The new Formula One season has not even started and the bitter rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull has already kicked into gear.
Lewis Hamilton’s new Mercedes car has been labelled “illegal” by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner with the first race set to take place in Bahrain in 10 days.
The focus is on Mercedes’ virtually non-existent sidepods, designed to provide greater airflow, improving downforce, and effectively making the car go faster.
The design – unveiled on the opening day of the final test in Bahrain – comes after the biggest technical overhaul of the sport’s rule book in a generation. However, Horner questioned whether his rivals have bent the rules.
In an interview with German publication Auto Motor und Sport, Horner said: “From our point of view, Mercedes went a step too far. That doesn’t correspond to the spirit of the regulations. For us, these wings are illegal.”
F1 managing director Ross Brawn described the concept as impressive and a “very extreme interpretation of the regulation” that had not been anticipated. “Inevitably, there's going to be a lot of debate about their interpretation. That's what happens with new regulations,” he told F1 TV.
“However hard you try to close off all the options, and believe me we closed off hundreds of them, the innovation in Formula One is always extreme.”
Horner, whose Dutch driver Max Verstappen beat Mercedes' seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton to the title last year in a controversial final showdown in Abu Dhabi, later told Sky Sports television he had “not paid a great deal of attention” to the Mercedes.
“It's obviously a fairly different concept, but that's for the designer guys and aerodynamicists to get into,” added the Briton.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff insisted he is confident the team’s car is legal. “When you go down a specific development direction, the FIA scrutinises it, and you make them a part of the process,” he said. “We were keen in not running alone, but being in touch with the FIA, and that is why I think it will be OK."
Verstappen said he was not worried that Mercedes, constructors' champions for the past eight years, might have gained an advantage.
“I'm not concerned. We can only focus on ourselves,” he told reporters at the Sakhir circuit. “Even if the cars look a bit different, there are so many unknown things that we need to learn about. I'm not worried at all.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
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
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cylinder%20turbo%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E680hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C020Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.5L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEarly%202024%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh530%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
