For the first time in six years, Lewis Hamilton will arrive at the British Grand Prix as the Formula One world champion.
Hamilton has tasted success at Silverstone twice before, and on both occasions he has gone on to secure the title.
In 2008, Hamilton, in only his second season, embarrassed his peers. As the rain lashed down in Northamptonshire, he stormed to victory as his rivals fell by the wayside.
He won by almost 70 seconds and lapped the entire field up to third. It was one of the greatest performances by a British driver in recent memory.
Six years later, Hamilton won again, albeit in different circumstances.
After he inexplicably aborted his final run in a rain-hit qualifying session, wrongly believing he could not improve on his time, he started only sixth. But by the end of Lap 5 he was up to second and on a charge as he began to reel in his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
The German, whose lead over Hamilton before the race was 29 points, then suffered his first retirement of the campaign after his gearbox failed. Hamilton took charge of the race and never looked back, cruising to victory in front of his patriotic home crowd.
Hamilton had trimmed Rosberg’s lead to only four points, and he was then crowned champion in the year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
In the 18 races following the 2014 British Grand Prix, Hamilton has won 10 of them. He has also finished on the podium at every race since, bar his infamous collision with Rosberg in Belgium.
Hamilton’s streak has taken him to fifth on the all-time list in terms of race victories, and he is tied with Sebastian Vettel in third for pole positions.
A 46th pole of his grand prix career on Saturday will see him sit behind only Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna in the all-time pantheon of qualifying greats.
Hamilton will also break Jackie Stewart’s 45-year-old record of leading 17 consecutive races if he adds just one more front-running lap on Sunday.
Put simply, Hamilton, despite being out-classed by Rosberg for arguably the first time this season in Austria last time out, is in the form of his life. And it would take a brave man to back against the man from Stevenage claiming his third win at Silverstone this weekend.
In contrast, Hamilton's former McLaren teammate Jenson Button's Formula One career threatens to fizzle out with a rather miserable whimper.
After spending the latter part of last season fighting to save his grand prix status, Button, who has never finished on the podium in his 15 previous Silverstone appearances, is in the midst of his worst campaign.
His record this season reads: 11th, DNF, 14th, DNS, 16th, 8th, DNF, DNF. He has just four points to his name.
“I don’t go into Silverstone thinking I might not ever finish on the podium, only when I’m asked about it. I still hold out hope,” a typically optimistic Button said.
“I want to be on the podium and win in front of my home crowd. When they’ve been so supportive, you want to repay them. You’ve got to be realistic and realise that is not possible right now, but it might be possible in the future.”
Button talks about “the future”, but there is every chance this could be his final act in front of his home crowd.
The 35-year-old driver, a veteran of 273 grands prix starts, has signed a one-year deal with McLaren and could be the fall guy for what must be regarded as the British constructor’s worst season in their history.
“Jenson has been in tough times before, and he also knows how quickly things can turn around,” BBC pundit Allan McNish said. “He has to look forward to see what might be coming down the line.
“But I am very sure there are times when he thinks ‘this isn’t what I signed up to’.”
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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.”
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Directed by Sam Mendes
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