George Russell gave Mercedes their first victory of the Formula One season after winning the Sao Paulo sprint race on Saturday, with teammate and seven-time world champion joining him on the front row for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
The 100-km race set the grid for the main event at Interlagos, the penultimate of the season before the finale in Abu Dhabi, but also carried important points for some of the top eight finishers.
It turned out to be a 24-lap thriller, with the Brazilian crowd treated to wheel-to-wheel racing, overtakes and clashes between teammates.
Russell started third and powered past Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen on lap 15 after several failed attempts before taking the chequered flag. It was the Briton's first victory in Formula One, even if he is still waiting for a full one.
"They all count," he said. "It was definitely a sweet feeling to cross that line in first position ... it's so great to see the progress we're making as a team.
"It's such a morale booster going into the winter regardless of the outcome tomorrow. This is a huge result for us."
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished second at the chequered flag but the Spaniard will drop back to seventh on Sunday's grid due to a penalty for exceeding his season's engine allocation.
That will promote Hamilton from third, with race stewards clearing him and others of a potential infringement at the start.
Verstappen, who lined up on the front row at Interlagos alongside first time pole-sitter Kevin Magnussen's Haas, finished fourth but will also move up a place on Sunday and remains a threat.
The Dutchman complained of running over debris and made contact with Sainz's Ferrari as the Spaniard overtook aggressively with five laps remaining.
Hamilton, who started eighth, also went past Verstappen.
Verstappen was the only front-runner to start on the medium tyres, with Russell on softs, and that seemed a mistake by a driver who has won a record 14 grands prix this season and both previous sprints.
"At the time I felt alright, it somehow didn't work but even on a soft I think I was going to be too slow," he said. "Really, we just had way too much (tyre) degradation here today. I'm not sure if we can do a lot for tomorrow, but it can't be worse than today."
Red Bull and Verstappen have already won both championships and are now chasing records, with the team on a run of nine wins in a row.
Mexican Sergio Perez, Verstappen's teammate, finished fifth with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sixth and McLaren's Lando Norris seventh.
Magnussen, who secured an astonishing pole in Friday's qualifying, took a point for Haas in eighth after being passed by Verstappen on lap three and dropping steadily down the order.
"It was always going to be unrealistic to keep those guys behind," he said. "I didn't want to try even because I knew the battle was going to be around P7 or P8. I didn't want to lose any time getting overtaken."
Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon clashed twice, with the Spaniard first being forced wide and needing a new front wing and then hitting the rear of the Frenchman's car when trying to pass.
"I lost the front wing thanks to our friend," said Alonso, who is joining Aston Martin at the end of the season and was handed a five second penalty plus two points on his licence for causing the second collision.
The Spaniard will start 18th and Ocon 17th.
Aston Martin had their own battles with Lance Stroll forcing four-times world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel on to the grass and collecting a 10-second time penalty. The Canadian finished 17th, and Vettel ninth.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
The biog
Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus
Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India
Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes
Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
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
How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia
Three Penalties
v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)
v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)
v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)
Four Corners
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)
v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)
One Free-Kick
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)
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
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
