MELBOURNE // Fernando Alonso was "more or less happy" to finish just off the podium in his Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix after a poor start that left the Spaniard fighting tooth and nail for points.
Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 world champion, started fifth on the grid but found himself boxed in at the first corner at Albert Park after Vitaly Petrov, the Renault driver, made a barnstorming start that pushed McLaren's Jenson Button wide into his line.
"Petrov was risking a lot on turn one on the inside," Alonso told reporters in the paddock.
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"So Jenson had to avoid Vitaly and I had to avoid Jenson, so it was a little bit of everything going on and we recovered well."
Having fallen back to eighth, Alonso thanked strategy for a fourth-place finish he felt the team had deserved after an underwhelming performance during qualification.
World champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing won the season-opener, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton runner-up and Petrov third for his and Russia's first F1 podium.
"I think the strategy works really nice for us because we lost a lot of positions in the start," said Alonso.
"Thanks to the two or three (pit) stops we were out of traffic and we used all the potential. We started fifth and finished fourth, more or less happy.
"I think without the incident at the start the final position would have been more or less the same because I think Vettel and Hamilton were too quick for us today."
While finishing some 32 seconds behind Vettel, Alonso was relieved the Ferrari car had performed as well as it had after being well off the pace in qualifying.
"It was much better. Yesterday was a little bit ... something that we didn't understand completely," he said.
"Red Bull looked two seconds quicker than us yesterday, without pace they should lap us two times in the race today and it was not the case, we were fighting with Webber the whole race," added Alonso, referring to the Australian Red Bull driver.
Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa started eighth on the grid but finished ninth after a fierce battle with Button that saw the Briton given a drive-through penalty for blocking the Brazilian at a corner.
Massa's two points gave Ferrari 14 in the constructor's championship to lie fourth behind Red Bull, McLaren and Renault.
"Today was much more normal [than yesterday] but we must improve for Sepang [in Malaysia in two weeks], we need to be much quicker than we were in Melbourne," said Alonso.
"With the Red Bull we know they will be contenders until the end but we need to make a reaction and starting from Sepang we need to be on the podium."
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
The flights: South African Airways flies from Dubai International Airport with a stop in Johannesburg, with prices starting from around Dh4,000 return. Emirates can get you there with a stop in Lusaka from around Dh4,600 return.
The details: Visas are available for 247 Zambian kwacha or US$20 (Dh73) per person on arrival at Livingstone Airport. Single entry into Victoria Falls for international visitors costs 371 kwacha or $30 (Dh110). Microlight flights are available through Batoka Sky, with 15-minute flights costing 2,265 kwacha (Dh680).
Accommodation: The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara is an ideal place to stay, within walking distance of the falls and right on the Zambezi River. Rooms here start from 6,635 kwacha (Dh2,398) per night, including breakfast, taxes and Wi-Fi. Water arrivals cost from 587 kwacha (Dh212) per person.
Fixtures and results:
Wed, Aug 29:
- Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
- Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
- UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs
Thu, Aug 30:
- UAE bt Nepal by 78 runs
- Hong Kong bt Singapore by 5 wickets
- Oman bt Malaysia by 2 wickets
Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal
Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore
Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu, Sep 6: Final
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
