It was a difficult weekend for Charles Leclerc and a positive conclusion for Ferrari as solid points finishes for the Monegasque driver and his team-mate Carlos Sainz saw them increase Ferrari’s lead on Constructors’ rival McLaren in the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.
But Sainz and Leclerc, who finished 7th and 8th respectively, did have contrasting races, with Leclerc making up places following a disappointing qualifying, where he had to settle for 13th place. Sainz, however, dropped back slightly from his 5th place grid position, which he earned thanks to grid penalties to Valterri Bottas and Max Verstappen. Leclerc’s qualifying was complicated due to a cracked chassis which, as well as hindering his on-track pace, also instigated an off-track race to replace the chassis before the start of Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag at the first edition of the Qatar Grand Prix. The Brit finished comfortably ahead of his championship rival Max Verstappen who had done well to fight through the field, having received a grid penalty for failing to slow during yellow flags which saw him start in 7th. Fernando Alonso rounded off the podium with an impressive drive, to secure his first podium since 2014.
Verstappen quickly rectified his error in qualifying and had already made his way into P4 by turn two of the first lap. Having then dispatched with relative ease the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly and the Alpine of Alonso, he then found himself once more behind his championship rival. But Hamilton was in a class of his own on the weekend and the Mercedes’ pace went unmatched.
Elsewhere in the field, punctures to Bottas, who later retired from the race, and Lando Norris played into the hands of Ferrari who found themselves within the points scoring positions. The race was deprived of much on-track drama, but that did not bother Ferrari, nor Leclerc. The Italian manufacturer now has a 39.5 point cushion to McLaren, whilst Leclerc has closed the gap on Norris to just one point.
Leclerc, although far from content with the result overall, recognised the achievement in its context, saying after the race: “In terms of the overall result, there is nothing to be excited about when you only finish in P8. But considering that I started from a long way back and looking at the strong pace I had, especially in the second stint on the hard tyre, I think we made a really good recovery.”
Next on the calendar is the inaugural Saudi Arabia Grand Prix – the penultimate race of the season. Leclerc will be hoping to jump Norris into 5th position whilst the title battle looks likely to go into the final race of the season, with Verstappen’s lead over Hamilton currently at a slender eight points.
Peace and Sport, the organisation aiming to build safe and cooperative communities through the power of sport, has nominated the initiatives for this year’s Peace and Sport Awards, including one category that requires the help of the public.
From specific field programmes to global projects, nominees for the Peace and Sport Awards are doing their part to promote harmony, unite communities and create dialogues amongst people with religious, political or ethnic differences through the use of sport as a healthy outlet.
The 2021 Peace and Sport Award nominees have been selected for their individual initiatives in three categories, those being the April6 Initiative of the Year, NGO of the Year and Institution of the Year.
The mission of both the organisation and the awards is to provide a platform for stakeholders on sport for development and peace to connect and to generate more cooperation for the development of peace through sport programmes.
“Over the past year, in a context marked again by the global health crisis, stakeholders in Sport for Peace have continued to use sport for social good and they have made a huge contribution to the peace-through-sport movement,” said Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport.
“The nominees of this 2021 edition have led inspiring projects that are symbolic of sport’s capacity to bring dialogue within and between communities. Through the awards, we will come together to celebrate the unique power of sport. We will highlight and reward with five prizes the incredible vitality and inventiveness of sport for peace initiatives. These awards showcase best practices, so they can be duplicated to amplify our impact.”
The jury is comprised of notable sport figures such as athletics gold and silver medalist Mutaz Barshim, first captain of the Palestinian women’s national soccer team Honey Thaljieh, European gymnastics champion Samir Ait Said, athletics Olympic silver medalist Charmaine Crooks, athletics Olympic bronze Medalist Muriel Hurtis, and world karate champion Laurence Fischer, who will make the difficult choice of narrowing the field down to a single winner in each category.
