Abu Dhabi reshuffles management

Cregan initially joined Abu Dhabi to help work alongside circuit boss Philippe Gurdjian, but has now taken overall charge of the facility.

"Like every organisation we need to go through a process and that's a natural evolution of the company," Cregan told AUTOSPORT.

"Basically at this stage, Philippe is concentrating more on the delivery of the track. He's advising myself and is concentrating on the grand prix."

Cregan confirmed that the track will be ready well ahead of November's inaugural F1 race, and said that the event was now settled on sticking to its 3pm start time - despite suggestions it recent weeks it could shift when the grand prix began.

"As far as we're concerned, it's three o'clock as has been laid out in the calendar," explained Cregan.

"We need to walk before we run. There are lots of possibilities for the longer term, but we certainly need to be more realistic at the moment. We've fixed on 3 o'clock with FOM and that's how it's going to go."