formula One end of season driver's portrait on the starting grid before the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Sebastian Vettel beat Fernando Alonso to win the 2010 F1 drivers' championship. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Sebastian Vettel finished on 256 points in the 2010 F1 championship. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Mark Webber, of Red Bull, also had a shot at the title in 2010. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Lewis Hamilton, of McLaren, finished in second place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Drivers at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Four drivers had a shot at the F1 title in the final race of 2010, for the first time in history. Andrew Henderson / The National -
Robert Kubica's last F1 race was at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where he finished fifth for Renault. Getty Images
Who knows what will happen this weekend, but what is intriguing are the comparisons that bounce directly between then and now, not just for the title contest but also for the entire race weekend and the host city at large.
On the track, former world champions Hamilton and Alonso are still chasing points 15 years later, although they are members of the supporting cast in F1 this year rather than having eyes on the main prize.
Away from it, there are plenty of back to the future moments to be found, too.
In 2010, a raft of openings and plans for the city’s future punctuated the weeks around F1 race weekend, just as they have this time around.
Ten days before the race 15 years ago, the Ferrari World theme park opened its doors on Yas Island. The attraction was the first in a constellation of entertainment attractions that have since appeared in the neighbourhood, from Yas Waterworld in 2013 to Warner Bros, Seaworld and, earlier this year, the announcement that a Disneyland Abu Dhabi theme park will be developed on Yas over the coming years.
The Zaha Hadid-designed Sheikh Zayed Bridge, meanwhile, was inaugurated at the end of November 2010, completing a hugely complex piece of construction and providing a further connection point between the mainland and Abu Dhabi island, while the final design and plan for the Sheikh Zayed Museum on Saadiyat Island was revealed for the first time in the final days of the same month a decade and a half ago.
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Louvre Abu Dhabi under construction in July 2014. Antonie Robertson / The National -
Louvre Abu Dhabi opened its doors on November 8, 2017. Reuters -
Construction while Yas Mall was being built in 2012. Sammy Dallal / The National -
Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi opened in November 2014. Photo: Yas Mall -
Construction on the Warner Bros theme park on Yas Island in April 2016. Photo: Miral -
Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi, which has 29 rides including two roller coasters, opened in July 2018. Antonie Robertson / The National -
Visitors at the new extension to The Galleria on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi in 2019. Pawan Singh / The National -
Clymb Abu Dhabi features the world's tallest indoor climbing wall. The attraction opened in November 2019. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Jubail Mangrove Park has a two-kilometre boardwalk that crosses the site. The park opened in February 2020. Wam -
The National Aquarium is the first attraction to open in Al Qana, a new waterfront destination in the capital that stretches 2.4 kilometres. It opened in November 2021. Ruel Pableo for The National
By a neat piece of symmetry, 15 years later, the museum opened its doors to the public this week. Ten days before that, the Natural History Museum also began welcoming visitors.
The opening of the Zayed National Museum is worth reflecting on, providing as it does an incredible stage on which to tell the country’s history, as we saw for the first time on Tuesday evening during a spectacular Eid Al Etihad show at the venue.
The museum’s collection is both dynamic and eclectic, from Bronze Age boats to a Chrysler car, with the visitor sure to be surprised and engaged in equal measure by what they find in a stunning building sitting within a neighbourhood of world-class museums on Saadiyat Island.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, due to open next year, could be described as the final set piece of Abu Dhabi’s cultural district and, perhaps, a further symbol of the future Abu Dhabi was driving towards in 2010.
Returning to Yas, entertainment has always been a big part of F1 weekend, with the after-race concerts providing a festival feel to go with the sporting drama on the track.
When Vettel won the 2010 championship to become the youngest-ever king of the road, Prince took to the Etihad Park stage a few hours afterwards to deliver what some concertgoers fondly remember as the greatest-ever concert on the island.
Prince, who died in 2016, delivered a riotous set of more than 20 favourites from his storied back catalogue that stretched long into the November night and included four encores as well a guest appearance by Nicole Scherzinger in the middle of those reprises. Throughout the night, the crowd sang along to Prince’s infectious “oh-Abu Dhabi” chant.
Metallica, one of this year’s after-race concert acts, may also lay claim to at least one legendary appearance in Abu Dhabi.
Their debut concert in the region in October 2011 has also been cited as one of the very best. Author Orlando Crowcroft wrote in the opening pages of Rock in a Hard Place, his 2017 book on the region’s metal scene, that he “must have seen a thousand shows over the past two decades … but I have never seen anything like that show”.
Many others would concur with that perspective. The band later told our music critic Saeed Saeed that their 2011 performance in Abu Dhabi was “magical”.
There was something in the air that night, clearly, as there so often in as this time of year in Abu Dhabi.
