The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Introduction

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a formula one race of motor which is also one of the biggest Abu Dhabi festival in the United Arab Emirates. It was planned and announced in early 2007, and the first race started on November 1, 2009, in Yas Marina Circuit, which was designed by Hermann Tilke. The Yas Marina Circuit is believed to be one of the most expensive F1 tracks which are ever built with the construction cost of €800m ($1bn). The most distinctive feature of this track is the Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hotel which is atop of the track and there is even a bridge between the turn number 18 and 19.

Moreover, there is even the existence of a pit lane that passes underneath the circuit through the tunnel. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has also witnessed a sharper and steady increase in visitor numbers. The capacity for the event has increased from 55,000 in 2013 to 60,000 in 2014 with the inclusion of Abu Dhabi hills and extension of Paddock Club buildings (Abu Dhabi 2016, 2016). This study will explain these events in detail.

Characteristics of the Event

A formula one car is a single-seated, open cockpit and an open-wheel racing car that possess both front and rear wings and engine which are positioned behind the driver which are intended to be applied in the competition performed in Formula One racing events. It is one of the most complex and peak forms of engineering’s application which is seen in everyday life. Formula one cars are manufactured from composites of ultra-lightweight materials and carbon fibers. The weight which is permissible for the Car with the weight of the driver but not fuels are found to be 740 kg. The weight of the cars is done through dry weather fitted tires and most of the time ballast is added to increase the weight of the car (Abu Dhabi 2016, 2016). Each of the elements and components used in these cars is of higher quality, and the construction and fitting of the cars are done with 100% accuracy as any mistakes could even take the life of the racer.

Aim and Objective of the Event

The main aim, as well as the objective of this event, is to teach team and race management and even teach them to be disciplined in life. It even teaches the viewers or audience to work hard and practice as teams work round the clock to make the car ready for the race and even the pit crew which practice regularly to squeeze lowest pit stop timings which assist the driver in winning the races. It is, however, seen that although the aim of the event is the same, the condition of the track is changing increasingly. The pit lane is improving in a greater extends wherein easier paths are designed for overtaking and spectacular drive using the field are also possible as designing of the track is done through racing into consideration.

Sports tourism and Urban regeneration in Abu Dhabi

Mega-events have always evolved in a tool for urban regeneration. Although such an approach is highly risky, the potential short and long term influences the urban transformation. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is found creating opportunities for larger-scale urban regeneration to modernize infrastructure and economy of the host city. These events generally possess construction of newer refurbished facilities which often rehabilitate industrial and brownfield sites. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is one of the primary expressions of globalization mainly about social and cultural significance and even a major role in society. The continuity of mega-event has a potential lead in exerting popular appeal in the history of modernity and even assisted in coordinating intergenerational political, cultural as well as economic networks and flows in a global level (Horne and Manzenreiter, 2016). The emergent of technology within a decade has further created unprecedented global audiences for these Motorsports. It is even argued that Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has also become an element in the development of global culture.

For the host cities, the games give incentives and opportunities for the elites of the city to restructure cities in an increasingly competitive environment. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been described as a lucrative tool for the promotion and marketing of place and even as the main link between global and local. Since this sport is tightly interwoven with the economies and development of urban or redevelopment schemes, how cities harness the games and create their legacy could be understood by analyzing the motives as well as the type of legacy which is anticipated and also the implementation process which connects the vision with the expected outcomes.

The Research model is proposed on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event to identify factors proposed in this research. All of the motives, strategies and effects mentioned are grouped in one of the four perspectives which include economic, spatial and environmental, social and governance-related perspectives wherein three-dimension nature of sustainable development in social, economic and environmental terms and governance which is related to the implementation of such perspectives (Medland, 2019).

Motives: Several factors shape the motives of the city to host the games which include circumstances before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event which is the key challenge that it faces and vision of how games would contribute to urban regeneration. Keeping such views into consideration, the studies have positioned host cities mainly western industries in the context of deindustrialization. There are many of the cities which had conceded their involvement in the traditional industry to the newly industrialized country and was also facing major challenges such as local economic depression, urban decay and unemployment (Medland, 2019). However, after recognizing the importance of service sectors and the creation of newer leisure and consumption space, the nearby cities choose to host Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event as a strategy to facilitate the urban restructuring and even the process of transformation. The host cities' motive was regarding the urban growth machine, urban boosterism neo-liberalism and urban entrepreneurship. Such motives help in highlighting a coalition between two different kinds of local elites which includes local government officials and interest groups (Medland, 2019). In such ways, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event could be used as an instrument to help in the development of alliances.

