November 2019 – Page 68 – GETAWAYTHEBERKSHIRES

Williams working on sealing ‘new partnership’ with Mercedes

November 15, 2019 | News | No Comments

Williams hopes to secure a new engine deal with Mercedes from 2021, with deputy team principal Claire Williams revealing that productive talks are ongoing with the German manufacturer.

Recent speculation in the F1 paddock alluded to a potential change of engine supplier for the Grove-based outfit, with Williams rumored to be in advance talks with Renault.

Williams and Renault enjoyed a fruitful partnership in the past that yielded 64 wins and 5 Constructors’ titles for the British outfit between 1992 and 1997, elevating Sir Frank’s squad to the third most successful team in F1 behind Ferrari and McLaren.

Williams sets the record straight on Kubica’s future

However, Claire Williams all but dismissed an alliance with its former partner, insisting that its talks with current supplier Mercedes were following a positive course.

“There’s a lot of speculation about Williams at the moment,” admitted Williams.

“We’re talking to Mercedes as you probably expect. Those conversations are going well, and we hope to be able to conclude a new partnership with them going into 2021.

“They’ve been a fantastic partner of ours, they’ve been very supportive, everyone knows that Toto [Wolff, Mercedes Team Principal] started his Formula 1 career at Williams.

©WRI2

“As such, we have a great relationship with him, and I would like that relationship to continue.

“I don’t know why people speculate around future or potential engine partners of ours, except to say maybe it’s a slow news week,” she added.

“But there is. I know now what you’re going to write if I say this, but we’ve always had a great history with Renault, but our future is with Mercedes.”

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Racing Point: New factory to be up and running for 2021

November 15, 2019 | News | No Comments

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SportPesa Racing Point’s future state-of-the-art factory will break ground early next year and should be up and running in 2021.

Last winter, the Silverstone-based outfit outlined its plans to provide itself with the infrastructure and tools required by the long-term ambitions of Lawrence Stroll and he fellow investors.

Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer gave an update on how those plans are panning out.

Perez gets new three-year deal with Racing Point!

“We should get planning permission in October and have ground-breaking in the first quarter of next year,” said the American.

“The plan is to actually move into the new factory in the break of 2021. So, although that won’t come to fruition for another 18 months or so, those plans are happening today.”

Twelve months after the pink squad was brought back from the brink, Szafnauer underlined the many changes that have positively impacted the team over the past year.

“The one significant thing is that we don’t suffer with the financial instability that we used to have, at all,” stressed Szafnauer.

“That means we can plan our developments on the car. We can plan when we bring upgrades and they actually happen.

“We’ve added about 40 employees. We were at 405 a year ago, now we’re at 445. And if there are good people on the market, we’re interested.

“We’re adding, we’re growing and we want to be more competitive. So, those are our plans going forward – but it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

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Renault: Mercedes will have no right on Ocon for two years

November 15, 2019 | News | No Comments

Renault F1 Team managing director Cyril Abiteboul has made clear that there will be no Mercedes strings attached to Esteban Ocon for the duration of the Frenchman’s contract with his new team.

Renault announced on Thursday a two-year deal with the Mercedes reserve driver, and while Ocon remains under the management of the German outfit, the latter will have no right call to him back to the team in the near future.

“He is a Renault driver, that is very clear. Mercedes will have absolutely no right on him for the duration of his contract,” said Abiteboul, speaking to the media in Spa on Friday.

“The small difference is that his management company happen to be a racing team and that is Mercedes.

“But it is a slightly different set-up from the set-up that we had with Carlos [Sainz] last year. That was on a loan and not a contract with Red Bull, but he [Ocon] will be a fully-fledged Renault driver.”

Ocon to return full-time to F1 in 2020 with Renault!

The opportunity for Renault to hire a talented French driver is seen by many – including outgoing Nico Hulkenberg – as a deciding factor in favour of Ocon.

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But Renault advisor Alain Prost dismissed that notion, insisting instead that Ocon’s youth weighed more heavily in the balance.

“To be clear, of course the fact that he is French is a plus, but it is not the determining criterion, otherwise it would not be very logical,” he told French broadcaster Canal Plus.

“There were discussions with Nico, someone we really appreciate, but he wanted a two-year contract, we wanted one year plus an option.

“Without going into too much detail, he is someone who has done an extraordinary job for the team, but of course after three years he realizes, and he is right, that we are not progressing very quickly on the chassis.

“I think we needed someone to look a little further into the long term, with freshness, enthusiasm.

“He has that of course, but things are going to happen, we’re going to have to change the team a little bit too, so it’s more to look to the future.

“Esteban, with his Mercedes experience, age and youth, will bring us some of the dynamism we need in the team today.”

