Live updates: Follow the latest on the 2024 Abu Dhabi F1
Lewis Hamilton’s final qualifying session with Mercedes was struck by bad luck as the British driver failed to make it out of Q1 due to a bollard that got stuck under his car at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion admits it was an “unfortunate” incident but is looking forward to doing some overtaking in Sunday’s season finale at Yas Marina Circuit, where he will start in P18 on the grid.
“I don’t feel the pain in the teeth as such,” said Hamilton, who will end his 12-year chapter with Mercedes this weekend before he moves to Ferrari for 2025.
“For me, I’ve just been very present, been enjoying every moment, I’ve got the car in a really good place. The set-up changes we’ve been making – the car has been completely different to the last five races. It’s been feeling really great, so it is unfortunate.”
Hamilton admits he believed he would be fighting for a podium in Abu Dhabi this weekend but must now readjust his expectations.
“The pace was decent. It’s not going to be easy to overtake tomorrow but we’ll work on strategy now and instead of fighting for a podium, I’ll see how far I can go – if I can get into the top 10 that will be amazing,” he added.
Hamilton told reporters in the UAE capital on Thursday that he underestimated how emotional his final season with Mercedes would be and the 39-year-old confessed he mishandled those emotions at times throughout the year.
Now that he is one day away from bidding farewell to the Silver Arrows, will it be a sense of relief come Monday morning?
“It would be like, I made it, I survived a very, very hardcore year. I think I would be sad not to be racing any more this year, but next year will come soon enough,” he said. “Hope to get some overtaking moves tomorrow.”
Besides wanting to make the most of his last weekend with Mercedes, Hamilton also made time for what has recently become an annual tradition: a dinner in Abu Dhabi with all the drivers on the grid.
What started as an opportunity to honour Sebastian Vettel, when he was retiring at the end of 2022, has now become a yearly get-together, gathering all 20 drivers at one dinner table.
“I’m really, really happy that we’ve been doing that,” said Hamilton.
“When I asked the guys to get together for Seb’s evening, that was truly special, and then we had the best time so we set it up each year and we’ve had a great time.
“It was really funny obviously with George [and Max Verstappen) but it was all light-hearted,” added the Brit, referring to the feud brewing between his teammate George Russell and Red Bull’s world champion, who both made it to the dinner but sat on opposite sides of the table.
Lando Norris took pole position for the season-ending race in a McLaren one-two with Oscar Piastri with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz third.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
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Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
RESULTS
Main card
Bantamweight 56.4kg: Mehdi Eljamari (MAR) beat Abrorbek Madiminbekov (UZB), Split points decision
Super heavyweight 94 kg: Adnan Mohammad (IRN) beat Mohammed Ajaraam (MAR), Split points decision
Lightweight 60kg: Zakaria Eljamari (UAE) beat Faridoon Alik Zai (AFG), RSC round 3
Light heavyweight 81.4kg: Taha Marrouni (MAR) beat Mahmood Amin (EGY), Unanimous points decision
Light welterweight 64.5kg: Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK) beat Nouredine Samir (UAE), Unanimous points decision
Light heavyweight 81.4kg: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Haroun Baka (ALG), KO second round
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
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6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
