SHANGHAI // Just six months after Yas Marina Circuit was subject to criticism for providing a processional end to the Formula One season, the sport's fraternity yesterday incongruously deemed plans by organisers to change the layout of the track for this year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to be wholly unnecessary.
Following the UAE capital's season-ending weekend in November, the Hermann Tilke-designed circuit was subject to scrutiny by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the world governing body.
Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari driver chasing a third world championship title, had been unable to pass Renault's Vitaly Petrov, despite being behind the wheel of a vastly superior car. The situation was condemned by Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, who said it was "not acceptable". He later deployed the Circuit Design Group to "examine [and] identify the possibility of increasing the opportunities for overtaking" at several tracks, including Yas Marina.
Richard Cregan, the chief executive at Yas Marina Circuit, has remained adamant throughout that the track is free of blame, but confirmed to The National last week that alterations will be implemented ahead of this year's race on November 13.
Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello yesterday led the praise for the organisers' willingness to act upon driver feedback, but also stressed new rule changes appear to have already solved F1's overtaking conundrum.
"We saw last year in the last race with Fernando and Vitaly the reason why it comes into discussion," said Schumacher, Mercedes-GP's seven-time world champion. "As much as the teams in Formula One have worked on the cars, there was probably a need to have circuits in general - not just Abu Dhabi - to make revisions in order to allow overtaking."
It is understood Abu Dhabi race organisers, following discussions with Charlie Whiting, the FIA's F1 race director, will this summer widen the "S-turns" before the track's two long straights, allowing cars to pass through simultaneously.
"There are some interesting views and we're very happy to hear that Abu Dhabi, after building a very good track, is open to make further changes in order to see if we can find some guidelines for the future that may improve the overtaking situation," Schumacher said.
"It's a good step in the right direction.
"Nevertheless, if you look at this year's competition in general, it offers a lot more overtaking possibilities, and in that respect, in terms of spectacle and interest, it has risen and it's very pleasing to see."
Barrichello, the veteran Williams driver and head of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, said he welcomed the alterations, but added the introduction of the speed-enhancing Drag Reduction System means overtaking would probably no longer be an issue at Yas.
"It's always good if [circuits] have the possibilities financially to change the track and maybe to improve that," Barrichello said. "Of course drivers will go there and some will say it's better and some will say it's worse, but as long as it improves the show it's the way forward.
"With the new rules for the rear wing, you could argue that with the long straights in Abu Dhabi there is no need for change, because you're going to have a lot of overtaking anyway.
"But having said that, it's fair to say that last year there were not enough opportunities."
Alonso, who had been critical of the track after missing out on the world championship, said he did not believe alterations were required. The Spaniard echoed Barrichello's views that new rules have already improved the racing.
"I didn't know they made plans to change things, so we will need to wait and see," he said. "The rear wing and the Kers [Kinetic energy recovery system] is helping improve overtaking - we have seen that in the first two races.
"In Australia, I was 10th after the first corner and in Malaysia I was ninth after four, yet I was able to fight for podiums in both races. Last year, that was not possible, so I think the new regulations are working well."
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
SERIES INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Table
The top three sides advance to the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
The bottom four sides are relegated to the 2022 World Cup playoff
1 United States 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.412
2 Scotland 8 4 3 0 1 9 0.139
3 Namibia 7 4 3 0 0 8 0.008
4 Oman 6 4 2 0 0 8 -0.139
5 UAE 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.004
6 Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 PNG 8 0 8 0 0 0 -0.458
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Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
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Rating: 5/5
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Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
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Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
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Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Jaguar F-Pace SVR
Engine: 5-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 680Nm
Price: Dh465,071
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