Las Dhabi World!

Looks to me like what we have here in the Yas Marina circuit is a combination Paul Ricard and Speed Racer 2008, something that looks beautiful on TV but has no substance and will probably give you a headache after 10 minutes.

Mostly long straights followed by hairpins or left right quasi-chicanes, it's yet one more Formula 1 track built as an amusement park without any natural features (this more than any other has NO natural features as it's built on a landfill) and where it's hard to imagine any consequences paid for mistakes made.

Apparently there are fantastic accommodations for the teams and their guests, for the press and, with the lights on, it will make TV directors happy but ... It feels like what it set out to be: an amusement park...complete with FerrariWorld ride. A middle eastern Las Vegas/Disney World, Bah. We'll see this week end if, at least, the circuit allows for good racing.

Free practice saw the Mclarens in front but as usual the first 13 cars are within one second of each other. Note Kobayashi in 5th!!
That might explain why Trulli's silly behaviour at the Thursday press conference which was best commented by Fernando Alonso with a "we will discuss tomorrow...deep". check it out after the jump.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.307            35
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.504  + 0.197   34
 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.541  + 0.234   39
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.591  + 0.284   37
 5.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:41.636  + 0.329   34
 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:41.683  + 0.376   37
 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.684  + 0.377   34
 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.831  + 0.524   38
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:41.931  + 0.624   39
10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:41.987  + 0.680   39
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.180  + 0.873   28
12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:42.245  + 0.938   36
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:42.278  + 0.971   36
14.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:42.409  + 1.102   30
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.530  + 1.223   33
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:42.782  + 1.475   29
17.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:42.932  + 1.625   37
18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:43.021  + 1.714   37
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:43.022  + 1.715   39
20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:43.708  + 2.401   13

All Timing Unofficial