How to watch 2023 Abu Dhabi GP: start time, F1 live stream and TV schedule

Abu Dhabi is going to need plenty of fireworks to match the spectacle of Las Vegas, but will the most explosive action take place on track or in the skies above Yas Marina?

The F1 titles have been decided but in a heated battle for second best, Ferrari and Mercedes are separated by just four points in the constructors’ standings. Don’t forget F2 either. After a break of almost three months, it returns to the weekend schedule for the first time since Monza for the season showdown: Théo Pourchaire currently heads the drivers’ standings by 25 points over Frederik Vesti, but with a sprint and feature race to come, there is opportunity for one last twist in the tale.

With a return to a more traditional weekend schedule – although F1 racing in Yas Marina will once again take place at night — UK fans will be able to leave their alarm clock off on Sunday and watch the action in a more familiar afternoon slot. Qualifying is set to start at 2pm GMT on Saturday followed by the 58-lap Grand Prix on Sunday at 1pm.

Here’s how to catch all the action:

F1 live stream and TV schedule 

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How to watch F1: live stream and TV details for 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

After wild opening ceremonies, visits to wedding chapels and too many Elvis impersonators to count, some may be glad for a conventional weekend without any opening ceremonies. Three practice sessions — hopefully uninterrupted this time around — will be followed by qualifying and Sunday’s grand prix.

Live TV: All on-track sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 starting with Free Practice 1 on Friday at 9.30am.

Live stream: Sky Sports F1 subscribers in the UK can watch all the running live on the Sky Go app. Now TV subscribers can also see live coverage of every session via Sky Sports F1. Live timings are available through the F1 app.

Highlights: Channel 4 will show highlights of the weekend, with action from Saturday’s qualifying session and Sunday’s Grand Prix available to watch later on the respective days of each event.

Yas Marina circuit and details

Located in the heart of the Abu Dhabi desert, the 3.23-mile Yas Marina Circuit is perhaps no longer the most-anticipated venue in the Middle East, now that Jeddah‘s high-speed street circuit is established. But since its debut on the F1 calendar in 2010, it has hosted some nail-biters.

Titles won by Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have all been decided here, with varying degrees of tension. And then came the 2021 race where Max Verstappen, who took advantage of a controversial safety car restart to snatch his debut drivers’ crown from Hamilton on the final lap.

Throughout the race, both drivers showcased several different ways to pas in Yas Marina, which was remodelled ahead of that year’s race with the original Turn 6 now bypassed, a number of corners reprofiled and Turns 11-14 replaced by a banked curve.

The Turn 5 hairpin provides the first real overtaking opportunity: ending the high-speed sector 1 abruptly before sending cars out onto the DRS-assisted back straight. Here, cars will reach speeds of well over 200mph with the rear-wing wide open, before hitting the brakes hard for the Turn 6 and 7 chicane. Another straight — with DRS open once again — prior to the long left-handed Turn 9 provides drivers with one last realistic chance of battling wheel-to-wheel before then trying to regain ground through the technical sector 3.

All told, overtaking can be tricky in Abu Dhabi, but cars will at least get to do it in optimum conditions this weekend, with temperatures set to reach a high of 27C at night, with no rain forecast.

F2 Finale

While F1 grands prix have been somewhat easy to predict, the same cannot be said for the current F2 campaign. 12 rounds of action have produced 12 different race winners of both sprint and feature events, which has resulted in a closely-contested field heading into Abu Dhabi.

With only 38 points on offer across the weekend, Pourchaire holds a comfortable advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings, with Vesti 25 points behind. Should the Frenchman win either the sprint or the feature race, he will claim the title.

Further back, Ayumu Iwasa, Jack Doohan, Victor Martins and Ollie Bearman are all within mathematical reach of third — with the latter drawing attention from F1 after an impressive test appearance in Mexico City. The Briton will make another FP1 appearance this weekend, alongside Pourchaire, Vesti, Felipe Drugovich, Pietro Fittipaldi, Pato O’Ward, Robert Shwartzman, Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar.

2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix full session times

All times in GMT