Places for races: inside the circuits and services at the beating heart of motorsport

Introduction
CIRCUITS
SERVICES
About
RIGHT: Ali Al Beshr, circuit operations director
at Yas Marina Circuit
BELOW: Yas Marina Circuit has plans to change
its configuration following feedback from fans
WE ARE EXPLORING WHAT OTHER
ADDITIONAL AREAS THAT WE CAN
EVOLVE IN MOTORSPORT.”
“From November to this March, we’ve
had four Formula One events in four
months. So commercially, we have to
keep this track busy. We’ve got 146
employees and they need to keep busy.”
In the summer, when temperatures
reach 40 degrees Celsius, BIC also
makes sure its facilities are being used,
even if it’s not on track.
“It’s 40 degrees outside, so we’re not
going to bring a race car here,” says Al
Khalifa. “However, we have facilities, we
have suites where we do our gaming
events, our comic cons, IGN, anything
that utilises the infrastructure of a
Formula One track and all the fibre optics
that we have underneath the track.”
Given the appetite to make use of the
venue year-round, it is no surprise that
BIC has been eager to return to hosting
international motorsport events during
the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. But Al
Khalifa stresses that a priority has been
making sure operations run safely and
that there is minimised risk to those
travelling to the circuit.
Whilst visiting Bahrain, Formula One
personnel had to take Covid-19 tests
once every five days, and vaccinations
were offered to those who wanted it.
“We showed that we could come back
and support Formula One and the FIA
[International Automobile Federation],”
Al Khalifa says. “Credit has to be given
to Formula One and the FIA. They were
the first global sport to go around the
world during this pandemic in 2020, so
we wanted to ensure that all the Covid
testing was done right.”
Al Khalifa also notes that the fact
Bahrain has shown itself to be capable
of hosting events during the pandemic
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