SINGAPORE // He may hold first position in the championship standings, but it is the last position on the Formula One calendar that Mark Webber is focusing on. The Red Bull-Renault driver returned to the top of the rankings two weeks ago after his sixth-place finish at Monza and he approaches this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, the 15th of the season's 19 races, in pole position in the five-way fight for supremacy.
Yet Webber, who proved in yesterday's two practice sessions that he is as quick on the damp asphalt as he is relaxed on its sidelines, said he is not letting the standings table distract him from the matter at hand: retaining the lead here and maintaining it until he arrives at Yas Marina Circuit for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 14. "It's a nice position to be in, but I'd certainly like a few more points," said Webber, who set the fastest time, ahead of Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher, in a twilit first practice.
On 187 points, the Australian leads Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes by five points, with Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button sandwiched in fourth between Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Webber's Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel. "There are a few guys who have a few less points here and there, but it's still very interesting. It can move around - in a negative or positive way for some people - quite quickly," he said.
"You come here with the job of trying to win the race and that is what we'll try to do. But will five of us go to Abu Dhabi? The chances are it could, but it might be unlikely. It might be three, might be five, might be one. We have to finish races, stay in there. We have to be in the hunt in Abu Dhabi. Leading the world championship in Singapore is not the important thing, leading it in Abu Dhabi is."
Vettel clocked the fastest time yesterday under the nightfall and drier tarmac that arrived with the second practice. The German recorded a fastest lap of 1min 46.660secs, making him 0.627secs quicker than Webber, and more than a full second faster than Button, Alonso and Hamilton, who finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. The 5.793km Marina Bay Street Circuit evidently suits the Red Bull team, with the constructors' championship leaders benefiting from their strengths around the tight corners - a situation that had not been the case recently in Belgium and Italy.
"We know we have a fantastic car wherever we go in the world," Webber said. "But we probably wouldn't go to Spa and Monza every day of the week. We expect to be a bit more competitive here and we're looking to add to it pretty solidly. "We're optimistic that we can continue to chip away and it's important to do that in the next few weeks." Meanwhile, Adrian Sutil, who had finished third-fastest earlier in the evening, appeared to misjudge a chicane midway through second practice, resulting in his Force India car briefly taking to the air, snapping a wheel axis and forcing its driver to retire early.
Alonso also suffered damage when he slid off the track with 25 minutes remaining. However, the Ferrari driver insists the Italian manufacturers are confident of gaining maximum points this weekend. "We know Red Bull are maybe the favourites; they have had the best car for the whole of the 2010 season," Alonso said. "We know it is going to be hard and we respect our rivals a lot, but at the same time, I'm sure we will have a chance."
Lower on the grid, Christian Klien, the 27-year-old HRT-Cosworth reserve driver, was called upon to replace Sakon Yamamoto after the Japanese driver was taken ill. gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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DIVINE%20INTERVENTOIN
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20Profile
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Scoreline
Real Madrid 1
Ronaldo (53')
Atletico Madrid 1
Griezmann (57')
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 1 Manchester City 2
Huddersfield: Otamendi (45' 1 og), van La Parra (red card 90' 6)
Man City: Agüero (47' pen), Sterling (84')
Man of the match: Christopher Schindler (Huddersfield Town)
Saturday's results
Brighton 1-1 Leicester City
Everton 1-0 Cardiff City
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Watford 0-3 Liverpool
West Ham United 0-4 Manchester City
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The specs: Hyundai Ionic Hybrid
Price, base: Dh117,000 (estimate)
Engine: 1.6L four-cylinder, with 1.56kWh battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 105hp (engine), plus 43.5hp (battery)
Torque: 147Nm (engine), plus 170Nm (battery)
Fuel economy, combined: 3.4L / 100km
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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.
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Company%20Profile
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Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
%3Cp%3ECory%20Sandhagen%20v%20Umar%20Nurmagomedov%0D%3Cbr%3ENick%20Diaz%20v%20Vicente%20Luque%0D%3Cbr%3EMichael%20Chiesa%20v%20Tony%20Ferguson%0D%3Cbr%3EDeiveson%20Figueiredo%20v%20Marlon%20Vera%0D%3Cbr%3EMackenzie%20Dern%20v%20Loopy%20Godinez%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETickets%20for%20the%20August%203%20Fight%20Night%2C%20held%20in%20partnership%20with%20the%20Department%20of%20Culture%20and%20Tourism%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20went%20on%20sale%20earlier%20this%20month%2C%20through%20www.etihadarena.ae%20and%20www.ticketmaster.ae.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million