Isn’t this what so much of our lives is about? For good or (often) ill. Gaining attention?

Personally. As a group. As a community.

The city and the emirate of Abu Dhabi, it strikes me, are ready for their close-up. In the sense that they would like to be known, recognized by the Average Joe in England and the United States, as well as the Average Jose in Argentina and the Philippines.

And how best to do that?

Put on a show!

Well, specifically, put on a show that happens to be a Formula One race.

Americans tend to forget that the only race circuit that really matters, globally, is F1.  NASCAR has almost zero recognition outside North America. Indy cars are even more unknown. If they are known at all, it is as pale (and weird Yankee) imitations of F1 vehicles. The Indianapolis 500 might generate a flicker of recognition, but the planet’s race fans are increasingly hazy about that, too, because F1 drivers stopped going there — just for the experience — a few decades ago.

And an F1 race … that is like being on the most exclusive schedule in sports. The sport with more idle-rich folk — and better-looking ones, too — hanging around than any sport on the planet. Including horse racing, putative Sport of Kings.

Another upside to the F1 schedule is … sponsors have not taken over the names of most races. Almost all of them carry the name of a country or a city. Hence, it is the Hungarian Grand Prix. Not the Autolite Grand Prix.

And it is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Bang. Name smacks you right in the face. Unlike, say, the Fifa Club World Cup, which also will be in Abu Dhabi (next month) but doesn’t carry the city’s name on it.

The F1 circuit always has been glamorous, as it jumps from country to country, but it is becoming even moreso. Have a look at this year’s F1 schedule, and tell me that most of those places don’t sound like exotic cities or countries you would like to visit.

Bahrain! Australia! Malaysia! Monaco! China, England, Italy, Singapore, Sao Paolo! C’mon, you know people (you might be one of them) who might kill someone to be one of the journalists or fans who follow around the F1 show.

Now Abu Dhabi is on there, too. At the end. Where it often is the case that Last is Best.

The F1 circus is here this week, with four drivers still in contention for the driver’s championship. This is about as good as this can get, in terms of competition.

In terms of attention, too.

“Abu Dhabi” is going to appear in a lot of datelines in a lot of print media,  and the name will be mentioned at the top of a million TV and radio reports.

And that is fine with Abu Dhabi, which has had enough of being the “other” city in the UAE, after skyscraper-building Dubai. It is Abu Dhabi that is the capital of the country. It is Abu Dhabi where the real wealth (i.e., oil) is, and Abu Dhabi is ready for people to get to know that.

Hence, an F1 race.

Brings in the jet-setters. People with serious money. Or who aspire to have it. No retirees camped on the infield in RVs, at F1 events. No. Instead, it’s plutocrats’ yachts in the marina, every penthouse in the city snapped up. It’s Prince doing concerts. (Just regular Prince; not the various crown princes of the region who will, actually, be at the race.)

Anyway, trust me: in the U.S., race fans may not be sitting around talking about how the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is coming up on Sunday — but even the mildest of the planet’s race fans are sitting around and talking about the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and whether Fernando Alonso (of Ferrari, thank you) can hold off Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

So, yes, I give credit to the guys who dreamed this up. A new track, on a previously empty island, the world’smost glamorous sports event … in this town.

Abu Dhabi as a global brand. It’s catching on.