From searching for a missing gearbox amid suitcases on an airport runway to freight falling off the side of supertankers, the logistical challenge of transporting the Formula One circus around the world is not plain sailing.
Before the chequered flag had even stopped waving, announcing Lewis Hamilton as the winner of the 2011 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the 12 F1 teams had begun the arduous task of packing up the paddock and directing its contents towards Brazil.
Yet such is the scale of the operation that five days later, the pack-down at Yas Marina Circuit continues apace. Because of the three-day Young Drivers Test that finished Thursday, the pack-down has had to be completed in stints.
This is known in the industry as "trickle packing".
"Having the test after the race means there is less pressure to get the equipment out on Sunday and Monday," said Geoff Simmonds, the race coordinator for Lotus-Renault. "That makes a pleasant change, but we still have to be structured because obviously we have to get as much away as possible without jeopardising the test in any way.
Catering, hospitality and sponsorship infrastructure was all dispatched immediately after Sunday's race, but the testing programme resulted in much of the equipment within the team garages remaining in the paddock.
The transportation of these contents, including the cars, is handled by Formula One Management (FOM), the company managed by Bernie Ecclestone.
"Teams bring a lot of gear with them that is for events going on around the race," Mark Hughes, the operations director at Yas, said. "So all the sponsors' equipment, promotional collateral, hospitality, all of that is gone pretty quickly - either on Sunday or Monday."
As Yas Marina uses its own medical vehicles during the testing programme, the two F1 safety cars were dispatched earlier in the week. FOM took them to the airport on Tuesday evening.
By 11pm Thursday, containers filled with exhausts and engines, nose cones and steering wheels were ready to be sent to Abu Dhabi International Airport, where they will be dispatched today by air to Sao Paulo ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend.
Shipments will continue to be sent by air for the next three days, said a staff-member at FOM, who asked to remain anonymous.
"We take care of the entire air operation and it is our responsibility to safely transport the cargo from Abu Dhabi to Brazil," he said. "But exactly how we do that, we would rather not say.
"It's a private issue."
On arrival in Brazil, the freight is taken by DHL to the circuit at Interlagos.
"The big pressure is to get all the equipment to Brazil," Simmonds said. "Brazil is a lot different from Abu Dhabi in that there is no space in the paddock. It's extremely tight and the garage space is small, which presents more problems and slows down the unpacking process as that end."
A large paddock is not the only reason operating at Yas Marina is made easier. With the airport only a 15-minute drive away, it cuts transportation time.
"It's great having the circuit so close to the airport - that helps us and the freight-handling people considerably. It's a far cry from Korea, where it takes six hours to get from the circuit to Seoul airport," Simmonds said.
As well as air freight being sent to South America, an Etihad flight packed with used equipment - hydraulics, car parts, suspensions - departed in the early hours of this morning bound for England. It will reach the team factories this afternoon, where it will be quickly serviced before being turned around and sent to Brazil. It will be in the paddock at Interlagos by Thursday.
At Force India, five identical 40-foot containers weighing roughly five tonnes spend the majority of their existence at sea, floating from race to race. One of them, filled with sponsors' material, ovens, fridges and other equipment, left the UAE by sea earlier this week.
The container, which arrived direct from Singapore, has been sent from Abu Dhabi's Mina Zayed dock to the UK, where it will arrive in six weeks' time. Here it will be unpacked, loaded onto a DHL lorry and transported to the team's headquarters in Northamptonshire, said Franco Massaro, the team's race co-ordinator.
Such is the never-ending operation that shortly after it arrives in England it will be sent off once more, bound for Shanghai ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, scheduled for April 15, 2012. With so many kits constantly on the move, it would not be a surprise if the odd container goes missing.
While Massaro said he had never experienced any issues, Simmonds acknowledges it is not always trouble free.
"There is nothing worse than packing up in a wet paddock," said Simmonds, who added Renault usually operate with four sea freights, but have been forced to utilise a fifth this season due to the length and global footprint of the calendar.
"Some of the freight here is badly damaged because it rained in Singapore when we were packing up. Obviously, we don't have time to dry it before it goes in the boxes."
Once on the ship, however, the freight travels the cargo equivalent of business class. "We pay extra to have our containers stored under the ship's deck," he said. "It's a well-known fact that in rough seas containers can just fall off, and we obviously can't afford to take that risk."
The image of a Lotus-Renault fridge washing up on the shore of the Corniche would almost make it worthwhile and yet it would not be the first time a piece of equipment has been lost.
"It doesn't happen very often, because everything is meticulously accounted for," Simmonds said, adding that if modified parts or updates need to be transported to a race immediately, they travel with a passenger as excess luggage.
"We lost a gearbox in Madrid airport for four days. In the end we had to go out on to the flight path and find it among a load of suitcases."
While Formula One will be packed up and gone by Sunday, the officials at Yas will continue the clear up as they aim to return the circuit to its pre-race state within 10 days of the chequered flag. Some staff were still working at 4am on the evening of the race as they cleaned the media centre and awaited the last journalist to leave.
The following morning, on-site signage was being stripped down.
"By Wednesday you won't know the grand prix has even taken place," Hughes said. "That's the aim - then we shift focus to our next event."
That would be the Adnic (Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company) Yas Run, which takes place on November 26.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Company%20profile
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
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- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
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Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
THE SPECS
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
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On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
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
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Company%20profile
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Results:
Men's wheelchair 800m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 1.44.79; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 1.45.88; 3. Isaac Towers (GBR) 1.46.46.
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
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The six points:
1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences
2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation
3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it
4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow
5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided
6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Teams in the EHL
White Bears, Al Ain Theebs, Dubai Mighty Camels, Abu Dhabi Storms, Abu Dhabi Scorpions and Vipers
The bio
Academics: Phd in strategic management in University of Wales
Number one caps: His best-seller caps are in shades of grey, blue, black and yellow
Reading: Is immersed in books on colours to understand more about the usage of different shades
Sport: Started playing polo two years ago. Helps him relax, plus he enjoys the speed and focus
Cars: Loves exotic cars and currently drives a Bentley Bentayga
Holiday: Favourite travel destinations are London and St Tropez
Abu Dhabi GP weekend schedule
Friday
First practice, 1pm
Second practice, 5pm
Saturday
Final practice, 2pm
Qualifying, 5pm
Sunday
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps), 5.10pm
RESULT
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Willian (40'), Batshuayi (42', 49')
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Thor: Ragnarok
Dir: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson
Four stars
