Racing is a family affair for Sonia Irvine. She used to work for her brother, the former F1 driver Eddie Irvine, and now organises glamorous after-race parties. She speaks to Helena Frith Powell about growing up around the track and closing the season in Abu Dhabi.
F Scott Fitzgerald's character Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby - possibly the most glamorous woman ever to swing a golf club - famously said she liked large parties. "They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy."
It seems Sonia Irvine, the sister of the now retired Formula One driver Eddie, agrees. Sitting in the lobby bar of the Hilton hotel in Abu Dhabi, she tells me about her Amber Lounge parties, where 1,000 or so guests mingle after the F1 races four times a year. "I could have more guests, but I prefer to keep it intimate," she says.
Irvine came up with the idea of the Amber Lounge in 2002 because she felt there was a gap in the market for a place where people could hang out after the races that was not linked to one particular team. She had been working in F1 for her brother, whom she and the family call Edmund, for several years as his physiotherapist and assistant. But her link with racing goes back further. Her father used to race "but never to the level that Edmund did" and when she was a child the family's summer holidays invariably involved the British Grand Prix.
"We would bundle into an old camper and go away for the summer and watch the British Grand Prix," she explains. "We didn't have any money so Dad would say, 'Get yourselves in'. Edmund and I would go under the fence or attach ourselves to other adults. We loved it, the sounds of the cars, the people, the smells."
She now lives in Monaco with her daughter, Megan, aged seven. "People think Monaco is all glitz and glamour but actually it's not. There is a real villagey feel to it. I find Abu Dhabi a bit like that too, which is one of the reasons I like it."
Irvine has chosen Abu Dhabi as the location for this year's fourth Amber Lounge party (the others are held in Monaco, Barcelona and Singapore). "I just think Abu Dhabi is going to be an exciting and unbelievable race and I like to bring the Amber Lounge to places that are new and exciting. The circuit they have created is utterly fantastic and, contrary to rumours, there is water in the marina. It's also the last race of the season so a wonderful place to end."
She cannot, however, confirm the location for the party, where a top table for eight will set you back Dh77,400, but says it will be on the island, not out at the circuit.
The Irvines are obviously a close family. I wonder how difficult it was watching someone she loved haring around the F1 track at highly dangerous speeds. "You just put yourself in the mindset that nothing is going to happen," she says. "But there was one massive shunt Edmund was involved in. Just thinking about it still brings tears to my eyes. There were bits of cars everywhere. My heart was in my throat but then I thought, I have to pull myself together. If he is hurt he is going to need me. Then he came running up the pit lane and he had just injured his knee. I was so relieved."
Irvine says that she and Eddie came into racing as a family. "When we told my parents I was going to be his physio they were delighted. They knew I would care more than anybody else about him, and I did. I looked after him totally. I did everything for him. Michael Schumacher used to joke when he saw me in the gym, 'Are you doing Eddie's training, too?'"
But in the end it proved too much for her. "If I had stayed, I would have died," she says. "I think I crammed eight years of work into four. I just couldn't say no to him. He's family, and you can't say no to family."
But she obviously loves Formula One. "They're all very down to earth," she says of the people. "When you're in the Formula One world you are part of a family. It's a really nice world, actually. Often a celebrity will come up to me and I won't know who they are. I don't mind that. I think you should treat all people equally."
Irvine is attractive and extremely charming. She is 45 but seems 10 years younger. I imagine she gets a lot of attention from men on the circuit.
She laughs. "They're hardly the most faithful souls, and to be honest, as Edmund's sister, I was kind of off-limits. I have been single for a while now but my priorities are Megan and the Amber Lounge. I don't have much of a personal life, but then you can't have everything."
When she does have time off, she says, "I have a personal trainer and I run around Monaco. There is a lovely circuit. And I love to play golf but I rarely get the time."
Maybe if she gets less busy, Jordan Baker will have some competition.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
more from Janine di Giovanni
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
HOW TO WATCH
Facebook: TheNationalNews
Twitter: @thenationalnews
Instagram: @thenationalnews.com
TikTok: @thenationalnews
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
Most%20polluted%20cities%20in%20the%20Middle%20East
%3Cp%3E1.%20Baghdad%2C%20Iraq%3Cbr%3E2.%20Manama%2C%20Bahrain%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dhahran%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E4.%20Kuwait%20City%2C%20Kuwait%3Cbr%3E5.%20Ras%20Al%20Khaimah%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E6.%20Ash%20Shihaniyah%2C%20Qatar%3Cbr%3E7.%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E8.%20Cairo%2C%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E9.%20Riyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E10.%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%202022%20World%20Air%20Quality%20Report%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MOST%20POLLUTED%20COUNTRIES%20IN%20THE%20WORLD
%3Cp%3E1.%20Chad%3Cbr%3E2.%20Iraq%3Cbr%3E3.%20Pakistan%3Cbr%3E4.%20Bahrain%3Cbr%3E5.%20Bangladesh%3Cbr%3E6.%20Burkina%20Faso%3Cbr%3E7.%20Kuwait%3Cbr%3E8.%20India%3Cbr%3E9.%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E10.%20Tajikistan%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%202022%20World%20Air%20Quality%20Report%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20EduPloyment%3Cbr%3EDate%20started%3A%20March%202020%3Cbr%3ECo-Founders%3A%20Mazen%20Omair%20and%20Rana%20Batterjee%3Cbr%3EBase%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Recruitment%3Cbr%3ESize%3A%2030%20employees%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20Pre-Seed%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Angel%20investors%20(investment%20amount%20undisclosed)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Bib%20Gourmand%20restaurants
%3Cp%3EAl%20Khayma%0D%3Cbr%3EBait%20Maryam%0D%3Cbr%3EBrasserie%20Boulud%0D%3Cbr%3EFi'lia%0D%3Cbr%3Efolly%0D%3Cbr%3EGoldfish%0D%3Cbr%3EIbn%20AlBahr%0D%3Cbr%3EIndya%20by%20Vineet%0D%3Cbr%3EKinoya%0D%3Cbr%3ENinive%0D%3Cbr%3EOrfali%20Bros%0D%3Cbr%3EReif%20Japanese%20Kushiyaki%0D%3Cbr%3EShabestan%0D%3Cbr%3ETeible%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Mane 51', Salah 53'
Chelsea 0
Man of the Match: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