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Bottas: Crucial tyre choice set up Mercedes for ‘miracle’ VSC

November 15, 2019 | News | No Comments

Both Toto Wolff and Valtteri Bottas agree that Mercedes’ decision to start the Russian Grand Prix on the medium tyre allowed it to capitalize on a decisive mid-race VSC/Safety car combo.

Ferrari looked set to dominate its rivals in Sochi, but Sebastian Vettel’s retirement and a mid-race VSC turned the tables on the Scuderia.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Bottas jumped ahead of Charles Leclerc and never looked back. But the opportunity was set up by the Silver Arrows strategists’ decision to put their drivers on Pirelli’s medium compound for their opening stint, while most of their rivals were shod with the soft tyre.

Wolff hails Sochi as ‘big step’ to clinching title

After the race, Wolff explained why that call had been decisive.

“It was crucial, because one of the things that we were looking for or that we were hoping for was a late safety car,” said the Mercedes chief.

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“And only the medium was able to extend the stint, and that’s what happened, caused by their car failing.”

Bottas, who finished runner-up to Hamilton, also underlined how strategy and circumstances had favourably combined for Mercedes and allowed it to prevail despite the Scuderia’s superior level of performance.

©Mercedes

“They had a strong car today, good pace and, as we’ve seen this year, they’ve been extra quick on the straights,” said the Finn.

“So I knew if they get close enough, especially in sector three, they are going to be a big threat into Turn 2. Just really had to try to keep it together, try to minimise the mistakes and the car felt pretty decent today, especially with the soft tyre in the corners.

“I think the team did all the right things. Already the decision to start on the mediums to go long in the first stint, you start to hope for that VSC or safety car to come – and today it came, like a miracle.”

Conversely, had there been no mid-race safety car, it would have been a very different story for Mercedes insists Wolff.

“I think we had good pace at the beginning, Lewis was able to hang on to Charles, the Ferraris were pushing each other very strong and very hard, and I think we would have gone onto the soft for the last 25 laps and been on a soft against a medium,” commented the Austrian.

“Realistically, you must say, I think it would have probably been enough to follow the gearbox, like in the last few races. But not enough.”

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Haas’ Steiner open to pairing Hulkenberg with Magnussen

November 15, 2019 | News | No Comments

Haas boss Guenther Steiner has no reservations about a potential 2020 line-up for the US outfit that would pair Nico Hulkenberg with Kevin Magnussen.

Hulkenberg became the odd man out last week when Renault confirmed the hiring for next season of Mercedes reserve driver Esteban Ocon.

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The German, who is currently in his third year with the French team, hasn’t given any insight into his future plans but Haas – which many believe is likely to part with Romain Grosjean – is oven cited as a probable destination.

However, since Magnussen’s much publicized “suck my balls” post-race run-in with Hulkenberg at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2017, there has been no love lost between the two drivers.

Magnussen no friend of Hulkenberg, but ‘respects’ his talent

Yet, despite the bad blood Steiner would have no issues putting the two men in Haas’ 2020 line-up.

“We are running into each other even without history!” Steiner said, referring to Grosjean and Magnussen’s frequent on-track encounters this season.

“We would manage. I don’t think about that, it’s not about [them], it’s about the team. We are all grown-ups, this is a business.

“I’m sure you have colleagues you don’t like to work with. It’s a business, I see it like this. You need to be practical with this stuff.

“But that is not a thing which would influence what we are doing. That is their problem, not ours, should it happen.”

Hulkenberg was also open to the idea of sitting opposite Magnussen at Haas.

“I’d love to see that,” the German said. “Honestly, the teammate is the teammate. You have to accept them. With some you get on, but you don’t have to get on.

“Maybe it’s better, I don’t know. I don’t think that would be a deal-breaker for me.”

Regardless of what the future may have in store for Hulkenberg, current teammate Daniel Ricciardo hopes the “no-nonsense” German will remain in F1.

“I’m not sure yet what his plan is. If he wants to keep racing in F1, I hope for him he finds something,” the Aussie told Motorsport.com.

“He’s been, I want to say, easy to work with. We kind of just did our thing.

“He’s experienced, he’s been around. It’s kind of no-nonsense, ‘we’re here, we’re going to race’ and try to give the team as much info as possible.

“It’s a relaxed approach with him and up until now it’s been pretty effortless.”

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F1 drivers warned not to indulge in backing-off qualie tactics

November 15, 2019 | News | No Comments

The FIA has warned drivers to expect grid penalties if they indulge in undesirable backing-off tactics during Saturday’s qualifying session at Monza.

Speaking to the congregation of drivers at Friday evening’s briefing, F1 race director Michael Masi said that he will not accept a repeat of the antics that took place at Spa last weekend, when drivers deliberately slowed and queued up in order to seek an opportunistic tow from a rival.

Monza’s topography lends itself well to slip-streaming tactics from which drivers can gain up to half a second.

