Felipe Nasr finished third in the 2014 GP2 series with Williams before his jump to F1 this season with Sauber. Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Felipe Nasr finished third in the 2014 GP2 series with Williams before his jump to F1 this season with Sauber. Mark Thompson / Getty Images

Sauber rookie Felipe Nasr has eyes set on making a Senna-like splash in F1



Brazilian Felipe Nasr will get his first taste of Formula One action for real when he makes his debut for a revitalised Sauber team at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

Nasr impressed as Sauber showed encouraging speed and reliability in pre-season testing, going fastest on the second day of the first test in Jerez and completing a mammoth 159-lap session on his last day of testing in Barcelona before heading to Melbourne.

“I wouldn’t say I am surprised. I would say I am a lot more confident considering the position of the team last year,” the 22-year-old told AFP.

The Swiss team endured a horror 2014 as they failed to register a single point in 19 races.

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“This year’s position seems a lot stronger. It gives a lot of confidence to the team and the drivers.

“It is good that we are able to push the car forward and improve in many areas, but there is still room for improvement.

“The main goal is clear. Myself together with the team, we want to be back in the points as soon as possible.”

Nasr is only one of a host of talented newcomers to the top level of motor sport alongside 17-year-old Dutch sensation Max Verstappen, his Toro Rosso teammate Spaniard Carlos Sainz Junior and Britain’s Will Stevens in the revived Manor.

He also joins Felipe Massa as the second Brazilian on the grid, but it is from another of his compatriots that he has drawn inspiration to forge a career in Formula One.

“I liked Ayrton Senna the most,” he said of the three-time world champion, who died tragically during the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.

“Being Brazilian I learned so many things about him as a driver as a person on and off the track, so many videos, documentaries, I enjoyed watching him. I would put him as my idol.”

Like his hero Senna, Nasr made his mark by winning the British Formula Three championship in 2011 before driving in the GP2 series for the last three years.

However, he recognises he has had to work hard on both his physical and mental preparation for the step up to F1.

“Since I got the news I would be coming to Formula One I have been working a lot harder on the physical side and on the mental side.

“If I look back now I don’t know if GP2 was the certain step to do it, but I also think I learned a lot in GP2 as you use the same tyres, the same circuits and the car is quite close to a F1 car.”

After a promising winter, the real test of what Sauber and Nasr are capable of will be put the test in Melbourne.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

Family reunited

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.

She was held in her native country a year later.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

The%20specs
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The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000

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Astroworld
Travis Scott
Grand Hustle/Epic/Cactus Jack

If you go

The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Santiago, via Sao Paolo cost from Dh5,295 with Emirates


The trip
A five-day trip (not including two days of flight travel) was split between Santiago and in Puerto Varas, with more time spent in the later where excursions were organised by TurisTour.
 

When to go
The summer months, from December to February are best though there is beauty in each season

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
  • not be younger than 25 years old
  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
  • be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
  • have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
  • undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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THE%20SPECS
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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed