The 2015 Formula 1 season ends with a flourish as the capital of the United Arab Emirates hosts the Grand Prix — the Middle East’s biggest international sporting event — for the seventh straight year. The three-day event, Nov. 27–29, includes a day of practice sessions on Friday, qualifying races on Saturday and the race itself on Sunday.

The city is well-prepared to welcome the crowds of racing fans from all over the world with a waterfront track built on an island around a yacht marina. The Yas Marina Circuit, designed to please both drivers and spectators, offers a setting every bit as striking as the courses of Monaco and Singapore. Above the circuit stands the Yas Viceroy Hotel and the 200-foot solar-powered Shams Tower. The track itself includes nine right turns and 11 left turns, and a tunnel from the pit lane emerges from under the track. The Yas Marina Circuit was purpose-built for the season’s only twilight races, with lighting that transitions on smoothly as natural light dims.

To get an insider’s look at places usually seen only by race drivers and their teams, book a venue tour that takes you into the circuit’s high-tech facilities — Race Control, Support Pit Garages, the 500-seat media center and the luxury Paddock area — along with the Grandstand, the Yas Marina, Shams Tower and the Drag Racing strip.

You can view the races from state-of-the-art covered grandstands, from the Marina Hotel, the Paddock Club or other luxury hospitality suites around the track. Or you can moor your yacht in the Yas Marina for a view from the center of the circuit.

Racers here reach top speeds of 200 mph, but they’re not the only ones who can get thrills behind the wheel of high-performance cars on Yas Island. The entire racing and leisure complex is planned with motor enthusiasts in mind. You can drive the Formula Yas 3000 or an Aston Martin GT4, learn from some of the best drifting instructors at the Yas Drift School or try your skill in a Chevrolet Camaro at the Yas Drag Racing Academy. While those experiences require advance reservations, others are available on an Arrive & Drive basis: Test your drifting on the specially designed Yas Drift Sprint course, ride the course with an expert driver at the wheel or hone your skills on a state-of-the-art simulator.

Yas Island and the Grand Prix aren’t all about cars and racing. The whole family will find fun at the world’s largest indoor theme park, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. Each night, after-race concerts bring internationally known performers such as Paul McCartney, Aerosmith and Beyoncé. Following the tradition started in 2013, lead-off performers are Arabic artists — this year, Cheb Khaled, who brought Arabic music onto the global stage.