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Russell predicting slipstream chaos in Monza qualifying

Masi refrained from imposing a strict rule to regulate tow tactics during qualifying but urged drivers to resort to common sense and not drive unnecessarily slow.

The FIA lowered the boom on fifteen F3 drivers during their qualifying session at Monza on Friday, handing out penalties to those you had purposefully – and dangerously – slowed on the back straight while other cars arrived at full speed.

Williams’ George Russell said he was expecting “chaos” to ensue during this afternoon’s qualie while Sebastian Vettel also predicted some “strange games” to take place.

“If you look on paper, this is the place where you expect these kind of strange games,” said the German, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“There’s very little you can do to sort of prepare because it depends on the timing of the session.

“Here I think the lap is a bit shorter so maybe it buys you a bit more flexibility but yeah, we’ll see on Saturday.”

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'Climate of Xenophobia' Gripping Europe, UN Official Warns

November 14, 2019 | News | No Comments

As more details indicate the killing of British lawmaker Jo Cox was politically motivated, the United Nations Refugee Agency head is warning of a “climate of xenophobia” gripping Europe.

Speaking to Agence France-Presse in Tehran on Saturday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said, “Refugees… don’t bring danger” but “flee from dangerous places.”

He put responsibility on the shoulders of national leaders, saying that those who don’t talk about the benefits of immigration but instead “stir up public opinion against refugees and migrants have a responsibility in creating a climate of xenophobia that is very worrying in today’s Europe.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also touched on the issue on Saturday, urging the region to reject “barriers and bigotry” as a response to the influx of refugees and instead take “a humane and human rights-based approach” because that’s “our humanitarian imperative. It is what we must do as a human family.”

The UN officials’ comments come just days after the death of Jo Cox, a Labour Party MP and long-time humanitarian and advocate of refugees. She was shot and stabbed Thursday by Thomas Mair, one of her constituents.

When asked for his name in court on Saturday, Mair said, “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain.” Mair has also been linked to a neo-Nazi group and reportedly shouted during the attack, “Britain First,” the name of a far-right group.

Cox, in contrast, had issued just days before her death an article in defense of immigrants, writing, “We cannot allow voters to fall for the spin that a vote to leave is the only way to deal with concerns about immigration,” referring to the June 23 referendum on whether Britons want to stay or leave the EU. The Remain and Leave campaigns resumed on Sunday following a three-day pause since Cox’s death.

Her husband, Brendan Cox, on Thursday tweeted “Vile” in response to a tweet by the Leave campaign of a picture depicting a long line of refugees with the words “Breaking Point. The EU has failed us all. We must break from of the EU and take back control of our borders.”

Mr. Cox has also accused mainstream politicians of legitimizing the views of the populist right spreading across Europe, thereby “reinforc[ing] their frames and pull[ing] the debate further to the extremes (Sarkozy and the continuing rise of Front National is a case in point).”

According to the Globe and Mail‘s Mark MacKinnon, “angry nationalism is back—no longer as a bit player, but as a mainstream force in European politics.”

He notes Sunday that “pro-Brexiters deftly switched from arguing with the Remain side over the economic benefits and drawbacks of the EU, to hammering home a message that Britain needs to leave the 28-member bloc in order to curb immigration.”

“A vote for a Brexit on Thursday would almost certainly presage the end of [Prime Minister David] Cameron’s premiership, likely ushering in a government headed by Conservative rebel Boris Johnson, whom many in the British press—and some cabinet colleagues—have labeled a better-educated version of Mr. Trump,” he continues.

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Obama's Historic Hiroshima Visit Underscores Nuclear Hypocrisy

November 14, 2019 | News | No Comments

President Barack Obama on Friday will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit to Hiroshima, Japan—a visit, according to anti-nuclear campaigners, that “rings hollow without far bolder efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.”

During his visit, Obama will reportedly offer no apology for the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on the Japanese city 71 years ago, which killed 140,000 people, though lingering effects, both physical and psychological, remain today.

At the start of his presidency, in 2009, Obama gave a speech in Prague during which he called for world without nuclear weapons and said, “the United States will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same.”

Yet that lofty goal “has been replaced by an administration plan to build a new generation of U.S. nuclear weapons and nuclear production facilities to last the nation well into the second half of the 21st century”—to the tune of $1 trillion over three decades, and in violation of the terms of the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, historian Lawrence Wittner wrote.

Failing to achieve that commitment, according to 84-year-old atomic bomb survivors Setsuko Thurlow, is “a huge, huge disappointment for the world.”

As Greenpeace Japan and the the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) argue, there’s actually been backwards movement away from that goal.

“We welcome President Obama’s attempt to understand the miseries of nuclear warfare, but this visit rings hollow without far bolder efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons,” said Hisayo Takada, deputy program director at Greenpeace Japan. “If the U.S. wants to help build a peaceful world, it is not enough to only visit the ruins of the past.”

