Formula 1 crews have descended upon the UAE ahead of the weekend’s Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with transporters by the dozen bringing in essential crates containing cars, spare parts and components ready for the mechanics to work their magic on.
A fleet of 65 forklift trucks has been at work in Yas Marina Circuit’s pit lane since Tuesday, with constructor personnel on hand to help with the offloading against a background of high-tempo dance music.
The whole vista resembles a military exercise, often looking like a major container port in full flow, with similar precision routes being taken around the premises by forklift drivers so collisions are avoided.
The freight is coming in from both Abu Dhabi International Airport and Khalifa Port, with estimates suggesting total weights of hundreds of thousands of tonnes.
It isn’t just the teams who are preparing though – for weeks, Yas Marina Circuit personnel have been making sure everything is just right for the tens of thousands of motor sport fans en route to the final race of the 2022 F1 season, as well as those here for the F2 and F4 UAE events.
The circuit’s logistics team, for example, has been engaged in preparing 227 rooms fitted out with more than 3,000 pieces of furniture for the hundreds of incoming essential racing personnel, music artists and VIP guests.
The track, of course, is a major concern. Technicians and safety experts are engaged in the ongoing task of inspecting every inch of the circuit to ensure the utmost safety for drivers and spectators alike.
Dedicated maintenance specialists, painters, gardeners and technical experts have been at work across the circuit’s 5.8 kilometre track, grandstands and landscaped areas, with road diversions also being set up outside.
Predictions suggest the race itself will attract nearly 110 million views across the globe, so neatness has been of primary concern – cleaners equipped with high-pressure hoses have been tasked with leaving the circuit’s 228 canopies spotless, an undertaking that has been estimated to take 6,920 hours of non-stop work.
There are also 88.4 acres of landscaped areas at Yas, and gardeners have been bedding in more than 1,750 different kinds of foliage along with 886 varieties of palms and 529 potted plants.
Most of the team's drivers are expected to arrive at the venue on Thursday, where they will take up residence in a series of villas which are situated behind the pit lane and overlook Yas Marina.
The racing programme begins on Friday November 18 at 10.15am, with the F4 UAE practice session.
The first F1 contestants will take to the track at 2pm the same day, with the grand finale at 5pm on Sunday.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
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Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
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Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
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"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
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"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
