Two weeks ago when Sebastian Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix, he acknowledged fortune had played a part in his victory in the opening race of the season.
But luck did not play a part on Saturday at the Bahrain Grand Prix as the German took pole position for Sunday’s race with a lap of 1 minute, 27.958 seconds in the final seconds of the qualifying session.
Vettel is now well placed to open up a commanding early lead in the championship as world champion Lewis Hamilton was only fourth quickest, but will start ninth due to a five-place penalty for a gearbox change made after practice on Friday.
“The car is quick and that usually helps," Vettel, a four-time world champion, said in his post-qualifying interview.
“For now I’m chuffed and for the team as well as we had some issues this morning and we overcame them.”
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Ferrari have upset the form book by being the quickest package during the weekend. Vettel’s biggest threat to his 51st pole came from his own teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who had been quicker then the German on the first runs in the final part of qualifying.
But Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, failed to improve on his final run as he struggled to find a response to his teammate’s effort.
It is Ferrari’s first pole in Bahrain since Felipe Massa topped the timesheets in 2008 and ended a stranglehold over qualifying for the race by Mercedes-GP.
The German marque have taken pole position for the past five years, but face a tall order to win the race this year.
Valtteri Bottas was third, and out-qualified Hamilton in the process, but was 0.166 seconds off the pace of Vettel.
“The red cars were too quick so we're not happy with that," Bottas said. "So we'll have to do better tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo will line-up in fourth place for Red Bull Racing, with his teammate Max Verstappen back in 15th after he crashed in the first part of qualifying.
The Dutchman has said he will struggle to get a top-six finish on raw pace alone in the race.
“It was a bit unfortunate,” Verstappen said of the crash. “It spun quite aggressively, I didn’t anticipate it. “A little bit of luck with the safety car would be good tomorrow.”
The surprise package of qualifying was Pierre Gasly’s Toro Rosso. He was sixth quickest and will line-up fifth, with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, the Renault of Nico Huldenberg and Force India’s Esteban Ocon also benefitting from Hamilton’s grid penalty.
Hamilton admitted it was now a case of damage limitation for the race and trying to minimise the potential points loss to championship leader Vettel.
“It is what it is and we will try to recover from where we are,” said the four-time world champion.
“I’ve got the softer tyre so I should be able to go longer [before pitting]. There are a couple of different strategies tomorrow so I will try and eek out every last bit of power and strength from the car.”
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.”
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh132,000 (Countryman)
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