Urban Development Strategies: Urban development strategies are linked with spatial development and environment upgrading in the host cities. There is a major concern on how to combine preparation for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event with that of urban restructuring programs that are designed to meet the long-term demand. It has been analyzed that there is a greater transition in the urban development strategies wherein in the early phases, major attention used to be given on the construction of the massive sports facilities as well as urban infrastructure but in the present phase, major emphasis is given on the urban regeneration as well as restructuring programs which look Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event as a major catalyst for the development. The yearly organizing of these events has helped the host cities to reconstruct as well as expand the existing facilities, improve existing infrastructure and construction of landmark buildings (Hunt, 2019). It is explored that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event plays the role of the vehicle for the change of urban cities due to the development of the venue of these events. The sports facilities and Abu Dhabi villages were developed with urban renewal and schemes for the enhancement of traffic management, enhancement of cultural facilities and ensure the actions of health and hygiene standards in the city. The development of the Abu Dhabi event spot has been increasingly integrated into large-scale urban development plans in the host cities which enable such cities to become sports and recreational complexes, housing, tourist accommodation and even harbor development after the execution of the event(Hunt, 2019). The successful organizing of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event has led to the proposal of various programs like the creation of public open spaces, improvement of public transportation, the opening of the city to sea, the change of the cultural infrastructure of the city and landscaping of squares.

Expected effects: The evaluation of the effects is complex despite the economic impact which sports events possess on the host cities. It is stated that it is useful to differentiate financial costs attain from staging events from the evaluation of longer-term structural economic changes which are attained from spending in transport infrastructure, environment, telecommunication, social and sports facilities and even housing. The economic sporting events need to take two key elements into accounts which include costs and revenues for the organizers of events and the impact of the events (Hunt, 2019). The increased community pride and self-esteem, increased level of cultural interaction, boosting the profile of the city and enhancing the place are some of the positive social results of the hosting of the games. Although the games possess a positive social legacy, there is no evidence which states that groups or individuals in the local communities of host cities possess a fair share of rewards. However, the organizing of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event has always been a beneficial event for the people of Abu Dhabi and has helped in the regeneration strategy.

Key stakeholders and their role in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event

Stakeholders are the ones who possess an interest in projects, organization and business. Moreover, a stakeholder is even an individual who gets impacted by the results of the projects. Stakeholder theory addresses the business ethics, morals and values while managing stakeholders being involved with the organization. It optimizes relations with stakeholders which improves the efficiency of the projects. This theory is capitalism which stresses interconnected relationships between business and customers, suppliers, employees, investors, communities and others who possess a stake in the organization. the theory also argues that a firm should create values for each of the stakeholders and not only shareholders (Smith, 2017).

The main stakeholders in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event are the owners who are the Formula One Group(FOG), and they possess primary owner Delta Topco which are based in Jersey and is owned primarily by CVC capital partners who have 70% of the shares of Delta Topco with that of Bernie Ecclestone who is the CEO of Delta Topco and his family owns the remainder of shares. However, a smaller portion of shares is held by financial advisors of the CVC capital who showed its interest in Alpha Prema which monitors 86% of the formula one group (Planetf1, 2019).

Although the owner is prevailing in formula one car, it is fundamentally a joint venture. Each of the parties possesses the same goal and common interest in the success of the sports to attain a greater profit. However, interest is divided as per the share divided among the stakeholders. These stakeholders are in the Concorde agreement as it is a multiparty agreement which is the three fundamental stakeholders, namely sporting authority, players and agents, or promoters (Law, 2012).

The sporting authority of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is the FIA which is the highest sporting authority in automobile racing. The main role of the sports federation while entering an agreement is to follow sports sovereignty. The interest of sporting authority is that all the competition should be taken in a fair and well-organized environment which means that the game should be well-managed and regulated using appropriate bodies. Sporting authority even reviews the availability of financial resources to cover the cost and help in those parts of sports which is not self-sufficient (Planetf1, 2019). The main interest of sporting authority or federation is to attain success in competition and commercial exploitation.

Players are also the stakeholders, which are the athletes and are the major resource of the games. In Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the players are the teams and drivers and car manufacturers which gives engines and finance the teams. The third type of stakeholder present in these events is agents and promoters who make certain that series or events take place and are exploited through commercial standpoints in Formula One which is also known as Commercial Rights holders (Shuaib, 2017). Each of the stakeholders possesses the same interest to get benefits from longer terms and attain a stable and competitive environment that generates the highest income.

Apart from sports authority, players and agents, sponsors, and suppliers are also the other stakeholders involved in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix events. They also possess a direct interest in the success of the sports which are measured in terms of Audience. Their investment is highly linked with the rate of success. It is the audience or tourist who visits events that are supposed for visibility which gets access to free on-air TV rather than Pay TV. Since Abu Dhabi Grand Prix events are permanent and world-wide events, so global and worldwide players opt for these sports and even tourists from all over the world visit the place. Lastly, Broadcasters are also the stakeholders who look for exciting, competitive, credible, and stable shows to displays to attract larger audiences, which helps them to sell their time or in events using advertisement space at favorable conditions (Milan, 2019). Taking shareholder's theory into consideration, it is seen that Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has followed business ethics and has valued all its stakeholders which are the reason that all the stakeholders have shown interest in the event.

