Max Verstappen's hopes of clinching a fourth consecutive drivers' world championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend took a big hit on Friday as Red Bull revealed they brought the wrong rear wing to the race.
Team's senior adviser Helmut Marko said Red Bull were losing up to six-tenths of a second on the main straight, the Las Vegas Boulevard leading to Caesars Palace, after a mistake in packaging.
“We don't have another rear wing, a smaller rear wing, as we see on our competitors,” Marko told Auto Motor und Sport. “It would be more helpful, for sure.”
He added that it was too late to arrange for a more appropriate trimmed rear wing to be flown out to Las Vegas.
Verstappen leads McLaren's Lando Norris by 62 points with three races remaining and needs to just finish ahead of him in Las Vegas to become the sixth man to win four world championships.
The Dutchman, however, struggled in second practice, finishing 17th in slippery conditions on the cold, dry and dusty circuit where the three-time champion won last year's race.
Verstappen tried to make light of the team's error and blamed his struggle on the slippery conditions.
“The issue for us is definitely tyre-related as we have no grip and it feels like driving on ice,” he said.
“We struggled to make the tyres work, especially over one lap and we were quite far off with the pace.”
Hamilton shines
Lewis Hamilton bounced back from his Brazil horror show to complete an impressive practice double.
Having said he wanted to quit Mercedes in the aftermath of a disappointing 10th-placed finish in Interlagos a two weeks ago, Hamilton first saw off teammate George Russell by 0.396 seconds in the opening running, and then McLaren's Lando Norris by 0.011 sec later in the day, to head both sessions.
Norris must take at least three points out of Verstappen's 62-point championship lead to extend the title battle. Verstappen was 17th in second practice, two seconds off Hamilton's pace, while Carlos Sainz finished fourth for Ferrari, one place ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton, who is joining Ferrari next season, had said he was prepared to cut short his 12-year Mercedes career, which has yielded six of his record-equalling seven world titles, after a torrid afternoon at the rain-hit Brazilian GP.
“We all know that Lewis wears his heart on the sleeve,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff between practice sessions.
“It was such a bad experience for him, that whole race weekend in Brazil, and particularly the Sunday, he said something that wasn't, in a way, unusual.
“Now, this time was probably particularly bad. There are three races to go. He announced at the beginning of the year that he was joining Ferrari, and I am proud how we have achieved to maintain the professional relationships and we have given him a tool that is not good enough.”
Hamilton ended a two-and-a-half-year winless streak at the British Grand Prix in July, but he is seventh in the world championship, 203 points behind Verstappen and a place and two points back from Russell.
But the 39-year-old rolled back the years to lay down the marker in the cold desert air which appeared to play to Mercedes' strengths.
“I am feeling pretty good,” said Hamilton. “That is the first time I have had a day like that this year. The car was feeling really good in P1 and in P2 less so. We have work to do overnight.
“It is difficult to know exactly where we are and why we are where we are but I am really enjoying driving the track. We will see whether the car is still the same tomorrow.
“It was nice to get consecutive sectors and the car not throwing me off. I am feeling good in myself. As I said heading into this weekend, I know it is not my driving.”
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
Civil%20War
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THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Oscars in the UAE
The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Company%C2%A0profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law