Well I am sad to report that this is the last race of the 2009 season. On an upside it's the first race at the new Yas Marina Circuit. The new track is absolutely beautiful. Friday's practice has been completed and qualifying will start tomorrow with the race on Sunday. The race is 55 laps and should be good as teams are still scrambling for constructors points although the championship was settled in Brazil.
It's only 5 months till the next season starts. I will post results and standings after the race as well as a tentative 2010 schedule. I think the first race is March 14th, 2010.

 

- Building the Yas Marina track was a massive project. The first soil was turned at the site back in February 2007 and by the site’s completion, 14,000 workers had been on site and 35 million man hours had been expended. 1.6 million cubic metres of earthwork had been shifted, 720,000 square metres of asphalt had been laid, 225,000 cubic metres of concrete poured, while 30 kilometres of special electronic ducts, 25 kilometres of electrical cabling, 17 kilometres of drainage and 22 kilometres of irrigation piping had been installed. During the Grand Prix up to 900 volunteers will be drafted in to help with hospitality.
- The lap boasts four main periods of acceleration, the longest equating to 1,173 metres, which is the longest straight of any 2009 Formula One track. With an estimated lap time of 1m 40s, the track’s top speed is a predicted 317km/h and its average speed 198 km/h. The width of the circuit fluctuates from 12-16m.

 

Well the race is about 2 hrs away and I am up fried on caffeine and ready to go. Qualifying has been completed and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has the pole with Vettel and Webber placing second and third on the starting grid for Red Bull. This should be an interesting race to end the season as Yas Marina is I suspect a fast track with an estimated lap time of 1:40. It's also one of the only tracks to run in an anti-clockwise rotation.