Mercedes will not try to halt the fierce rivalry between Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, team principal Toto Wolff told AFP.
The feud that came to a head when Rosberg drove into Hamilton on the second lap of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps last August was good for Formula One, Wolff said in an interview.
But the British and German rivals must not cross the line of what is acceptable again.
“We are not going to change our approach in terms of philosophy on how to let the drivers race. Even if it is not always easy.
“For us, for our brand, for Formula One, it was important to let them fight, one against the other,” the executive director of the Mercedes-GP team said of the Hamilton-Rosberg duel that marked 2014 and is about to resume.
Wolff said Mercedes had understood going into the Belgian race that the rivalry was reaching a peak. He indicated that the team felt there had to be some kind of confrontation to clear the air.
“If you have no emotion in this sport, if you stay rational all the time, you lose a lot and the sport loses a lot and the way we run the team is with emotion.
“What happened in Spa, we were very conscious that we could have this situation. We have a conscious approach, just about controlled, because we knew what we wanted as an outcome. What we wanted was that it did not happen again,” Wolff said.
“All the communication, all the reaction after Spa took this into account,” he added.
A storm erupted when Hamilton, who retired before the end, said after the Spa race that Rosberg had told him the crash had been deliberate.
Wolff said at the time that the rivalry had reached “an unacceptable level of risk” and that it was costing Mercedes points.
Rosberg was punished but the team never announced what sanctions were taken.
“For us this was an event quite detrimental for the brand and this was what we communicated,” Wolff said in the interview.
But he insisted that the Mercedes action at the time had worked.
“The fact that we did not lose a race after, that we were one-two for the next five races, justified what we did, not that we were perfect.”
Hamilton, who went on to win his second title, said before heading to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday that he thought he developed an “impenetrable” mental attitude in 2014.
He said he would not let his breakup with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger affect him, as personal problems have in the past, and he was determined to be an even better driver this year.
Pundits say Mercedes are again hot favourites for the title and Wolff hinted that the team cars had not been stretched during pre-season training.
“The programme we set before the test, was to be reliable ... the test of the systems. And when it is important to show our performance will be the first Sunday at Melbourne and not during tests.”
The team boss also insisted that any changes to Formula One cars had to be carefully negotiated and that teams must stop being negative about the sport.
“Nobody wants short term changes that could have negative effects in terms of cost,” he said.
“We must all, in Formula One, who are responsible for Formula One, stop to talk negatively about a product that is not negative.”
“We know that every sport, every product can be improved. There are certainly aspects that we can improve a lot but we are also a global sport.
“We are the No 1 auto racing sport in the world and we must promote and support this image.”
Formula One teams have reacted to a wave of criticism over the lack of noise produced by the new V6 turbo hybrid engines by developing biggest exhausts and a more dramatic sound.
Wolff said it was “a good noise” because the decibels of the previous engines put off families. “Now it is a fantastic noise. It is a good mix.”
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Squads
Australia: Finch (c), Agar, Behrendorff, Carey, Coulter-Nile, Lynn, McDermott, Maxwell, Short, Stanlake, Stoinis, Tye, Zampa
India: Kohli (c), Khaleel, Bumrah, Chahal, Dhawan, Shreyas, Karthik, Kuldeep, Bhuvneshwar, Pandey, Krunal, Pant, Rahul, Sundar, Umesh
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
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Dunki
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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