Team orders were banned in Formula One after Rubens Barrichello, right, was ordered to let his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher past him to take the win at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002.
Team orders were banned in Formula One after Rubens Barrichello, right, was ordered to let his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher past him to take the win at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002.
Team orders were banned in Formula One after Rubens Barrichello, right, was ordered to let his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher past him to take the win at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002.
Team orders were banned in Formula One after Rubens Barrichello, right, was ordered to let his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher past him to take the win at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002.

Ferrari farce is upshot of a rule that is too difficult to police


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Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president, was in no mood for repentance when he delivered his regular post-grand prix sermon earlier this week. "The interests of the team come before the individual," he said in defence of the controversy that led to an outcry among other teams, pundits and fans.

Much ink has been spilt in the wake of last Sunday's German Grand Prix, when Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa swapped places to enhance the former's Formula One title prospects, but they broke a rule - team orders that influence the outcome of a race - that should not exist. It came into force in 2002, following a clumsy piece of race manipulation on Ferrari's part after Rubens Barrichello slowed down on the run towards the finish line in Austria to allow Michael Schumacher to go past, but the practice has continued ever since - and it was only Ferrari's gauche handling of the situation that caused such a furore.

During the 1990s the FIA, motorsport's governing body, wanted to outlaw traction control, but declined to do so because the regulation would be impossible to police - and yet the same usually applies to team orders. In 2007 Massa dominated the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final round of that season, before slowing subtly during the pit-stop period, to let former teammate Kimi Raikkonen take the lead.

The Finn's subsequent victory was enough to secure the world championship by a solitary point - and nobody complained because it would have been unthinkable for any team to behave otherwise in such circumstances. With all the hot air still fresh, meanwhile, another motor race is about to break out. This weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix will be the last before the sport's extended summer break. Ferrari have not won at the tight, twisty Budapest circuit since 2004, but their present car's appetite for slow and medium-speed corners should enable the team to challenge serial pace-setters Red Bull-Renault, as they did in Germany.

McLaren have a strong track record in Hungary - they have won four of the past five races and their current driver, Jenson Button, won the other when he was driving for Honda - and continue to lead the title chase, but Martin Whitmarsh, the team principal, acknowledges that their advantage remains potentially brittle. "We're under no illusions that our pace relative to our rivals was lacking at Hockenheim," he said. "But the MP4-25 should perform better in a more dedicated high-downforce configuration."

One of the weekend's most significant moments will occur away from the spotlight's glare. Massa suffered a serious head injury during qualifying for last season's corresponding race, after debris struck him on the crash helmet, and he missed the rest of the season as a consequence. Before the cars turn a wheel, the Brazilian will be meeting marshals and medical staff to thank them personally for their prompt attention.

sports@thenational.ae

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Monster

Directed by: Anthony Mandler

Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington 

3/5

 

Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

UPI facts

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Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses

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Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)

Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14

Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)

Perera 47; Sohail 2-18

What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
 
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  • Grade 7 = grade A
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Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).

7.05pm: Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Commanding, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m

Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m

Winner: Arch Gold, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m

Winner: Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.

9.25pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner: Ibn Malik, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.

10pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m

Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FIXTURES

All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Brackets denote aggregate score

Tuesday:
Roma (1) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2), 11.45pm
Manchester United (0) v Sevilla (0), 11.45pm

Wednesday:
Besiktas (0) v Bayern Munich (5), 9pm
Barcelona (1) v Chelsea (1), 11.45pm

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

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The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo

Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm

Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto

Price: from Dh209,000 

On sale: now

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE

Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”

The specs

Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission: nine-speed

Power: 542bhp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: Dh848,000

On sale: now

STAGE 4 RESULTS

1 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 4:51:51

2 David Dekker (NED) Team Jumbo-Visma

3 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 

4 Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis

5 Matteo Moschetti (ITA) Trek-Segafredo

General Classification

1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 12:50:21

2 Adam Yates (GBR) Teamn Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:43

3 Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:03

4 Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:43

5 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45

The biog

Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists. 

Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.

Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic