I think I'm the first former Silverstone employee to have gone on to become a Formula One racing driver and it's a circuit I know far better than any other.
It's a more local circuit to me than it probably is to any British driver, as I live only about seven miles (11.3km) from the track. If I'm at home, I cycle past Silverstone three times a week as part of my training ride.
I was a racing instructor there for three years but I was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. I used to marshal there as well as part of the job - basically, I did whatever the racing school asked me to.
One day, I might have been picking up motorbikes from the gravel trap, the next day I'd be there waving yellow flags or even hurtling around in an Audi or a Caterham with a passenger in tow.
I love the place; it's great fun. Honestly, if I had a free weekend, I'd probably be at Silverstone in the rain watching a race with a cup of tea trying to keep warm. I'm a bit of a motorsport anorak - my teammate Bruno Senna calls me "a bobble hat" because of it.
For me, there are three top circuits - Monaco, Spa and Silverstone. I believe I'm in Formula One for the right reasons. I'm not here to be famous or to earn enough money to get a house in Monaco. I'm here because I absolutely love F1 and, at the moment, Silverstone is very much my home race.
In fact, even when the Indian Grand Prix is added to the calendar next season, Silverstone will still be another home race for me. The crowd are just fantastic and so knowledgeable. They have an incredible understanding of the sport and their enthusiasm makes for an even better atmosphere than at the other races on the calendar.
If someone asked me to build my ideal race track, I would definitely include the first sector at Silverstone. It is such a buzz to drive. I think I first drove there in 2002 and I've been there a few times since. I won there in Formula Three and twice ended up on the podium in GP2.
You get up to serious speeds on the opening straight into Coppice, a fast right-hander that's completely blind so the buzz is there straight away. You're then on to the trio of Maggots, Becketts and Chapel. There's nothing like it in F1 and, as a spectator, I'd love to be watching there. As a driver, it's just brilliant. Those three corners are so fast and they're over in an instant as you keep your speed on to the ensuing Hangar Straight.
The next corner at Stowe is slower but you still keep as much speed as possible, which means you always end up running over the kerb. There's another straight before Vale and Club, very slow parts of the circuit before you come to the new changes at Abbey.
A lot has been made of the changes that have been done to the circuit. Everyone has this glamorous idea that we've sat in simulators going round every aspect of the new Silverstone but that couldn't be further from the truth.
Now it's open, I cycled from home, got to the circuit and paid £5 [Dh27] to get in and then cycled round the new layout. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the changes. I'm not saying that to be critical but, for me, I don't think there was much wrong with it. There really wasn't anything to improve.
Of the changes, the new Abbey will be a good corner and still a high-speed commitment. There's a few new corners there and then the track rejoins the old circuit at Brooklands on a long straight so there might be a bit more overtaking there.
What it means is that we won't fly through Bridge anymore and I can understand the reasons for doing that. Bridge is just not safe as it is for the MotoGP riders. So I'm not unhappy about the changes, I just thought Silverstone was a fabulous circuit as it stood.
That said, the changes have been very much in keeping with Silverstone and its fast, flowing nature. You get places like the Valencia street circuit that are such stop-start circuits but Silverstone just flows beautifully from start to finish. It remains fast, flat out and a place where you need to be brave to get it just right. It's the ultimate test as a racing driver.
motoring@thenational.ae
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Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
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Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
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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.”