Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: what time does it start? And is there any point in watching?

That’s not hyperbole, by the way: if Red Bull wins this weekend it will officially be the most dominant team performance in F1’s 73-year history, surpassing even that of McLaren and its iconic MP4/4 back in 1988.

And at its heart, possibly the most one-sided drivers’ championship too? Max Verstappen has racked up an incredible 18 wins so far this season (a record, of course) and the three-time champion has amassed enough points to win the constructors’ title on his own too. Yup, Sergio Perez could have gone on holiday for a year and it would’ve made no difference.

Still, if you can only get excited about who finishes first then you’re watching the wrong sport. There’s big prize money riding on the final constructors’ standings and eight teams could win big or lose hard in the Abu Dhabi GP.

The tightest battle is over second place: Mercedes leads Ferrari by 392 points to 388, but it’s the Italian team that has form on its side. Who’s your money on?

Meanwhile only 11 points separate McLaren and Aston Martin in the race to finish fourth. It looked for all the money in the world that orange was going to triumph over green, but Aston has hit back in the last couple of races (Alonso’s podium in Brazil, plus two P5s for Stroll). Too little, too late?

Then there’s the bottom four: Williams (28 points) lead the way ahead of AlphaTauri (21), Alfa Romeo (16) and Haas (12), but one big result in Abu Dhabi could change everything and bag tens of millions of dollars to spend on fancier carbon fibre parts in 2024.

We can’t pretend there’s much to look out for in the drivers’ standings: Verstappen, Perez and Lewis Hamilton are locked in the top three spots and any one of four drivers could finish fourth. Ever meet a driver who was pleased to finish fourth?

Anyway, Las Vegas was a blast last week and the grand finale - held a whole 12 time zones ahead - could be just as good. Keep scrolling for all the info you need on the Jet Lag Grand Prix. Sorry, Abu Dhabi.

What time is the Abu Dhabi GP? And what time is qualifying?

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix begins at 1pm UK time on Sunday 26 November. They’re four hours ahead over there so this is a twilight race, starting before sunset and finishing under the floodlights. Very atmospheric.

Qualifying is on Saturday 25 November at 2pm UK time. The practice sessions will be held at 9.30am and 1pm on Friday, followed by the final shakedown on qualifying day at 10.30am. You don’t even remotely care about those, do you?

What’s the weather going to be like?

Easy one this: it will be hot and sunny, with highs of 28 degrees Celsius predicted across the three days of action. A far cry from the chilly conditions we got in Vegas last week.

Where is the Abu Dhabi GP taking place?

The Abu Dhabi GP will be held at the Yas Marina Circuit, which has hosted the race every year since it was introduced to the F1 calendar in 2009. It has brought the curtain down on every F1 season since 2014, when it took that honour away from Brazil on a permanent basis.

How many laps is the Abu Dhabi GP?

The Abu Dhabi GP will consist of 58 laps of the 5.281km (3.281mi) circuit, which was reconfigured a couple of years ago after complaints that overtaking was too difficult and that races were too boring. Not what you want as the crescendo to a nine-month title fight.

There are now 16 corners in total, and the new layout seems to have been a success: Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton in what is now Turn 5 to win his first world championship back in 2021, an event that has hardly been mentioned on the internet since. Ahem. Anyway, had they raced on the old layout Lewis might be an eight-time champ now. We’ll never know…

Who’s going to win the Abu Dhabi GP?

Let’s not tempt ourselves with false hope: Red Bull has won 20 grands prix this season, and everyone else has won… one. And Verstappen leads Perez 18-2 on the head-to-head count, so you don’t have to be a mathematician to work out who the favourite is.

However, let’s presume both Red Bulls are crippled by some unknown engine failure on the first lap of the race… based on form you’d have to back either Ferrari or Mercedes for the win, with McLaren and Aston Martin just behind.

How can I watch the Abu Dhabi GP?

UK viewers can watch the race on Sky Sports’ F1 channel, or stream the action via means of a Now TV subscription. Failing that, Channel 4 will show race highlights from 5.30pm on Sunday and a qualifying round-up from 7pm on Saturday. If radio coverage will do, then BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra will share live commentary of every session.

What’s the Top Gear view on the Abu Dhabi GP?

We’ve never loved having Abu Dhabi as the last race of the season: it’s place on the calendar at all is a sticking point given the country’s human rights record (you could say the same about several others in the region), but from a racing perspective it lacks the emotion (or calibre) of F1’s best tracks. Oh to rewind the clock back to when the finale was in Brazil…

We digress. In isolation it’s good that changes have been made to the track to make it more overtake-friendly, now all we need is an ultra-close, race-long battle for the win to see 2023 out with a bang. Not gonna happen, is it?