Felipe Massa was fastest around the Circuit de Catalunya, just ahead of his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Felipe Massa was fastest around the Circuit de Catalunya, just ahead of his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Other Sport

Ferrari duo dominate final practice

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen post a one-two in final practice ahead of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

A Ferrari resurgence is on the cards following a one-two for Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in final practice ahead of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. The team have so far endured the worst start to a season in their illustrious history, with Raikkonen finally ending their points drought with a sixth-placed finish in Bahrain a fortnight ago. As for last season's title contender Massa, the Brazilian is now in his seventh season in F1 and has never before gone through the first four races without scoring a point. But that is the position he currently finds himself in ahead of the start of the European season at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. However, Massa brushed aside their problems today with the fastest lap of the weekend so far, posting a time of one minute 20.553 seconds, just over a second quicker than Nico Rosberg's best from yesterday.

As if to underline the prospect of a comeback, Raikkonen finished just 0.082 secs behind Massa, with the duo almost half a second quicker than their rivals, led by Brawn GP's Jenson Button. The current championship leader holds a 12-point cushion at the top of the standings from teammate Rubens Barrichello who was fourth. BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was fifth, followed by the Toyota of Jarno Trulli and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren. Hamilton finished yesterday's practice sessions extremely unhappy with the performance of his car, but after working long and hard overnight, the team's mechanics have clearly found some speed. Toyota's Timo Glock, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and home hero Fernando Alonso for Renault completed the top 10. They were followed by Heikki Kovalainen in his McLaren, with the leading 11 separated by under a second. Championship contender Sebastian Vettel was a lowly 16th in his Red Bull, with Nick Heidfeld at the rear of affairs after a seemingly troubled session. The German, who yesterday suffered a brake issue in first practice, completed just eight laps, all early on, finishing nearly three seconds behind Massa. Qualifying for tomorrow's race starts today at 1pm (4pm UAE time).

*PA Sport

The Bio

Amal likes watching Japanese animation movies and Manga - her favourite is The Ancient Magus Bride

She is the eldest of 11 children, and has four brothers and six sisters.

Her dream is to meet with all of her friends online from around the world who supported her work throughout the years

Her favourite meal is pizza and stuffed vine leaves

She ams to improve her English and learn Japanese, which many animated programmes originate in

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.”