SINGAPORE // Lewis Hamilton said he and Mercedes-GP were baffled by the team’s worst qualifying performance for almost two years.
The German marque had claimed pole at every race this season prior to this weekend, but they were out-performed by both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing during Saturday’s qualifying session, having also struggled in practice as Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could only set the fifth- and sixth-fastest times.
It was the first time since the United States Grand Prix in November 2013 that a Mercedes had not qualified in the top four on the grid, and world champion Hamilton blamed issues with tyre temperatures for him being more than a second slower than Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.
“The problem this weekend is the tyres are just not working for us,” said the Briton, who leads the championship standings by 53 points going into Sunday’s race. “We can’t get it into the window and we are sliding around all over the place.”
Hamilton had taken 11 poles from the first 12 races of the season, but he put a brave face on Saturrday’s disappointment, saying he had relished one of the most competitive qualifying sessions of the year.
“It was a good qualifying and I enjoyed it, but I was on a knife edge to get as much as I could,” he said. “We have the quickest car but cannot utilise it with the tyres.”
Hamilton is in such a comfortable position at the top of the drivers’ standings as he bids to win a third championship that he does not need to win Sunday, but he said that was still his target.
A consolation was that Rosberg, his teammate and nearest championship rival, also struggled, and he starts behind Hamilton on the grid.
With only seven races and a maximum 175 points left to be won, Rosberg is running out of time to make major in-roads into Hamilton’s points advantage, and the German was cautious on his prospects of a strong performance.
“I lacked a lot of grip,” Rosberg said. “Why, I don’t know. We will go for it tomorrow, but we think it will be tough for sure.”
Follow us on twitter at @NatSportUAE
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Pakistan v New Zealand Test series
Pakistan: Sarfraz (c), Hafeez, Imam, Azhar, Sohail, Shafiq, Azam, Saad, Yasir, Asif, Abbas, Hassan, Afridi, Ashraf, Hamza
New Zealand: Williamson (c), Blundell, Boult, De Grandhomme, Henry, Latham, Nicholls, Ajaz, Raval, Sodhi, Somerville, Southee, Taylor, Wagner
Umpires: Bruce Oxerford (AUS) and Ian Gould (ENG); TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS); Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
Tickets and schedule: Entry is free for all spectators. Gates open at 9am. Play commences at 10am
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES EPISODE 1: LOT 36
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roche, Elpidia Carrillo
Rating: 4/5
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
1971: The Year The Music Changed Everything
Director: Asif Kapadia
4/5
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 2 (Willems 25', Shelvey 88')
Manchester City 2 (Sterling 22', De Bruyne 82')
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
