A duel at dusk

It was the start of an era of Formula One in the UAE.

The first Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 1 in 2009 was the hottest show in town and the 50,000 seats had been sold long in advance.

The focus that weekend at Yas Marina Circuit was on the UAE's first taste of the pinnacle of motorsport. But as it turned out, it was also a precursor of what was to come in the decade ahead. Lewis Hamilton lined up on pole position at 5pm that afternoon in his McLaren-Mercedes. Sitting alongside him on the front row was Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull Racing car.

The two would go on to duke it out for victory in the race and it would be symbolic of what was ahead for both men.

Hamilton, who already had a world championship under his belt from 2008, led the early exchanges in the inaugural race.

But he was never more than three seconds ahead of Vettel. The German seemed content to sit behind his British rival, not making a challenge at that stage.

Hamilton, however, had a brake problem. He ran wide at turn 19 on lap 12.

Although he held on to the lead, the end was nigh as his pace slowed. He lost the lead to Vettel when both drivers pitted and he stopped the car for good in his garage at the end of lap 19.

Vettel, now out on his own in front, controlled the rest of the race as he went on to lead a Red Bull one-two ahead of Mark Webber. Jenson Button, already crowned world champion for that season, finished third.

At the time, the race stood out as one where two young stars of the sport went head to head.

But the event was also a taste of what was to come as both men have gone on to establish themselves as greats, with some of their finest moments coming in the UAE.

Since the end of the 2009 season there have been nine drivers' championships and Hamilton and Vettel have won eight of them, taking four each.

There have been 175 races since then, and Hamilton (61) and Vettel (47) won 108 of them.

Vettel would go on to win the 2010 world title in Abu Dhabi 12 months later, the start of a run of four championships.

The 31 year old has since credited the first of his three wins at Yas Marina Circuit for helping him to get the confidence to start on his path to world champion.

"I think yes, it did give us huge momentum for the year after, for the winter," Vettel recalled.

Hamilton, 33, ended a six-year wait for a second championship in 2014 with Mercedes-GP, sealing it again in Abu Dhabi.

He added further crowns in 2015, 2017 and this year, to become only the third five-time champion, after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher, in the sport's history.

He smiled when he was asked for his memories of the first time he competed in the UAE.

Despite the fact he has since won the event three times, the 2009 race is still felt like the one that got away.

As well as the honour of victory, what was motivating Hamilton was the chance to receive a limited-edition Mercedes-Benz, which a sponsor had offered to the inaugural victor.

“I was quite determined to win that one because there was a car up for grabs, which I was pretty motivated to get at the time,” Hamilton recalled. “I was obviously leading then and the rear brakes failed so Sebastian won it.”

Vettel went away with the car and the race win that day. But as the pair - and the rest of the F1 grid - return for the 10th staging this year, it has been a happy hunting ground  for both of them.

Hamilton has three wins, which could have been five had his car not let him down in 2009 and 2012, and three second places, as well as a hat-trick of pole positions.

So what is it about the 21 turns of the track that has allowed the UAE to see the best of him so regularly?

"There’s a lot of late braking and bouncing off kerbs and really having to throw the car around," he recalled. "It works for an aggressive driving style I guess. I’ve had some great experiences here."

Considering Hamilton (10) and Vettel (5) have won 15 of the 19 races this season in their Mercedes and Ferrari cars, it is not unreasonable to expect another duel in the UAE twilight this year.

Given the history of the event, and of the pair, it would be only fitting if the action that kicked things off in 2009 was again the centre of attention for the anniversary.

As part of the transformation from Habel Al Abaydh to Yas, an environmental impact study was commissioned by Aldar from the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey.

The authors, Peter Hellyer and Simon Aspinall, observed that the surface of the newly created island was “comprised for the most part of landfill deposited after the cutting and dredging of the marine channels".

As a result they found no evidence of “any sites or artefacts that might be of archaeological or palaeontological interest".

In conclusion, the report noted: “Recent dredging, land reclamation and tree plantation in the area has destroyed or buried any archaeological sites or material that might have existed,” which in any case, was “unlikely to be of any significance”.

In other words, the soon-to-be renamed Yas was ripe for development. The project was formally unveiled at the end of 2006 and, at 25 square kilometres, would be a third of the size of Abu Dhabi Island.

