Melbourne is likely to witness a case of deja vu this weekend with the three teams that led the way in Bahrain setting the pace in Australia.
Red Bull-Renault were very quick in the season opener and Sebastian Vettel would have won it had he not had the problems that slowed him down in the final stages.
I would expect Vettel and Mark Webber to be right up there along with Ferrari, who look very strong and took advantage of Sebastian's problems to win through Fernando Alonso in Sakhir.
McLaren-Mercedes have got a lot of work to do if they are to get back to the front, but given their experience you would expect them to be able to do so. How quickly they do it will be the key.
McLaren were fast in the second half of the race in Bahrain but they do not have the pace to beat either Red Bull or McLaren in a straight fight. I think those three cars will be fighting for the top prizes on Sunday.
One car that is not a contender is the Mercedes GP and, while I think they can fight for points with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, they will not be able to do much more than that.
One interesting thing this year is the strength of the driver line-ups at the top teams. No longer is it just team against team, but the inter-team competition is going to make up a big part of the season.
You have Alonso, a double world champion, up against Felipe Massa, a man who came close to winning a title in 2008.
At McLaren there is the world champion in Jenson Button up against Lewis Hamilton, the previous champion, and Red Bull have two genuine top drivers in Vettel and Webber.
Australia is a big race for Button, Webber and Massa as they were all beaten by their teammates in the opening race and will know they need to fight back and put in a strong display to ensure they maintain parity within the team.
Jenson has come to Australia and made positive noises about putting in a better display after his seventh place in Bahrain, but he needs to raise his game massively. This is a very important season for him; he wants to hold on to his championship, but to do that he needs to improve and beat Hamilton.
The first person you have to beat is your teammate and Jenson needs to be a lot closer to Lewis then he was in Bahrain and ideally be quicker than him.
Sebastian did the better job at Red Bull in Bahrain, but I think Mark has a lot of mental strength and has proven himself very tough before, and I wouldn't be surprised if he puts in a strong display at his home race.
There has been a lot of criticism of the racing in the wake of what was a dull Bahrain GP and I think it will be better in Melbourne.
The Albert Park track offers a little more in terms of overtaking, as you can pass at turn two, at turn seven and also at the end of the back straight.
There have been plenty of exciting races there in the past, but it can also be the case that if the fastest guy gets it right and leads from the start the rest will not see him until the finish.
I think one thing that did not help things in Bahrain was the television coverage that focused purely on the guys at the front.
There was action further back and some overtaking, but very little of that was seen as the TV cameras followed the leaders, which offered little in the way of excitement.
It is too early to judge how the new regulations will impact on racing in the long-term, but there is more to evaluate it on than simply what is going on at the front and I do think we will have a more enjoyable race on Sunday.
@Email:sports@thenational.ae
Watch the practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix today live at 5.30am and 9am on Abu Dhabi Sports 2
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
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Pakistan v New Zealand Test series
Pakistan: Sarfraz (c), Hafeez, Imam, Azhar, Sohail, Shafiq, Azam, Saad, Yasir, Asif, Abbas, Hassan, Afridi, Ashraf, Hamza
New Zealand: Williamson (c), Blundell, Boult, De Grandhomme, Henry, Latham, Nicholls, Ajaz, Raval, Sodhi, Somerville, Southee, Taylor, Wagner
Umpires: Bruce Oxerford (AUS) and Ian Gould (ENG); TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS); Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
Tickets and schedule: Entry is free for all spectators. Gates open at 9am. Play commences at 10am
Specs
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Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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The specs
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
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Scores:
Day 4
England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)
Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Coal Black Mornings
Brett Anderson
Little Brown Book Group
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