The nominees for the April6 Initiative of the Year were selected through their contributions, as an individual or an association, to the celebration of April6, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. Through a #whiteCard campaign or an awareness-raising event on the use of sport as a conduit for peace.
This year’s nominees are the Cape Verdean Olympic Committee for their ‘Sport for Development and Peace Celebrations’. The operation brought together local Olympic clubs from five Cape Verdean islands who organised multisport events and conferences to celebrate April6.
The next to be nominated in this category is the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs with their ‘April6 Virtual Race- Forum: Diplomacy and Sport Cooperation in a World in Turmoil’. The initiative was launched by the Institute of Mexicans Abroad platforms and the Technical Council for Diplomacy and Sports Cooperation in a virtual event asking participants to run wherever they could, indoors or out, for either three, five or 10 kilometres whilst raising their #White Cards in a symbol of Solidarity. Several countries caught wind of the occasion and joined the over 20 million people already in the Mexican diaspora.
Last is the World Rafting Federation Digital Awareness Campaign, ‘Be White Water’. The organisation aimed to give voice to meaningful stories of respect, sharing and inclusion that are at the heart of the rafting community. Rafting enthusiasts and pros the world over shared their stories of how the sport has fostered gender equality and social inclusion, bringing unlikely people together to work as teams.
The NGO of the Year Award gives an NGO that invests in sport as an educational and social method for lasting peace.
The nominees are the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies with their ‘Uniting through the Power of Football’ project. The programme combines the Football for Development project and the IFRC’s youth leadership program, Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change in order to create leaders of tomorrow and promote social entrepreneurial skills to some of the world’s most vulnerable children. They do this through football activities, training courses, psychological and financial support, and workshops.
The second nominee in this category is Malaika for the ‘Malaika Community Centre’. Founded in 2007 by Noella Coursaris Musunka, an international Congolese/Cypriot model and philanthropist, Malaika has grown into an all-encompassing ecosystem, impacting thousands of lives each year through four core programmes. Free access is given to the whole community and the association has created a school to educate 400 girls. Additionally, they have purpose built a community centre, a sustainable agricultural programme and a clean water programme.
Finally, the ‘Inclusive Sports Unite’ programme by Dunk Grassroots in on the shortlist. This NGO mobilises and empowers children from poor urban communities in Ghana using sport. It promotes social cohesion, gender equality and education, building life skills to help these kids grow up to be peaceful and collaborative adults. The programme focuses on basketball and football, organising activities and tournaments as well as supporting after-school and leisure programmes as well as organising internship opportunities. Photo by Lars Bo Nielsen, Unsplash
The Institution of the Year nominees have been noted for being a public entity, such as a government, region, company or state, that contributes to the projects that use precepts of peace through sport.
The Portuguese government’s Sports and Youth Secretary of State is first up with their ‘National Plan for Ethics in Sport (NPES)’. The initiative is based on training and education, focusing on primary and secondary education teachers. Sports practice and events encourage the experience of ethical values of peace such as sincerity, friendship, respect, loyalty. Publications, Research and Digital Platform dealing with scientific studies; awareness campaigns on Radio, TV and the ‘Fairplay Card’ aim to recognize relevant attitudes of those who play. 350,000 of children from all over Portugal benefited from the NPES, and were encouraged by famous local athletes.
The International Paralympic Committee Worldwide Digital Awareness Campaign, #Wethe15, is the next nominee. #Wethe15 is a worldwide digital awareness campaign that places people with disabilities at the heart of the inclusion agenda. Launched before the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, #WeThe15 aims to end discrimination against people with disabilities who make up 15% of the global population, by publicly acting for visibility, accessibility and inclusion. #Wethe15 gathered a massive response on social media, with over 2.5 billion interactions. More than 125 iconic landmarks around the world, such as the Colosseum in Rome and the Empire State Building in New York, were lit up in purple, the campaign’s colour.
