MONTREAL // For 69 laps of a 70-lap race, it appeared even Mother Nature was incapable of stopping Sebastian Vettel's charge towards what seemed an inevitable second successive world championship.
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Then, on his final lap of a phenomenal, incident-packed Canadian Grand Prix race and having led for the duration, he spun off and was usurped of his lead by Jenson Button, the Englishman in a McLaren-Mercedes.
Vettel recovered to secure second ahead of his Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber, but the German took little compensation admitting he was "obviously very disappointed". Button, in contrast, rated the win as "probably my best-ever race".
It was the first wet race of the season and the first since Pirelli rejoined the sport in the winter. With water lying on several parts of the track at the start, the race started behind a safety car, removing any potential first lap drama as well as the option to use the speed-enhancing Drag Reduction System (DRS).
But visibility remained poor and Webber was immediately clipped by Lewis Hamilton and the Australian spun in chaotic conditions. By the sixth lap, Vettel had built up a four second gap from Fernando Alonso.
As Hamilton tried to pass Button up the outside at Turn One, the two McLarens touched with last year's winner Hamilton coming off worst, suffering a puncture and forcing him to retire.
Button's car remained undamaged, but he immediately pitted to change to intermediate tyres and, he was clocking laps four seconds quicker than he was on his wet tyres and climbed through the field to seventh within as many laps before the heavens opened and the safety car returned once more.
With 22 laps complete, Vettel appeared on his team radio to warn conditions were not safe. "From Turn Nine to Turn 13, it is undriveable," he said. "The race cannot continue like this." Similar apprehensions froom other drivers prompted the red flag to be waved couple of laps later, suspending the on-track action.
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, said "it was the right decision to stop the race". Adding: "The drivers are just passengers, the water lifts the cars up and there is no drive."
But Paul di Resta, the Force India driver, said the stewards decision came too late: "I think they should have had the red flag before it was shown – conditions were atrocious."
When the race resumed more than two hours later, Alonso spun out on lap 37 after Button clipped the Spaniard's rear wheel. With Vettel leading and two of his main championship rivals having retired it appeared to be Red Bull's day.
Kamui Kobayashi, of Sauber, and Alonso's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, were running in second and third, but after 45 laps they trailed Vettel by more than four seconds.
Kobayashi's determination to retain second place allowed Vettel to continue increasing his lead, but as Massa battled to pass the Japanese, Schumacher, the seven-time world champion, was able to sneak past them both to steal second for himself. Vettel's teammate Webber quickly followed suit to put himself in a position for a podium.
When Nick Heidfeld crashed his Renault, the safety car returned for the fourth time of the afternoon and Schumacher and Webber were able to close the gap on the championship leader. However when racing resumed – even with DRS now enabled – neither could get close enough to overtake.
When Webber made a mistake to run wide, Button capitalised to pass first the Red Bull and then Schumacher's Mercedes-GP and as the last lap approached Button slashed down Vettel's lead timing the use of his DRS well.
With pressure building, Vettel was forced to take more risks and eventually, he slipped up. “If Sebastian didn't make the mistake, it would have been very tricky [to pass],” Button admitted later. “Without DRS I would have had no chance.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
RESULTS (provisional):
1. Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 4h 04:39.537
2. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull-Renault) at 2.709
3. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull-Renault) 13.828
4. Michael Schumacher (GER/Mercedes) 14.219
5. Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Lotus-Renault) 20.395
6. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 33.225
7. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber-Ferrari) 33.270
8. Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 35.964
9. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Williams-Cosworth) 45.117
10. Sebastien Buemi (SUI/Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 47.056
Retired: Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren): spin 8th lap
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Lotus): gearbox 29th lap
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari): accident 37th lap
Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India): mechanical problem 50th lap
Nick Heidfeld (GER/Lotus-Renault): accident 56th lap
Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Williams F1): mechanical problem 62th lap
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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.”
ALRAWABI%20SCHOOL%20FOR%20GIRLS
%3Cp%3ECreator%3A%20Tima%20Shomali%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0Tara%20Abboud%2C%C2%A0Kira%20Yaghnam%2C%20Tara%20Atalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
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