Hats off to team boss Frederic Vasseur and Ferrari. Over the past few decades, Maranello have so often been the villains of the piece.
Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and former team boss Jean Todt, among others, managed to turn winning into a vice, wielding team orders heedless of the public opprobrium building up around them.
Infamously, Rubens Barrichello was ordered to hand over victory in Austria in 2002, even though Schumacher had won four of the previous five rounds and was walking away with the championship. Even the German’s own fanatical following ripped off their red T-shirts in disgust and hurled bright red baseball caps at the podium.
The pressure of winning for the Prancing Horse was just too great for morals to count for much and, to be fair, team orders were not, initially at least, illegal. And that has always been the way Ferrari have done racing.
So it was refreshing – not to say remarkable – to see two Ferrari drivers going at it as Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc did at the weekend. And at Monza of all places. Especially when the outcome of a collision could have been catastrophic – especially for a team and its boss under pressure to get results. It is not outrageous to say two Ferraris have probably never raced that closely at Monza. Ever.
Maranello’s fanatical following were pitched into paroxysms of ecstasy. For a while, perhaps a dozen laps, when Sainz was charging away at the head of the field, they even dared to think the unthinkable: Red Bull could be beaten.
Of course, it wasn’t so. After Ferrari’s tyres shredded and the indefatigable Max Verstappen got into his stride it was the same old story: a record 10th victory on the spin.
The remarkable attention to detail at Red Bull meant Verstappen went to the grid with an instruction to race at over 200mph but keep his rear left tyre temperature in a three degree window.
Even in a sport used to domination of one kind or another 24 wins in 25 is superiority of a different order.
Team boss Christian Horner was staggered as F1 heads into the last eight “flyaways”. “We are leaving Europe unbeaten,” he marvelled. “That’s insane,” he added, shaking his head. Fourteen wins from 14.
At this pace Verstappen could be crowned world champion a third time before the end of the month with six rounds remaining.
Away from the Dutchman's triumphal march, Monza is early evidence that Ferrari are coming alive under Vasseur.
With third place assured he could easily have used team orders on his battling duo but didn’t.
The result was thrilling: wheel to wheel racing at 300kph. Sainz and Leclerc braked as late as they dared, skidding into tight chicanes, smoke billowing from tortured rubber then scrabbling out the other side, highly polished, priceless and red race machines still only centimetres apart, fractions from disaster, roaring down the next straight.
“I really enjoyed it,” said Leclerc, even though he had come off second (well fourth) best. “This is what racing should be all the time, it reminds me of my karting days.
“It was close many, many times. So many moments when it was tricky. This is what I love about racing. The adrenalin you feel when you are fighting. This was really fun.”
“I don’t know if I’d use the words ‘good fun’,” added Sainz. “I feel for Fred having to sit on the pit wall through that.”
But it is exactly the kind of racing that will enhance Maranello’s reputation as racers and that of F1 damaged by the notion generally held that real racing is allowed only as long as it does not conflict with the designs of those in charge.
The result, the team’s best of the year, lifts Ferrari into the top three of the constructors' championship for the first time, surely invigorating drivers, team and fans.
But asked if he had risked too much Vasseur replied: “Don’t be so negative. Risk is relative.”
“I am not focussed on the championship, the most important thing in our situation is to try and do a better job, to fix the issues.
“We have to be focussed on ourselves. Not think about the classification for Bahrain [next year] but to improve ourselves. We know where we are weak and we have to fix it and the time will come [on the track].”
In the ferocious emotional whirlwind that always circles Italy’s favourite Grand Prix team it is the kind of focussed approach that is long overdue.
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.”
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
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- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)
Man of the match Harry Kane
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Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
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She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Abu Dhabi GP Saturday schedule
12.30pm GP3 race (18 laps)
2pm Formula One final practice
5pm Formula One qualifying
6.40pm Formula 2 race (31 laps)