The nuclear arsenal modernization, combined with the administration’s slashing of funding for nonproliferation efforts, “is wholly unacceptable for a Nobel Peace laureate, ” Takada added.

And Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, said that during Obama’s presidency, “U.S. nuclear policy has been nothing but disappointing for those who believed that Obama could make real change on nuclear weapons—in particular its boycott of a promising new process to ban nuclear weapons.” Fihn added that the Hiroshima visit “comes at a time when the risk of a nuclear detonation is at its highest since the end of the Cold War.”

Reuters reports that the visit “will symbolize a new level of reconciliation between former wartime enemies who are now close allies. It will also underscore Obama’s efforts to improve U.S.-Japan ties, marked by an Asia-Pacific trade pact as well as cooperation against China’s pursuit of maritime claims and the nuclear threat from North Korea.”

But according to Vancouver-based writer Satoko Oka Norimatsu, the fact that “Obama will be accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the man who has claimed that nuclear weapons were not unconstitutional and is busier than ever with his war preparations,” further adds to problems with the Hiroshima tour.

As for what Obama should do during his visit, Derek Johnson, executive director of the nuclear weapons abolition movement Global Zero, says, “He can speak again about threat of nuclear weapons, or he can take urgent action to reduce that threat. That means retiring dangerous Cold War policies like keeping U.S. nuclear forces on hair-trigger alert and reversing course on his misguided nuclear weapons spending spree.

“President Obama still has time to set something bold in motion—something worthy of the vision he laid out in Prague, something that honors the brutal lessons of Hiroshima,” Johnson continued. “For a little while longer, it’s not too late.”

The Federation of American Scientists estimates that the number of nuclear weapons in the world tops 15,000, with the U.S. stockpile alone topping 4,500.

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Inside the $18,000 a night Indonesian resort where Jennifer Lawrence spent her honeymoon

November 14, 2019 | News | No Comments

Jennifer Lawrence and husband Cooke Maroney made worldwide headlines when they wed in a lavish ceremony in October, so it only makes sense that in order to get away from it all they went as far from Los Angeles as possible. Enter, Nihi Sumba, the luxury Indonesian resort promising total privacy.

Located on a remote Indonesian island a short flight from Jakarta, the resort is a favourite of the rich and famous thanks to its secluded grounds — all 530 private acres of it — and intimate 33 villas. Complete with a private beach and total serenity, the resort is just over the water from Australia and just a stone’s throw from neighbouring tourist islands including Lombok and Bali.

According to , Lawrence and Cooke stayed in the even more exclusive private residence usually occupied by the owner of the resort, Chris Burch. The property, named Mendaka, is said to cost AU$18,000 per night.

Previous guests of the resort have included Christian Bale, as well as Brody Jenner and Kaitlynn Carter who celebrated their wedding on the island in 2018.

The resort is the ultimate island retreat. Proving there’s merit in laid-back beach living with interiors to match, Nihi Sumba does understated luxury in spades. The private villas are nestled among trees, peeking out at the pristine coastline. Most have their own plunge pool and all are decorated in fresh and modern versions of traditional Indonesian design.

Almost treehouse-like in their style, each villa is custom-fitted in bespoke finishings and completed with a locally-thatched roof. The result is total island living — but more five-star chic than beachside shack.

Activities available to guests include horse riding (apparently done by the newlyweds), snorkelling and even swimming with turtles in the resort’s shallow beachfront.

Happy honeymoon, Jennifer and Cooke — next time, can we come?

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Keira Knightley Shows Off Her Bright Off-Duty Style in Venice with Striped Coordinates

November 14, 2019 | News | No Comments

Keira Knightley is taking her duties as the face of luxury brand Chanel very seriously. Not only is the British beauty fronting the designer’s perfume (Coco Mademoiselle) and lipstick (Rouge Coco), but she’s also set to model the brand’s jewelry line, Coco Crush, in the fall—and on Wednesday, the brand ambassador stepped out in Venice, Italy, in a colorful striped street style look as part of her visit to attend the city’s Culture Chanel event.

The actress would have made Coco Chanel proud in the flirty striped coordinating pieces she wore walking the pier in Venice. The 31-year-old opted to wear a multi-colored striped top with a gold-embellished scoop neckline and ruffle adornments on the sleeves, which she paired with a matching midi-length skirt with differently hued panels. She finished off her effortless look with a large quilted Chanel bag with a chain strap, which she matched to her peep-toe lace-up sandals.

RELATED: Keira Knightley Looks Ethereal in Blue for a Chanel Fine Jewelry Dinner in N.Y.C.

The Imitation Game star finished off her warm weather look with oversize round sunglasses, relaxed middle-parted locks, and a fresh face for the outing.

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Month: November 2019