What went down at W Abu Dhabi Yas Island during F1 race weekend

Race weekend in Abu Dhabi has its own internal logic. Time stretches, sleep slips, and the city recalibrates around speed. At Yas Marina Circuit, where the line between architecture and infrastructure has always been deliberately blurred, W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island once again positioned itself inside the race rather than adjacent to it.

Built directly above the circuit, the hotel doesn’t offer views of Formula 1 so much as it lives inside its mechanics. Throughout the weekend, engines passed beneath terraces and balconies, practice laps bleeding into dinners, qualifying into late afternoons. From certain angles, it was hard to tell where the track ended and the hotel began, which felt intentional.

Downstairs, Garage became a loose gathering point for the weekend’s slower moments. The B.I.G Race Weekend Brunch unfolded across its interconnected kitchens, pulling together Middle Eastern, Indian, Italian, Asian and Nikkei influences without forcing hierarchy or spectacle. Plates arrived steadily, DJs held the room at a low hum, and the race remained visible, audible, present. Food here wasn’t about indulgence so much as endurance — something to sustain you between sessions, not distract you from them.

As daylight faded, the tempo shifted outward. Yasalam’s after-race concerts pulled crowds across the island, turning the circuit into a nightly migration point. Guests moved between trackside views, terrace conversations, and evening performances, the weekend unfolding less like a schedule and more like a continuous loop.

Upstairs, the rooms functioned as private viewing boxes. Floor-to-ceiling windows framed the circuit in motion, offering a quieter counterpoint to the crowd below. From balconies, practice laps felt almost domestic — something you could watch, pause, and return to. Hospitality suites extended this logic further, designed for small groups who wanted proximity without immersion, closeness without chaos.

W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island offered during F1 weekend wasn’t access or exclusivity, but continuity. The race didn’t begin or end at the grandstands; it moved through hallways, dining rooms, and sleep-deprived mornings. In a city fluent in spectacle, the hotel’s strength was restraint — allowing the weekend to breathe, and letting the noise pass through rather than overwhelm.