Charles Leclerc must be preparing for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix with a stomach churning mixture of elation and trepidation.
No one who has ever gone to Montreal at this time can fail to have a spring in their step.
The weather, the party atmosphere, the availability of quality hotels, restaurants and entertainment lifts the spirit along with the proximity of a throbbing city centre and its night life just 30 minutes from the island track.
Despite the fastest car, the 24-year-old has every reason to fear the next turn of the page in this season’s championship story.
Especially since the high speed street track has a frightening reputation as a car wrecker.
Recent chapters of the tale in Miami, Spain, Monaco and Baku have all bought the worst kind of news – defeat for Ferrari.
Losing has a special kind of agony when you know you (or more accurately your team) threw away a genuine chance to tuck away 25 valuable points. And did it four times in a row.
Ferrari are becoming experts at that. There’s the strategy error in Monaco, the woes of Barcelona, two engine failures in Baku all started off by Leclerc’s own mistake in Imola.
Ferrari have established a pattern as being fast but fragile. Mechanically weak and tactically friable.
That four Ferrari-powered cars in three teams failed to make the finish in Baku made for grim reading in the aftermath.
One paddock theory speculates it’s down to pandemic stresses wrought on Maranello’s suppliers. A nice idea and Ferrari are always happy to spread the blame away from their own door.
It’s a brutal statistic but Max Verstappen has now won more times this season when Leclerc has been on pole than the Ferrari driver himself.
So there’s more chance the Dutchman will win if Leclerc is on top spot than if the Monegasque himself is.
Plus the Baku failures make for a double whammy. With engines limited, it may compromise Leclerc’s engine options later in the year. In fact almost certainly will.
But back to the here and now. If Azerbaijan and Monte Carlo required more than a degree of finesse, Canada is all about brutal extremes: heavy braking, heavy acceleration. Lap time is bludgeoned out of the car.
The circuit is little more than two flat out straights with minimal set-up tinkering needed for the two hairpins and four chicanes.
History suggests that this race is Ferrari’s to lose and that they’ll do just that – lose it. Throw in the unpredictable weather on the St Lawrence Seaway and a green track surface that will evolve at breakneck speed as rubber is laid down and you’ve got all the ingredients for increased jeopardy.
And Montreal has had its fair share of freak happenings. Nigel Mansell was so busy waving to the crowd he hit the cut off switch two corners from a commanding win. Jenson Button winning a four-hour, rain-sodden, epic despite six pit stops and a collision with his own teammate.
Lewis Hamilton threw away victory in 2008 by driving into the back of Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane. Plus Robert Kubica then scoring Sauber’s only win 12 months on from escaping one of the biggest accidents you’ll ever see with little more than bruising and a sprained ankle.
Off track, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has waded into the mire of driver social activism increasingly evident in F1.
He felt the need to question whether they should be allowed to impose their beliefs on others. He mentioned specifically Sebastian Vettel’s “rainbow bicycle”, Hamilton’s passion for human rights and Lando Norris’ work for mental health.
To my mind Ben Sulayem had a point. There is a wider truth. Norris, Vettel and Hamilton's activism is laudable.
But the cajoling and what amounted to public pressuring of those who refused to take the knee over the BLM protests went too far.
Speaking up for those without a voice is only right. But isn’t using your position to force others to change their stance just replicating the inequality you are seeking to resolve?
Unlike so many, I believe sport is a place where these issues should be raised and valuable discourse is to be had. But the habit of the minority on the extremes shouting down anyone who has a contrary opinion has got to stop.
Progress won’t be won by those who scream the loudest but by those who are prepared to listen.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
More coverage from the Future Forum
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
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Available: Now
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
Messi at the Copa America
2007 – lost 3-0 to Brazil in the final
2011 – lost to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals
2015 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
2016 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Results
1. New Zealand Daniel Meech – Fine (name of horse), Richard Gardner – Calisto, Bruce Goodin - Backatorps Danny V, Samantha McIntosh – Check In. Team total First round: 200.22; Second round: 201.75 – Penalties 12 (jump-off 40.16 seconds) Prize €64,000
2. Ireland Cameron Hanley – Aiyetoro, David Simpson – Keoki, Paul Kennedy – Cartown Danger Mouse, Shane Breen – Laith. Team total 200.25/202.84 – P 12 (jump-off 51.79 – P17) Prize €40,000
3. Italy Luca Maria Moneta – Connery, Luca Coata – Crandessa, Simone Coata – Dardonge, Natale Chiaudani – Almero. Team total 130.82/198.-4 – P20. Prize €32,000
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Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
RESULT
Uruguay 3 Russia 0
Uruguay: Suárez (10'), Cheryshev (23' og), Cavani (90')
Russia: Smolnikov (Red card: 36')
Man of the match: Diego Godin (Uruguay)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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