Last but not least, the International Cycling Union is up with their ‘Evacuation Procedure of Afghan Refugees’. Following the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in August 2021, the International Cycling Union (UCI), its President David Lappartient, and other members of the Cycling community have been key players in the evacuation of 165 refugees from Afghanistan. Thanks to this operation, female cyclists, members of the Afghan cycling management, artists, judges, journalists, and human rights campaigners have been able to reach Europe. Thirty-eight of these Afghan evacuees, were welcomed to join the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC), in Aigle in Switzerland. A great demonstration of solidarity, proving the power of sport to unite people, transform lives and build a better world.
All the Peace and Sport Awards winners 2021 and the next Champion for Peace of the Year will be revealed on the organisations’ social media networks from 7th to 11th December.
A spirited second-half performance from AS Monaco saw them rescue a point against reigning Ligue 1 champions Lille. The game looked beyond Nico Kovac’s side having conceded twice early on, but Wissam Ben Yedder’s unlikely equaliser following an ASM red card saw the game finish 2-2.
For the first match after the international break, Kovac deployed a slightly unfamiliar system. Aware of the threat posed by Lille’s 4-4-2, ASM matched their formation with the aim of nullifying the attacking threat, which had the potential of creating overloads on the ASM defence.
This plan however, was quickly torn-up, either through a lack of sharpness following the break, or a lack of preparation in this unfamiliar system. Within two minutes, Lille took the lead from the penalty spot after Strahinja Pavlovic’s reckless challenge in the box, which saw the Serb subsequently receive a yellow card. The prolific Jonathan David finished from the spot, sending ASM keeper Alexander Nübel the wrong way.
Lille weren’t done there. What followed the opener was a relentless barrage on the ASM goal, which, had Lille been more clinical, could have seen them out of sight within the first 30 minutes. David got his second in only the 8th minute, latching onto a simple ball over the top and neatly slotting past Nübel to double their lead.
Lille continued to carve open the ASM defence at will, with untracked runners easily running in behind the defence. Good chances fell to David, who could have easily had a first-half hat-trick, Nanitamo Ikoné, and Timothy Weah. The turning point came late in the first-half, when Daivd, through on goal, failed in his attempt to chip Nübel; Monaco then went down the other end and scored through a rifled shot from Krépin Diatta, to give ASM an unlikely route back into the tie.
ASM, having reverted to a more familiar 3-4-3, came out completely revitalised for the second-half. Kovac’s men created a flurry of high-quality chances, lifting the crowd, and the players in return fed off their intensity. Despite this, ASM couldn’t get the ball over the line, Kevin Volland was denied by an expert goal-line clearance, whilst good chances also fell to Gelson Martins and Axel Disasi.
ASM’s chances of rescuing a draw looked to have been scuppered, when Pavlovic, already on a yellow card, saw a second yellow and subsequent red card for a carbon-copy of his first challenge. Ben Yedder, however, rescued a point late-on with a fiercely-hit shot, which beat the Lille goalkeeper for pace, and earned Monaco a deserved point.
Monaco winger Sofiane Diop praised the side’s second-half performance. “Even though we would have preferred a different result, this second-half will do us a lot of good… it gives us a lot of confidence physically and mentally.”
Looking forward, Diop sees the result as a building-block for Thursday night’s match against Real Sociedad, as well as for the rest of the season. “I am very confident that this match will be important for the rest of the season.”
Photo source: AS Monaco
Twins send love to Princess Charlene on National Day
It was the tear-jerker moment of National Day celebrations, when twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella held up signs from the Palace window saying “We miss you mommy” and “We love you mommy”, as Prince Albert put his hand to his heart.
It was always going to be a day of mixed emotions – a solemn mass at the Cathedral, the awarding of medals to service men and women, a celebration of 724 years of the House of Grimaldi.
But most poignantly, for the first time since their marriage 10 years ago, Princess Charlene was absent from National Day festivities this year in Monaco.
