Fernando Alonso claimed a surprise win for Renault at the first night race in Formula One's history at Singapore as a disastrous Ferrari pit-stop boosted Lewis Hamilton's world championship dreams.
The Spaniard won the 20th race of his career and his first for more than a year as he was fortunate to be one of the few cars that had made an early fuel stop before teammate Nelson Piquet's crash on lap 14 brought out the safety car.
But the major talking point was the dramatic pitlane incident that wrecked Felipe Massa's hopes of taking the championship lead.
The Brazilian had led from pole position and had built up a four-second lead before the safety car bunched the pack up. But when he stopped for fuel and new tyres, critically, Ferrari's semi-automatic pit system gave him a green light to leave while fuel was still going into the car.
The Ferrari ripped the fuel hose out from the rig as it sped away, knocking one mechanic over as it was pulled away. Massa stopped at the end of the pitlane, where mechanics raced down to join him and forcibly pulled the hose from the car.
But his race was ruined as he fell to the back of the pack, and to add salt to the wound he was later given a pitlane drive through penalty for leaving the pits and impeding the Force India car of Adrian Sutil.
He eventually finished 13th, with title rival Lewis Hamilton taking advantage as he finished third to stretch his lead to seven points with three races to go.
But it was Alonso's day as he recorded Renault's first win since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2006, finishing 2.9secs ahead of the Williams of Nico Rosberg who achieved his highest finish in the sport.
"I am extremely happy," Alonso said.
"I cannot believe it right now, I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year."
Alonso who had suffered mechanical problems in qualifying to leave him only 15th on the grid, admitted to luck with the timing of the safety car, but felt that was balanced out by his misfortune on Saturday.
He added: "Unlucky yesterday and maybe lucky today. I was unlucky in qualifying, we started from the back and the first safety car helped me a lot and I was able to win the race."
Up until lap 15 the race had looked as if it was going to be Ferrari's day. Massa had built up a four-second lead over Hamilton, while, after a tardy start, Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen had consistently set fastest laps as he closed the gap on the lead duo.But the safety car changed things massively.
Alonso and the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard had critically pitted before the pitlane was closed under the safety car regulations.
Rosberg and the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica both came in for stops before the pitlane was opened again, and both got 10-second penalties.
When the race restarted Rosberg set a cracking pace as he and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli pulled away. The Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella was holding up the pack in third, with the Italian having not stopped.
But as cars began to pit again Alonso moved to the front, with his only competition being from Rosberg.
Hamilton had been eighth when the racing had restarted and he spent 20 laps stuck behind Coulthard.
Understandably given that Massa was out of the points, the Briton seemed reluctant to risk a collision by overtaking and he seemed content to sit in the Red Bull's slipstream.
But he got past the veteran on lap 42 and went on to claim the final spot on the podium.
There was late drama as Adrian Sutil's Force India hit the barriers eleven laps from the end as he crashed avoiding Massa, who was recovering from his own spin.
The field was bunched back up again, but Alonso showed great composure as he charged away at the restart, pulling out three seconds on Rosberg in the first lap.
The world champion Kimi Raikkonen's title defence all but ended as he made a mistake and hit the wall with four laps remaining when running fifth, leaving the Finn now 27 points behind Hamilton.
Timo Glock's Toyota was a fine fourth, with Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso finishing fifth, ahead of the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
Coulthard was a battling seventh, ahead of the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima.
@Email:gcaygill@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
Company%20profile
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SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%204-cylinder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20101hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20135Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Six-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh79%2C900%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: N2 Technology
Founded: 2018
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Startups
Size: 14
Funding: $1.7m from HNIs
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5
Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place playoff
UAE v IRELAND
All matches start at 10am, and will be played in Abu Dhabi
1st ODI, Friday, January 8
2nd ODI, Sunday, January 10
3rd ODI, Tuesday, January 12
4th ODI, Thursday, January 14
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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Spain drain
CONVICTED
Lionel Messi Found guilty in 2016 of of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying €4.1m in taxes on income earned from image rights. Sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined more than €2m. But prison sentence has since been replaced by another fine of €252,000.
Javier Mascherano Accepted one-year suspended sentence in January 2016 for tax fraud after found guilty of failing to pay €1.5m in taxes for 2011 and 2012. Unlike Messi he avoided trial by admitting to tax evasion.
Angel di Maria Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain star Angel di Maria was fined and given a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud during his time at Real Madrid. But he is unlikely to go to prison as is normal in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying sentence of less than two years.
SUSPECTED
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid's star striker, accused of evading €14.7m in taxes, appears in court on Monday. Portuguese star faces four charges of fraud through offshore companies.
Jose Mourinho Manchester United manager accused of evading €3.3m in tax in 2011 and 2012, during time in charge at Real Madrid. But Gestifute, which represents him, says he has already settled matter with Spanish tax authorities.
Samuel Eto'o In November 2016, Spanish prosecutors sought jail sentence of 10 years and fines totalling €18m for Cameroonian, accused of failing to pay €3.9m in taxes during time at Barcelona from 2004 to 2009.
Radamel Falcao Colombian striker Falcao suspected of failing to correctly declare €7.4m of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while at Atletico Madrid. He has since paid €8.2m to Spanish tax authorities, a sum that includes interest on the original amount.
Jorge Mendes Portuguese super-agent put under official investigation last month by Spanish court investigating alleged tax evasion by Falcao, a client of his. He defended himself, telling closed-door hearing he "never" advised players in tax matters.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Company%20Profile
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
