MELBOURNE // Five months ago, Kimi Raikkonen unintentionally coined a catchphrase on his way to winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
At Yas Marina Circuit, the Finnish driver, exasperated, told his race engineers to "leave me alone; I know what I am doing", and within a week Lotus staff members were wearing T-shirts with those words emblazoned across them.
On Sunday, on a damp track at Albert Park, Raikkonen proved he is true to his word by winning a tight, strategic season-opening Australian Grand Prix to make a mockery of the form book and strike the first blow in the battle for the 2013 world championship.
The Finn started only seventh after a morning qualifying session that indicated Red Bull Racing would be the team to beat.
Sebastian Vettel had claimed a 37th pole position ahead of teammate Mark Webber, who ensured an 18th front-row lockout for the three-time defending constructors champions.
Yet any fears the new season would start with tedious predictability were dismissed as Raikkonen produced a perfect two-stop strategy to secure a surprise victory while Vettel slipped two places to finish third, behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
“One of the easiest races I’ve done to win a race,” Raikkonen said. “Hopefully, we can have many more of this kind.”
The famously straight-faced veteran allowed himself a smile as he laughed off talk of leading an hours-old championship after collecting his 20th career victory.
However, his team will take great confidence from the way the 2007 world champion controlled the car and cared for his tyres through the 58-lap contest.
Eric Boullier, the team principal, said he had “never” considered winning the race.
“We were confident to maybe score a podium, but definitely not to score a win,” the Frenchman said.
Yet Raikkonen operates on a different level, safe in the knowledge he has the ability to extract the maximum out of his machine.
Give him a hot car and the Ice Man will do the rest.
“Not the ideal starting place,” was how he described his seventh-place grid position. “But it was still 10 places better than last year, so not a disaster. I knew my car is quite good. It’s been feeling good all weekend.
“In a way, I was pretty confident – but, of course, you have to get through the start and the first lap. And it’s the first race, so you never know what’s going to happen with the conditions. And the circuit after the rain. And with tyres. So there’s a lot of question marks.
“I felt I had a good car, though, and it turned out to be pretty good.”
Pretty good?
The king of the monotonous understatement strikes again.
Only five of the 18 cars classified as having finished employed a two-stop strategy, yet while Adrian Sutil at Force India experienced extreme tyre degradation that saw him slip from first to seventh in the space of 15 laps, Raikkonen in contrast looked after his Lotus’s tyres well enough to clock the fastest lap of the race two laps before the end.
“Fernando was catching me at some point, so I just wanted to make sure that if the rain comes we had a bit more gap,” Raikkonen said when asked about that lap.
“I was still taking it pretty easy,”
Alonso said he felt that while Lotus deserved victory for being “very quick and very consistent”, it is his more familiar rivals that remain the team to beat.
“Red Bull is the quickest car at the moment,” the Spaniard said. “First and second in qualifying, first and second in practice – nearly – and then in the race they saw a little bit of degradation, but that doesn’t mean that they are not the fastest.”
Vettel, who failed to win the season-opening race in 2010 and 2012 yet still went on to win the championship, was not downhearted after failing to convert victory from the front of the grid.
“Surely, when you start from pole, you want to win, but I think we can be happy with the pace all weekend,” the 24-year-old German said. “The car left a very good impression.
“The whole team seemed to operate very calmly and, considering it was the first race of the season, we seemed to just continue where we stopped last year.”
Competition, having lain dormant for three months, resumes in five day's time in Malaysia.
Raikkonen is ready.
He knows what he is doing.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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WISH
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The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKinetic%207%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rick%20Parish%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clean%20cooking%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self-funded%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Sweet%20Tooth
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JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Afro%20salons
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Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Young women have more “financial grit”, but fall behind on investing
In an October survey of young adults aged 16 to 25, Charles Schwab found young women are more driven to reach financial independence than young men (67 per cent versus. 58 per cent). They are more likely to take on extra work to make ends meet and see more value than men in creating a plan to achieve their financial goals. Yet, despite all these good ‘first’ measures, they are investing and saving less than young men – falling early into the financial gender gap.
While the women surveyed report spending 36 per cent less than men, they have far less savings than men ($1,267 versus $2,000) – a nearly 60 per cent difference.
In addition, twice as many young men as women say they would invest spare cash, and almost twice as many young men as women report having investment accounts (though most young adults do not invest at all).
“Despite their good intentions, young women start to fall behind their male counterparts in savings and investing early on in life,” said Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, senior vice president, Charles Schwab. “They start off showing a strong financial planning mindset, but there is still room for further education when it comes to managing their day-to-day finances.”
Ms Schwab-Pomerantz says parents should be conveying the same messages to boys and girls about money, but should tailor those conversations based on the individual and gender.
"Our study shows that while boys are spending more than girls, they also are saving more. Have open and honest conversations with your daughters about the wage and savings gap," she said. "Teach kids about the importance of investing – especially girls, who as we see in this study, aren’t investing as much. Part of being financially prepared is learning to make the most of your money, and that means investing early and consistently."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Third Test
Result: India won by 203 runs
Series: England lead five-match series 2-1
Gulf Men's League final
Dubai Hurricanes 24-12 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Read more from Johann Chacko
'Brazen'
Director: Monika Mitchell
Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler
Rating: 3/5
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