However, she was certainly not forgotten. About an hour after appearing in the Palace window alongside their father Prince Albert for the official military parade, six-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella held up hand-drawn signs saying “We miss you mommy” and “We love you mommy”, complete with red love hearts. A smiling Prince Albert looked to the crowd for their reaction, then affectionately put his hand to his heart and signaled a kiss as the crowd cheered on in support of the family.
The Princess was due to appear alongside her husband and two children to mark the special day, but the Palace revealed earlier in the week that she needed more time to recover from her state of “deep general fatigue”, in a location outside of the Principality.
In an interview with People published on Friday, Prince Albert further revealed that Princess Charlene’s current state is the result “of several factors which are private matters.” He added, “she was clearly exhausted, physically and emotionally. She was overwhelmed and couldn’t face official duties, life in general or even family life.”
The Prince said that his wife had agreed that the best thing for her was to “have a rest and have a real medically framed treatment,” in a facility outside of Monaco for privacy reasons. Photo by Michael Alesi / Stéphane Danna, Government Communication Department
Earlier on National Day, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, decked out in full military attire, embraced their public duties and stood alongside their aunts Caroline, Princess of Hanover, and Princess Stephanie as Prince Albert completed the traditional awarding of medals in the Palace courtyard.
Also present for National Day celebrations was the extended Princely family, including Pierre Casiraghi and his wife Beatrice, Louis Ducruet and his wife Marie, Pauline Ducruet and Camille Gottlieb.
Top photo Michael Alesi / Stéphane Danna, Government Communication Department
Soriano Giaguaro: the future of electric motorbikes
Monaco Life was in Milan for the recent unveiling of the Soriano Giaguaro V1R electric motorbike, “one of the most advanced, stylish, environmentally friendly Italian machines on the planet.”
There are many things that Italy is famous for: the food, the wine, the fashion and the very fast cars. Something Italy is not decidedly famous for is superbikes, but that hasn’t stopped Marco Antonio Soriano from relocating the family’s motorcycle company, founded in Madrid in 1939, to Bel Paese and entrusting the Soriano legacy to a team of local experts.
On 10th November that team joined Marco, Founder of Soriano Motori Corp, for the fervent unveiling of the Giaguaro V1R electric motorbike in Milan – a profound revamp of the 1944 Tigre created by his grandfather, the impressively named Ricardo Soriano Hermensdorff von Scholtz, Marquis of Ivanrey. That 96cc beauty was also on display in Milan, a stark reminder of how far technology has come in 80 years. Ricardo Soriano Hermensdorff von Scholtz The original 1944 96cc Tigre, photo credit Simona Bruno
“It is an emotional moment today because it is my family legacy,” Soriano tells Monaco Life. “Not everyone has this history, this nostalgia and emotion. I think the human factor is driven by emotion, and this is where my creativity comes from.”
What began as a design on a napkin has become a game-changing vehicle that oozes Italian sophistication and style; a powerful sports bike designed to satisfy a generation of younger riders who want to position themselves in a sustainable future.
“The owners of Soriano EV motorcycles are promised to be piloting one of the most advanced, stylish, and environmentally friendly Italian machines on the planet,” says Soriano.
The motorbike features two electric motors which consist of liquid-cooled brushless units developed in collaboration with Moog. It weighs in at 100 kilograms, can charge from empty in 15 minutes, has a range of 320 kilometres, a max of 180kms/h and measures 80hp (60kw) thanks to a powerful 15-20kw battery comprised of high-capacity Lithium Polymer. With an acceleration of zero to 100kms (60mph) in 3.5 seconds, the Soriano Giaguaro (Jaguar) V1 measures up to many hypercars today.
Production takes place at two state-of-the-art facilities in Oggiono and Lecco, towns surrounding Lake Como, Italy. Photo credit Simona Bruno
The V1R and V1S are leading the charge, but the diverse range will also include a sports model – and all three are set to showcase at the Milan Motorcycle Show (EICMA) from 25th to 28th November.