The masterplan, devised for Aldar by Benoy, an international architect based in the UK, would include beaches, hotels, retail outlets, cafes, restaurants and a golf course. Ikea would move from downtown Abu Dhabi to a new superstore attached to what would be Yas Mall.

There would be a Ferrari World theme park, the first time the famous marque had given its name to such a venture, which would also be designed by Benoy. The architects' portfolio includes the New Bund World Trade Centre in Shanghai, London’s Westfield mall and City Walk in Dubai.  

Simon Bee, the company's managing director for global design, says the concept for the island revolved around three key elements: “To create the setting for a new race track to host the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; to design the home for Ferrari World, a unique, multi-sensory theme park to celebrate the famous Italian sports car brand; and to devise a commercial masterplan framework that would allow Yas to evolve over time into a new mixed-use destination for the UAE.”

At the time of the announcement the design for the racing track was intriguing. Abu Dhabi was not part of the F1 racing circuit. How would it be used?

Then, after several weeks of speculation, it was announced in February 2007 that Abu Dhabi had secured the rights to an F1 Grand Prix.

The deal was signed at the Emirates Palace hotel by Bernie Ecclestone, then chairman and chief executive of Formula One Management, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, at that time chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority and now chief executive of Mubadala and chairman of Manchester City FC and the City Football Group.

Outside the hotel, the stars of F1, including then reigning champion Fernando Alfonso, raced along an impromptu track created on the Corniche.

The immediate consequence was the upgrade of the racing track to full F1 standard.

Already the Yas project had an international feel, gathering talent and resources from all over the world. And not just people. The best surface for the F1 track was identified as crushed sandstone known as greywacke.

A source was found in a quarry just outside the English county town of Shrewsbury, with thousands of tonnes shipped more than 5,500 kilometres from Shropshire to Abu Dhabi.

The deadline was incredibly tight. The first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was fixed in the calendar for November 1, 2009, meaning everything - not just the track, but the hotels and infrastructure that would make the race possible - had to be completed in less than three years. 

Steve Burton, an international marina consultant from California, was hired by Aldar in early 2007, shortly after the decision to upgrade the track.

Of the four waterfront mega-projects for which he was responsible, the Yas Marina project, which would allow yacht owners to view the race from their decks, became top priority.

The F1 circuit, Ferrari World, the Yas Hotel, which would straddle the track and the marina, “were all to dovetail into a world-class destination within 30 months", Mr Burton recalls.

It was task he thought “impossible until 45,000 labourers descended on the Yas Island site”.

Aldar, Mr Burton says, recruited the best talent in the world to ensure the successful completion of the project.

“Deadline became the key word for all of us and a word that could not be compromised. Period," he says. "Expectations were sky-high and work progressed at F1 speed.”

There were also huge challenges. The decision to place the Yas Hotel over the track also affected the construction of the marina, which became the first in the world on that scale to be built without water.

The size of some of the superyachts expected for the inaugural race meant the channel outside the marina was widened for the safe manoeuvrability of vessels up to 150 metres long. 

Meanwhile a decision was made to replace the bridge that would connect Yas to the mainland with a tunnel. A temporary dam was built to hold back the water and in just a year, a six-lane underground highway was completed. Down the middle was space that could be used for a proposed future light rail project. 

Somehow it was all completed on time - in fact, four weeks before the inaugural grand prix. The hotel rooms were already booked and the giant yachts able to moor at the newly flooded marina. Traffic flowed through the Yas Tunnel, a 1.1 kilometre miracle of 27,000 tonnes of steel and 160,000 square metres of concrete.

A year later the first riders thrilled to the roller coaster of Ferrari World, while Yas Mall opened its doors in November 2014. Yas, today such a fixture of Abu Dhabi life that it is hard to imagine it was never there, continues to develop. There are homes now, a mosque and a school. Trees shade the bike paths and families picnic in the parks. Only this summer the new Warner Brothers theme park added to the entertainment.

Mr Burton, who later recalled his three years in Abu Dhabi in his book Staying Afloat, says: “The word deadline continued to flash in big bold lights in my head throughout construction of the Yas Marina project. 

“But we met the challenge. It required the experience and dedication of many of the most talented professionals on the planet. Our footprint stands tall today."