Qualifying for next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix will go ahead as scheduled despite calls for a change of format for safety reasons, Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren boss, said yesterday. "The decision is it will go ahead as it is," he said after a meeting of the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) at the Spanish Grand Prix failed to reach any agreement. "There are those who are concerned about the safety and the randomness of it," added the Fota chairman.
"The counter flip is that the sport needs a bit of a shake-up and if there are problems and issues in qualifying and that influences the grid then it means the teams will have to deal with that in the race and that's good for the show." Formula One has expanded to 12 teams this season and under the current format, all drivers take part in a first 20-minute qualifying session before the slowest seven drop out.
With some of the slowest cars way off the pace of the leaders, some drivers have suggested the first session should be split to reduce the number of cars on track at the same time. "It's not a bad idea to be honest if they take maybe six or eight cars from the group of the slowest cars and then the other guys go in a different qualifying session, it will probably be a good idea for both," Bruno Senna, the Brazilian rookie who drives for HRT-Cosworth, had suggested.
"We don't want someone much faster than us coming to overtake us, and they don't want to be every lap getting someone slower." Whitmarsh agreed the speed differential between some of the cars would make it a tricky session. He added: "They [the slower drivers] are going to spend the lap looking in their mirrors trying not to impede and get a penalty. It is a very confined tight and claustrophobic circuit in which you've got to try and tame a Formula One car."
* Reuters
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.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
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Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
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The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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The specs: 2019 Jeep Wrangler
Price, base: Dh132,000
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 285hp @ 6,400rpm
Torque: 347Nm @ 4,100rpm
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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.
ACL Elite (West) - fixtures
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Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
Al Gharafa v Al Ain (10pm)
In numbers
Number of Chinese tourists coming to UAE in 2017 was... 1.3m
Alibaba’s new ‘Tech Town’ in Dubai is worth... $600m
China’s investment in the MIddle East in 2016 was... $29.5bn
The world’s most valuable start-up in 2018, TikTok, is valued at... $75bn
Boost to the UAE economy of 5G connectivity will be... $269bn
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Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: Dh898,000
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