McLaren's Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen celebrates on the podium after claiming his first win in Formula One.
McLaren's Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen celebrates on the podium after claiming his first win in Formula One.

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Massa left blown out by engine

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen celebrated a shock maiden win in Hungary after Felipe Massa suffered an engine failure.

Graham Caygill

August 03, 2008

Heikki Kovalainen claimed his maiden grand prix win as he triumphed in Hungary last night after Felipe Massa's engine blew with three laps to go. Massa's Ferrari had dominated the race, but the Brazilian was forced to stop on the main straight on lap 68 of the 70 lap event with smoke billowing out of the back of his car, handing the victory to Kovalainen. The Finn had run in third for much of the race, but moved up to second when teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered a puncture on lap 37, and then was in prime position to take advantage of Massa's misfortune. A delighted Kovalainen said: " I am very happy. We have been in a position to fight for a victory, but always something has gone wrong and hasn't functioned correctly. I tried to put pressure on Massa hoping he had would have a mechanical failure and it seemed to work. "The team went through difficult times but I kept pushing and I am extremely happy to score my first victory." The Toyota of Timo Glock was a surprise second, while the world champion Kimi Raikkonen battled to third place. Fernando Alonso was fourth for Renault, while Hamilton recovered from suffering a deflated right front tyre to finish fifth, extending his lead in the world championship to five points in the process. The race had been expected to be dominated by McLaren after they had been quickest in qualifying, with Hamilton and Kovalainen locking out the front row. But Massa made a majestic start, getting off the grid well to immediately pass Kovalainen, and then bravely out-brake Hamilton to pass him around the outside of the first corner. After being outpaced earlier in the weekend, Ferrari appeared to have the edge in race conditions as Massa pulled away by two to three tenths of a second a lap. He was four seconds ahead of Hamilton before the Briton suffered his tyre drama, dropping him out of contention. But just as he seemed set to take the championship lead Massa suffered mechanical problems. Glock achieved his first podium, while Raikkonen had a frustrating race, spending 51 laps stuck behind Alonso before passing him at the second pit-stops. The Finn said: "I think we could have done the race a little bit better but we were stuck behind Alonso. I was stuck behind him until the second stop so it was a bit late by that point." Alonso's teammate Nelson Piquet was sixth, ahead of Jarno Trulli's Toyota, with eighth being taken by the BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica. The race also saw three pitlane fuel fires as the Honda of Rubens Barrichello, the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais all caught light during their pit-stops. While none of the incidents were serious or caused injury an investigation into the problem is likely to be made by the teams. @Email:gcaygill@thenational.ae

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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.”

How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
  1. Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
  2. Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
  3. Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
  4. Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
  5. Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
  6. The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
  7. Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269

*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year

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