Melbourne, Australia
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Sakhir, Bahrain
Montmelo, Spain
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Montreal, Canada
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Silverstone, Great Britain
Hockenheim, Germany
Budapest, Hungary
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Monza, Italy
Singapore
Suzuka, Japan
Yeongam, South Korea
New Delhi, India
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Sao Paolo, Brazil
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04 Nov 2012Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit
Turns 2/3: an exhilarating sixth gear corner, which exits over a crest.
Turn 5: you’re braking from 300kph, so you need to be very precise.
Turn 8: in theory it’s an overtaking place, but it never seems to offer much. Just ask Fernando…
Turn 18: a boring corner, but there’s no doubt the Yas Hotel looks pretty spectacular at night.
| 2011 winner | Lewis Hamilton |
| Mark’s place | 4th |
| Race date | 04 Nov 2012 |
| Circuit name | Yas Marina Circuit |
| No. of laps | 55 |
| Circuit length | 5.554 km km |
| Race distance | 305.355 km |
| Lap record | 1:40.279 – S Vettel (2009) |
Yas Marina is a phenomenal facility, but it’s a pretty repetitive track. I don’t mind driving around it, but it’s pretty hard to be creative behind the wheel because there are a lot of chicanes and second-gear corners.
The first sector’s not bad, with it’s fast left-right over the crest of the hill. Through here the car really feels like an F1 car, and the downhill approach to Turns 5 and 6 is also quite good. But the car feels choked around the rest of the lap; you can’t let it go.
Being a twilight race, you’re racing in mixed light conditions. There’s daylight to begin with and then artificial light at the end of the race, once darkness has fallen. The lighting is very different to Singapore because the lights are much further away from the track. But the visibility is good; it’s not a problem.
I stay in the seven-star Yas Hotel, so I can walk to work every day. It’s a very nice place to stay, but it’s a bit surreal. You’re given a hot towel on arrival; you don’t see your luggage until you get to your room; the lights in the room are all operated by remote control (which gets frustrating in the middle of the night if you can’t remember where you left it!). It’s all very impressive, but it’s not really my scene.
AS A MATTER OF FACT…
- Mark’s best result in Abu Dhabi is second, for Red Bull Racing in 2009.
- This might be a twilight race, but that doesn’t make it much cooler for the drivers in the cockpit. The temperature at 10pm is still 25 degrees during November.
- The pit garages at Yas Marina are the only ones in the world to have air conditioning. During the day it’s 35 degrees outside and 22 degrees in the garages.
- Mark loves animals. He has dogs, a cat, alpacas, chickens and a donkey at home, so his partner Ann will have to keep him away from the camel markets of Al Ain, about one hour’s drive from Abu Dhabi… unless she wants a camel to join the herd at home!
Comments
Marcel
POSTED November 02nd, 2011
Hi Mark,
greetings from Germany. Hope you have a good weekend and maybe drive to win at the last two Grand Prix`s. I wanna post here a link, maybe you remember this at Nürburgring if you see it. It was a big pleasure for me although I had problems with my English. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muw33YZx_mw
Petra
POSTED November 03rd, 2011
@Marcel Hi Marcel, I like this interview. It shows, how nice Mark is. And I think, you can be really proud of you, what you did there, because I think 1000s of fans would love to do an interview with Mark, but wouldn’t find a word in a situation like this. 
Well done!
Marcel
POSTED November 03rd, 2011
@Petra Hi Petra, thank you for the comment. Nice to hear that you liked it. You are right, it was a very exciting situation and he is really kind, but I was so nervous that I was too fast, so I had only 1,5 from 3 possible minutes. Before the interview he said to me: ,,Don`t be nervouse”. But I could not stay cool and so I wasted one minute more before the interview in which I had the chance to talk to him…
iain
POSTED November 09th, 2011
Good luck Mark, looking forward to Quali on Sat night!
A good little interview that Marcel, you might look like Vettel, but his english is a bit better than yours!
Cheers, Iain
MattK
POSTED November 09th, 2011
Mark consolidate your year with a top result. A good start and eat them up in the tricky stuff and its all yours. Mark love I love watching you race,its no prisoners,no heart on the sleave bull. 100% and a bit of luck will have the result. All the best Mark its your turn.
Karin
POSTED November 11th, 2011
My best whishes for a enjoyable and successfull racing weekend! Greetings from Austria
Billy
POSTED November 14th, 2011
Too bad for the race result this time out Mark. You seemed to be having some issues with your car, especially with braking at the end of those long straights. Is that a tyre/car problem? Oh, Marcel, great little interview, I teach in Japan and encourage students to do such interviews so it was good to see. Full credit to Mark for giving you his time in such a friendly manner too.
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Hi Mark, wish you again all the best for Abu Dhabi. According your problem with the remote in your hotel room, I would recommend: just give the remote Ann (you said some day, that she is the person in your relationship who is well organised every time). Good luck Mark!!!