“The most important features that we had to keep in mind were the range, the performance, the weight, and we had to develop the right components in order to deliver the whole package,” says Designer Lykos Ornerakis.
It means that the major elements – the chassis, engine and management software – are completely “Made by Soriano”. So too are the unique gearbox and clutch systems, intended to really coax people away from petrol power.
“The problem with EVs, especially in the two-wheel sector, is the noise, or lack of it,” says Marco Soriano. “So, we created a technical sound system that allows you to hear the bike in three different sounds: the ‘vroom’ of the past, the EV ‘whistle’ of today, and the ‘enterprise’ sound of the future.” Photo credit Simona Bruno
“The second problem was a lack of gear shifting,” adds the motorbike enthusiast. “EVs are automated, so we added that component and, in doing so, we invented a brand new type of engine that connects to a gear box of five gears plus one that goes backwards, allowing you to go in reverse.”
While contributing to that motorbike thrill, sound also increases safety, something very few electric two wheelers can boast today.
With delayed progress on electric motorcycles from the other big manufacturers, including Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, the time is ripe for Soriano to begin rolling out its SV two-wheel series.
But the market is gearing up, with Kawasaki expected to unveil its first electric motorcycle that same week at EICMA, and Ducati, Italy’s most famous motorcycle brand, announcing that it will supply e-motorcycles for MotoE races from 2023, even though it hasn’t made an e-bike yet.
Still, there’s luxury in buying from boutique manufacturers like Soriano Motori, which allows people to customise their electric motorbikes for a total fee of between 25,000€ and 35,000€.
So far, 80% of the first 100 motorbikes sold are headed to the United States where Marco Soriano is resident with his wife and three children. He’s now turning his attention to Europe, including Monaco. The Soriano Motori team and models wearing Soriano fashion, photo by Monaco Life
There’s a saying among motorcyclists that driving a car is like watching a movie, whereas riding a motorbike is like being in one. Well, there are few landscapes as epic as the winding coastal roads between Italy and France, not to mention Monaco’s commitment to trimming CO2 emissions and reducing traffic congestion.
“I am already looking to collaborate with various groups in Monaco to open up one of our very first retail stores there in the Principality,” reveals Soriano. “It is great for the brand and for sustainability. My appreciation is that Monaco embraces sustainability at a different level and we have a very strong ESG framework that I would like to share with the people of Monaco.”
That ESG commitment also includes the recycling of their electric batteries, which allows clients to recondition the component for a lifespan of 10 years.
Overall, Soriano’s complex modular system, with patented technologies, can be transferred to any other type of electric vehicle, so we plan on seeing more global electric vehicle development from this innovative company in the years ahead.
Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett will be playing live at the Opera Garnier this month, performing all the hits from his time with the band as well as from his solo career.
Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer… these are the many hats Steve Hackett has worn in his long and distinguished career in the music business. Now he is bringing his magic to Monaco where he will perform on stage at the Opera Garnier on Thursday 25th November.
Hackett came to fame as the lead guitarist for the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977, contributing to six of the band’s studio albums, three live ones, seven singles and an EP before leaving to try his hand at a solo career.
As a soloist, he released several acclaimed albums, including a favourite of slain rock legend John Lennon, Selling England by the Pound.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 2010 as a member of Genesis and hit the road again in 2013 after a long absence from touring, where he found a new set of fans and a renewed interest in his music.
By 2019, Hackett’s live performances were at their zenith, and he was playing sold out shows worldwide. The pandemic forced some cancellations, but he resumed touring as soon as was possible, allowing for the Monaco date.
During this same period, he also released his autobiography, A Genesis in my Bed, and announced an upcoming collaboration with Roger King for an acoustic album to be called Under a Mediterranean Sky.
Hackett will be playing at the Salle Garnier at the Opera de Monte Carlo on 25th November at 8:30pm.
Photo by Lee Millward
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