Yas Marina Finales and Bedouin Flavors

The United Arab Emirates has closed the Formula 1 season more often than not since 2009, and its traditional food joins desert, sea and date grove.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix joined the World Championship in 2009 and has been held every year since, 17 times up to 2025, always at the Yas Marina Circuit. It has become the sport's customary last word: the final round of the season in 2009 and 2010 and in every year from 2014 to 2025, with the 2026 race scheduled to close the year again in December. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have each won it five times, and Sebastian Vettel three.

No Emirati driver appears in our records, so the country's place in the sport rests on its race. The winners' list reads like a timeline of recent eras: Verstappen won four in a row from 2020 to 2023, and Lando Norris took the 2024 race.

Emirati cuisine grew from the Bedouins who crossed the region and belongs to the wider Eastern Arabian kitchen, close kin to the cooking of Oman and Saudi Arabia. It weaves together three older diets: the herder's meat and camel milk, the fisherman's catch from the Persian Gulf, and the farmer's dates. Rice arrived with traders, and saffron, cardamom, turmeric, dried lime and thyme became the core aromas. Many dishes are stews cooked in a single pot, with lamb and mutton favored over other meats.

Hospitality frames the meal. Guests are welcomed with dates and Arabic coffee, gahwah, which stay on offer for the whole visit, so no guest ever has to wonder whether to ask. A meal often ends with red tea infused with mint. Breakfast brings flatbreads such as ragāg, khameer and chebab, eaten with eggs, cheese or date syrup, and balaleet, a breakfast built on pasta, which merchants first carried to the region. For something sweet there are luqaimat, small fried balls of batter rolled in sesame and drizzled with date honey.

A taste of United Arab Emirates

• Saloona, Lamb and vegetable stew with dried lime
• Harees, Slow cooked wheat and lamb porridge
• Chebab, Saffron and cardamom pancakes
• Samboosa, Crisp lamb and cheese pastry triangles
• Balaleet, Sweet saffron vermicelli with an omelet
• Machboos rubyan, Spiced prawns with saffron rice
• Gahwa, Arabic coffee with cardamom and saffron
• Shai bil na'na, Sweet red tea with fresh mint
• Khanfaroosh, Saffron and cardamom fried cakes

Circuits

• Yas Marina Circuit

Drivers