The 2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the most successful to date, packed with an unprecedented series of firsts, according to post-event assessment by the Yas Marina Circuit.

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This year’s race weekend saw its largest ever capacity, at 60,000 people – an increase of 5,000 tickets in 2013. The Grand Prix also saw the highest number of overseas visitors, with 46 per cent of all race goers coming from outside the UAE.

Every year Yas Marina Circuit conducts a customer satisfaction survey and this year’s report, based on 1,200 10-minute, face-to-face interviews across the weekend, demonstrated the extent of the fan experience. Eighty-eight per cent said Abu Dhabi was the best Grand Prix weekend they had ever attended. Further, 98 per cent of respondents said they would recommend attending to others. Incredibly, Yas Marina Circuit scored 100 per cent on overall visitor experience, with 100 per cent saying they would return to attend the event in 2015.

“This year was a fantastic success across all fronts,” said Al Tareq Al Ameri, CEO of Yas Marina Circuit. “Reviewing our performance post race, we have been delighted to discover that we have hosted the biggest and most well attended race weekend in the circuit’s Formula 1 history. We have promised the world’s motorsport fans a truly unique event and have continued to deliver that year on year and look forward to building on the visitor experience in 2015. We would like to thank everyone for attending and helping to make this year an unforgettable sporting and entertainment experience.”

The sporting narrative of Hamilton vs. Rosberg’s ‘Duel in the Desert’ and the double points on offer drew global media interest, and saw the highest ever number of media personnel at Yas Marina Circuit. The media centre hosted 440 journalists from all over the world – the biggest media presence at the circuit in the event’s six-year history – resulting in 8,306 articles in print and online worldwide, the biggest ever spread and amount of coverage.

As well as record levels of traditional media engagement, Yas Marina Circuit’s social media footprint registered on a global scale. The hashtag ‘#AbuDhabiGP’ trended number one worldwide on Twitter on Race Day, while recording 302,805 Twitter mentions and 1,808,000,000 Twitter impressions over the Formula 1 weekend (from 21st Nov – 23rd November). These numbers are not just new records for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but also for F1 in general.

The YasHUB F1 experience app that allowed race goers to tailor all aspects of their weekend – from ticketing, to the latest F1 news to entertainment options – saw fantastic pick up. The YasHUB app was downloaded 40,734 times and ranked as the number one downloaded sports app in the UAE’s Apple and Google Android stores. The app recorded 175,000 usage sessions across the weekend.

“We will continue to work closely with our Abu Dhabi partners and stakeholders to continue to build this great event and ensure that 2015 will be even better”, Al Ameri added.