Lewis Hamilton fears the technical issues which have blighted the defence of his world championship could hand the title to Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton, who finished Sunday’s European Grand Prix only in fifth following a problem with his engine settings, is back to being 24 points adrift of his Mercedes team-mate after the German cruised to victory in Baku.
It marked another difficult afternoon for Hamilton, who, despite winning back-to-back races in Monaco and Canada, has struggled with a series of car problems this term.
Graham Caygill: Engine setting fiasco in Baku sees Hamilton contribute to downfall
“It’s looking like a good year for Nico, but I never give up,” Hamilton said. “I am definitely not feeling confident for the future, but I have a lot of races ahead.”
Hamilton started Formula One’s first race in Azerbaijan from 10th after he crashed out in qualifying.
But an incorrect engine mode, pre-determined by his Mercedes team before the race started, curtailed his progression back through the pack.
The British driver spent 12 laps at the Baku Street Circuit - a track which has been billed as the fastest on the calender - frantically fiddling with the buttons and knobs on his complex steering wheel in an attempt to resolve the problem.
Following a clampdown on radio transmissions, Hamilton’s Mercedes team were forbidden from informing the Briton how to resolve the issue which led to a series of almost comical exchanges.
“I may not finish this race because I am going to try and change everything,” a flustered Hamilton said at one point.
“I wouldn’t advise that,” came the response from the Mercedes pit wall.
After the race Hamilton explained: “I am just looking at my steering wheel for a large portion of the lap – all the way down the straight – and all they can tell me is there is a switch error. It’s dangerous.
“I am looking at every single switch thinking ‘am I being an idiot here?’ ‘Have I done something wrong?’
“I hadn’t. I looked time and time again at the different switch positions and there was nothing that looked irregular.
“The radio ban, as far as I am aware, was suppose to stop driver aids, but it wasn’t a driver aid, it was a technical issue.”
Hamilton’s woes afforded Rosberg an easy race as he moved on to 19 career victories and got his championship challenge firmly back on track after weekends to forget in Monte Carlo and Montreal.
“It was a special feeling out there in the car because it felt like I could do whatever I wanted,” Rosberg said. “The car would just stick to the line, stick to the ground, and there was no risk of making mistakes.
“It felt really, really special and I’m very happy.”
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
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.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
South Africa World Cup squad
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (w), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.
THE DETAILS
Kaala
Dir: Pa. Ranjith
Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar
Rating: 1.5/5
