Ground was broken for the Bahrain International Circuit in December 2002. Like the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, the developers had a blank, sandy canvas to work with, and with that fashioned the technical, 5.4km track designed by Hermann Tilke. Drivers race under the floodlights on the more open Outer circuit, a 3.5km (that’s just 0.2km longer than Monaco, the shortest track on the calendar) blast around the perimeter of the track, the cars arcing left instead of right at the exit of Turn 4 and then negotiating a fast right-handed swoop and a chicane, before re-joining the old track for a flat-out run down to the final corner.