The Formula One lollapalooza descended on Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit in earnest today ahead of Sunday's season finale.
A fleet of 600 lorries brought crate after crate into the compound, all containing a series of vital components of each team’s race cars, ready to be assembled by the 400 personnel on site ahead of the action.
As an army of 70 forklift trucks delivered the booty down to each constructor’s alotted slot down in the pit lane, the scene resembled a series of Meccano set being unloaded, albeit ones that would cost you hundreds of millions of dirhams should you have the inclination and exchequer to own one.
The smell of chemical cleaners and degreasers hung heavily around the circuit as engineers got to work on the unpacking, carefully taking each piece of the delicate machinery from its case and assigning it to one of the dozens of racks and benches set up in advance. Each team was working to a variety of high-tempo dance tunes blaring out from speakers installed for this very purpose, creating a cacophony of noise that resembled a particularly industrious - and busy - nightclub.
Those doing the unpacking all agree this is the fun part of the operation, before the serious business of racing begins and shaving milliseconds off lap times becomes vitally important. The scene looks chaotic at first, but it’s anything but - the teams perform these same manoeuvres around the world most weeks during the season. The old cliche pertaining to an outfit being a well-oiled operation is entirely apposite here.
Extreme care is needed at all times. Unlike the Middle East’s beloved army of 4x4s, Formula One cars are notoriously delicate beasts, prone to collapse at the slightest provocation, and they are no less fragile when they arrive in pieces before each race.
A group of Red Bull technicians who were cleaning wheel rims said this was one of the most relaxed parts of the process for them.
"We're right at the start, so we just have to make sure everything is ready for when management arrive. It's the most relaxed we're going to be all week," said one.
The names and faces of the drivers already adorned each of the roof fronts above the pits, with organisers careful to have set aside the placements at random.
While everything is being unloaded, the pit lane is a tricky place to navigate. The forklifts coming and going might be the slowest moving vehicles ever to grace the circuit, but those working in and around the environs have to make sure they give them a clear route. Everyone is dressed in mandatory high-viz clothing and heavy footwear.
Some of the boxed gear arrived at Abu Dhabi International Airport earlier this week on one of seven chartered flights, with each plane carrying 100 tonnes in total. It’s not all air freight though - Khalifa Port handled 336 containers, each weighing 1,000 tonnes.
Technicians weren’t the only ones at work. Making sure everything is ready were a team of dedicated cleaners, painters, gardeners and circuit technicians performing their duties across the track, grandstands, car parks and landscaped areas.
The figures surrounding what needs to be done to ensure everything is perfect are mind-boggling - for example, painters will work around the clock to apply a fresh coat of gloss to the 5.5km track, using 4,500 litres of "Yas blue" paint, 720 litres of ivory, and 1,440 litres each of red and white.
Cleaners equipped with high-pressure hoses will ensure the circuit's 228 canopies are as spotless as possible, a feat that will involve nearly 7,000 people, ahead of Friday's first day of practice.
And the gardeners will install more than 1,750 different kinds of foliage, along with 886 palms and 529 potted plants, all of which will go some way to mitigating the strong smell of fuel and exhaust fumes around the circuit.
Similarly, an extensive team of public relations officials are already in place, keeping early media arrivals abreast of what’s happening, as well as site administrative staff ensuring everything is running on schedule.
This year, some 70,000 fans are expected to attend over the three days, starting with Friday's first practice, at least 70 per cent of whom will be coming in from abroad, which is a challenging logistical problem for organisers. It's impossible to stop Yas Island from becoming gridlocked during Grant Prix weekend, but efforts are made to keep disruption to a minimum.
Pyrotechnics are a key part of the finale of any Grand Prix, and two of Yas' own technical staff were at work on a boom that would shower confetti at the required moment.
"You have to keep your wits about you when you're doing this," one said. "No one will thank you if a load of paper comes flying out at the wrong moment."
It’s all thirsty work. Estimates suggest the teams alone will consume 30,000 litres of drinks over the race weekend.
And all this before the drivers start to arrive later this week, ready to be billeted in one of the 18 villas set up directly outside the circuit, opposite the pits. If you believe the technicians, they have already missed half the fun.
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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.”
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Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
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Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
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ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Brighton 1
Gross (50' pen)
Tottenham 1
Kane (48)
