Preparations for the 2023 Formula One season are well under way with teams unveiling their new designs ahead of testing and the opening race in Bahrain next month.
Formula One champions Red Bull and Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo took their 2023 cars out on track last week.
Red Bull posted a video on Twitter of their RB19 at Silverstone while Alfa Romeo said their C43 completed a successful debut at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
Red Bull held a livery launch in New York last week with double world champion Max Verstappen and Mexican Sergio Perez, while Alfa unveiled their new look in Switzerland.
Valtteri Bottas said he is relishing his position as Alfa Romeo leader, after taking a back-seat role at Mercedes.
The Finnish driver is in his second season with the team after being replaced by George Russell at Mercedes.
“In this team I feel like my role has been very different to what I’ve ever had in Formula One,” Bottas said. “A bit more involvement, a bit more information going through me in a way.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull's Max Verstappen denied a suggestion he was favourite for a third successive F1 championship and said the sport needed a closer battle.
Verstappen won 15 of 22 races last season in what was his team's best campaign yet, with Mexican teammate Sergio Perez adding two to the tally.
Rivals and runners-up Ferrari won four races and once-dominant Mercedes, third overall, just one.
"As a driver you always try to look at yourself, what can you do better and you try to come back stronger every single year even though sometimes that's a hard task," he said in New York.
"I think in the interests of the sport you always want the teams to be super-close. But I do think it was already quite close last year.
"I think as a team we also really executed a lot of things better than the other teams and that's why I guess the points gap was also so big. I never really felt, apart from two or three races, we absolutely dominated the whole weekend."
Later, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Williams also unveiled their cars for the new season.
When does the 2023 F1 season start?
The opening race of the new season will be the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir from March 3-5.
What's new?
F1 confirmed a 23-race season – instead of a planned 24 – for 2023 after the decision was taken not to replace the Chinese Grand Prix.
F1 cancelled the April 16 race in China due to "the ongoing difficulties presented by the Covid-19 situation".
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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MATCH INFO
Burnley 1 (Brady 89')
Manchester City 4 (Jesus 24', 50', Rodri 68', Mahrez 87')
The biog
Fatima Al Darmaki is an Emirati widow with three children
She has received 46 certificates of appreciation and excellence throughout her career
She won the 'ideal mother' category at the Minister of Interior Awards for Excellence
Her favourite food is Harees, a slow-cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled wheat berries mixed with chicken
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