Impact of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Event on Abu Dhabi Tourism Industry

Emirates has built an international reputation as one of the global destinations for sports and events. Abu Dhabi has organized various sporting mega-events like Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships and Abu Dhabi Tour UCI cycling which has brought major economic benefits. Although it is tougher to attain revenues from sponsorship in the present macroeconomic environment, government and private sector bodies are working actively to expand the sporting portfolio of Abu Dhabi through the introduction of new cycling and diving events and other different events. The increased sporting events are seen enhancing the tourism industry of Abu Dhabi. The higher-profile events benefit the profiles of tourism through emirate’s positioning emirates for capable of hosting the larger scale events and build the conference industry. These events even promote the winter climate of Abu Dhabi and even sports facilities to enhance the appeal of emirates as a hub for winter training (Horne and Manzenreiter,2016). It is even reviewed that major events even attract a larger number of visitors as spectators and participants. Such events directly generate income through additional inbound passenger traffic, hospitality spends and boost the hotel industry and even increase economic impact using ancillary spending on shopping, food, tours and beverages. The larger-scale events are even seen generating higher income through additional intake of passengers and bookings of hotels. General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports council says that there is a positive link between mega sporting events and tourism.

Although Abu Dhabi was unknown in the international sporting world, but presently, it has built a stronger presence in the international market by the hosting of the higher profile of sporting events which attracts the attention globally. It is also perceived that sporting events provide lots of benefits for the residents and emirates which nurture the spirits of the company, discover the local talent and even deliver international exposure of emirates (Abu Dhabi 2016, 2016). The sporting events are also found generating increased interest in different sporting disciplines and even build commitment towards a healthy lifestyle. Such events even assist the local talent to go and represent emirates on the world ‘sporting stages.

The Social, Economic, Environmental and Political Impact of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sports events are increasingly in a greater extends due to its potential benefits for the host destination development. The major impacts are seen in the field of social, economic, environmental, and politics which are explained using the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event. These events are seen as effects on the host destination through means of both tangible and intangible dimensions. The tangible components include the increase of tourism, rising of the employment and leisure facilities whereas intangible dimensions possess diffusion of the values of the sport, re-imaging of a city and improvement of knowledge in managing sports events (Law, 2012).

Economic Benefit: The economic benefits of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix includes the enhancement in income being generated through the hosting of events and an increase in the rate of employment. The increase in income is correlated with the capital investment which is made by the administration of public and private sectors not just for sports venues but also for the sake of regenerating the urban areas. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix even assists in enhancing the amount of spending by visitors on things like accommodation, food, rental cars, shopping, entertainment, etc. (Tolzmann, 2014). This further increases the economic and enhance the international status of the city.

Socio-Cultural Impact: There is a Socio-cultural impact of sports that is even seen in the social process and relationships. Sports contribute to nurture communities and assist in the development of personal skills, development of youth and opportunities of employment. The organizing of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event assists in increasing social contacts and make recreational networks and continue in social cohesion.

Environmental Impact: Sports activities possess the ability to have significant interaction with the environment. However, it is seen that organizing of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event has brought major areas of concern wherein there is increased pollution due to the higher number of vehicles and other human activities. Moreover, there is a higher usage of natural resources in the events but as time is passing, the organizer of these events is implementing community recycling systems, waste separation and also giving importance to post-use strategies to minimize the negative impacts of events on the environment(Smith, 2017).

Political Impacts: It is seen that since the Government is the owner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix events so the organizing of these events might change the local government investment from social service and education towards event-related infrastructure. The government can cutback the payments for other sectors which could be a major issue (Kurtzman, 2015). Moreover, the Government could also increase the local taxes to pay for the grand Prix events related infrastructure.

Conclusion

It can be analyzed from the study that Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event is a highly renowned event that plays a major role in the tourism industry and assists in the regeneration of the city. It even has positive and some negative impacts on the social, environmental, economic and political fields.

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References

Horne, J. and Manzenreiter, W.,2016. “An introduction to the sociology of sports mega-events”, The Sociological Review, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 1-24.

Kurtzman, J., 2015. Economic Impact: Sport Tourism and the City. Journal of Sport Tourism, Vol. 10, no 1, pp.47-71.

Law, C. M., 2012. Urban Tourism: The Visitor Economy and the Growth of Large Cities. London and New York: Continuum.

Smith, M. K., 2017. Tourism, Culture and Regeneration. Wallingford: CAB International.

Tolzmann, C., 2014. “Global localities: Olympic bidding as a case study in globalization.” Sport in Society 17(5):593–608.