Dubai: With the seventh running of the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix this weekend, the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) and their volunteers are all set to ensure a safe race.
“An event of this scale and prominence requires a lot of specialist personnel and equipment to be delivered safely,” said ATCUAE president Mohammad Bin Sulayem. “We are delighted that we will have five Emirati Junior Doctors along with us this year, and I see them as just the first of many.
“It’s fantastic to watch these cars drive at such high speeds around one of the best circuits in the world, but we must view them as cars carrying a heavy load of fuel at speeds of over 320km/h. We hope crashes never happen, but, unfortunately this is motorsport, and it is our responsibility to be ready for when they do,” he added.
Bin Sulayem and his team command over 650 volunteers for the Grand Prix, all distributed around the circuit and focused on the race. Among these volunteers are many high skilled professionals, lending their talents for the good of the event.
One such group are the firefighters from AssetCo Fire and Rescue, an Abu Dhabi-based, privately operated firefighting company. The event also employs a medical team of almost 100 specialists, including nurses, paramedics, doctors and surgeons, many of whom have been present since the first race in 2009.
A number of leading stakeholders are also contributing in the success of this event; three Mercedes V Class people carriers have been kindly loaned by Gargash Enterprises in Dubai for use by the rescue and extrication team, whose job it is to remove injured drivers from the cockpit of a crashed vehicle. Following on from a successful debut last year, the 2015 event will also see the medical team partnering with the Dubai National Ambulance Service for another year.
