Abu Dhabi given green light

The new circuit at Abu Dhabi has passed a final inspection by the FIA ahead of its Formula One grand prix debut on November 1.

Race director Charlie Whiting gave the impressive Yas Marina track his blessing on Monday and, other than cosmetic finishing touches, the venue is all ready to play host to the season-ending showdown.

Organisers Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management staged an exclusive media event yesterday in which David Coulthard, Martin Brundle and Bruno Senna provided passenger rides in a couple of two-seater F1 cars.

Officials will have a more specific opportunity to put the circuit and systems through their paces with a GP2 test the weekend prior to the grand prix, with Whiting due to attend.

“Everything is going well,” ADMM CEO Richard Cregan said.

“We’ve had a couple of handovers and that’s the process we’re in at the moment - as I call it, a ’shakedown’ of the circuit.

“We’re doing okay and the media event was part of that.

“The thing is it’s such a complex facility, so many buildings, so many elements to it in terms of how technical the circuit is, so we’re going through it step by step.

“The good thing is we’re now doing that and the first big step for us will be the GP2 test, which will be great.

“But Charlie was here on Monday and he was happy. Everything he had asked for previously was done, so that was good.

“That was the final FIA green light, and he’s also coming here for the GP2 test, which is a great help for us.

“We’ll have a lot of the grand prix weekend marshals here on that weekend as well, so that will be a good test for the system, the people, car recovery, all of those kind of things.”

Hundreds of workers were still on site yesterday, primarily cleaning and planting trees, ensuring it should be in perfect condition by the time of the race weekend.