F1 | What tyres will the teams and drivers have for the first ever Qatar Grand Prix at Losail?

The first ever Qatar Grand Prix takes place this weekend at Losail International Circuit, and Pirelli have announced their tyre nominations for Round 20 of the 2021 World Championship.

Qatar ends a triple-header that began with a dominant Max Verstappen display in Mexico and continued with a terrific Lewis Hamilton comeback in Brazil. For this 57-lap race, Pirelli have nominated the three hardest compounds in their range.

That means the C1 (hard, x2 sets), C2 (medium, x3 sets) and C3 (soft, x8 sets) tyres will be in use for the fifth and, according to Pirelli, last time this year. The tyre suppliers add that Losail may be a “high-severity circuit… similar to Silverstone or Mugello” with sand from the desert affecting grip.  —read more— 

Pirelli’s Qatar Grand Prix preview. Minimum starting pressures: 22.0 psi (front) | 19.5 psi (rear); EOS camber limit:-3.25° (front) | -2.00 ° (rear)

F1 | Hamilton takes victory in Brazil after stunning drive from P10 and pass on Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after a sensational battle with his rival Max Verstappen in an absolutely enthralling return to Brazil for F1. Verstappen finished runner-up ahead of pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton enjoyed a terrific start from P10 on the grid and was clearly on the charge, team mate Bottas – who lost the lead to Verstappen at the start – letting him for P5 by on Lap 5. Hamilton then took P2 off Perez in a duel that began on Lap 17 and culminated in a Lap 19 pass at Turn 4. The first stops took place around Lap 25 but the action built up to a terrific crescendo after Verstappen took a second stop on Lap 41, Hamilton on Lap 44.  —read more—

F1 | Bottas wins F1 Sprint to claim pole for Sao Paulo GP as Hamilton fights back from last to P5

Valtteri Bottas won the Sprint in Brazil to take pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, as Lewis Hamilton recovered from last place to fifth with a scintillating drive.

Bottas, starting on soft tyres from P2, began with a huge launch off the line to pry the lead off medium-shod Verstappen, who went wide in the opening lap but rescued P2 by re-passing Sainz soon afterwards. As those soft tyres began to drop off, Verstappen closed in on Bottas but ended up 1.1s off the Finn for P2 at the flag. Sainz, meanwhile, held off Sergio Perez for the final point by a second.  —read more— 

F1 | QUALIFYING: Hamilton beats Verstappen to seal top grid slot for F1 Sprint in Brazil

Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying to secure P1 on the grid for the Saturday Sprint at Sao Paulo ahead of Red Bull rival Max Verstappen and Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas.

This being a Sprint weekend, qualifying took place on Friday afternoon to set the grid for tomorrow’s 100km dash – which will then set the grid for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Having led Q1 – Verstappen 0.6s off in P6 – Hamilton then topped Q2 to leave the Dutchman third and 0.4s off. In Q3, the Mercedes driver squeezed everything out of his new engine to set the fastest time of 1m07.934s and leave his rival second by 0.438s and Bottas third, another tenth off. With Hamilton’s new engine, however, comes a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Grand Prix.  —read more—  

F1 | What tyres will the teams and drivers have for the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and Sprint?

The third and final Sprint of 2021 beckons this weekend as does the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with Interlagos returning to the calendar for the first time since 2019. Here are the tyre allocations for this weekend’s event.

Pirelli have nominated the hard C2s (x2), medium C3s (x4) and soft C4s (x6). That is the same nomination as it was in Mexico and the United States, but teams have one fewer set of tyres owing to the Sprint. However, these tyres are one step softer than they were in 2019 when Interlagos last held the Brazilian GP.

In case of wet weather, teams have up to six sets of intermediates and three sets of full wet tyres this weekend.  —read more—  

There is no fear on Wall Street. Only greed

New York (CNN Business) – The current mood on Wall Street can only be described in one way: euphoric.

All the major stock market indexes are at record highs. The Nasdaq is on an eleven-day winning streak. Bond yields remain relatively low. And cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum are at all-time highs too.

It’s no wonder then that the CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which looks at seven gauges of market sentiment, is showing levels of Extreme Greed in the market.  —read more— 

Short squeezes are pushing these stocks to the moon

  New York (CNN Business) – The individual investor army on Reddit that helped push GameStop and AMC to unprecedented heights earlier this year has found some more companies to rally around.

Several stocks that have enjoyed extraordinary pops lately, such as Avis Budget (CAR) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), have become so-called meme stocks that many professional investors have bet against … and have gotten burned for because of what’s known as a short squeeze.  —read more— 

Avis stock more than doubles after strong earnings show no end to rental car boom

  New York (CNN Business) – Avis Budget investors didn’t really need to try harder to make any money from the stock on Tuesday. The rental car company’s shares more than doubled after Avis Budget reported strong earnings Monday evening that easily topped Wall Street’s forecasts.

The stock was up as much as 218% at one point and was up “only” 110% in late afternoon trading Tuesday. It was halted several times because of volatility. Avis Budget (CAR) is now up about 875% this year.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Zillow’s home-buying debacle shows how hard it is to use AI to value real estate

Zillow took a $304 million inventory write-down in the third quarter, which it blamed on having recently purchased homes for prices that are higher than it thinks it can sell them.

(CNN) – In February, Zillow appeared so confident in its ability to use artificial intelligence to estimate the value of homes that it announced a new option: for certain homes, its so-called “Zestimate” would also represent an initial cash offer from the company to purchase the property.

The move, touted by a company exec at the time as “an exciting advancement,” was intended to streamline the process for homeowners considering selling to Zillow as part of its home-flipping business. Zillow promoted this option as a way to make it convenient to sell a home while minimizing interactions with others during the pandemic. Just eight months later, however, the company is shutting down that business, Zillow Offers, entirely.  —read more— 

CNN politics | Hackers have breached organizations in defense and other sensitive sectors, security firm says

(CNN) – Suspected foreign hackers have breached nine organizations in the defense, energy, health care, technology and education sectors — and at least one of those organizations is in the US, according to findings that security firm Palo Alto Networks shared exclusively with CNN.

With the help of the National Security Agency, cybersecurity researchers are exposing an ongoing effort by these unidentified hackers to steal key data from US defense contractors and other sensitive targets.

It’s the type of cyber espionage that security agencies in both the Biden and Trump administrations have aggressively sought to expose before it does too much damage. The goal in going public with the information is to warn other corporations that might be targeted and to burn the hackers’ tools in the process.  —read more—  

F1 | Verstappen extends championship lead after jumping both Mercedes at the start to win in Mexico

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to a record third career Mexico City Grand Prix victory ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez – who became the first Mexican driver to take a Formula 1 podium at their home race.

The joy of Valtteri Bottas’s shock pole position was short-lived as Verstappen swept around the outside of the two Mercedes into the first corner on the opening lap. Bottas was then tipped into a spin by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo into Turn 2 to leave Verstappen leading Hamilton then Perez behind the Safety Car, which was called back for a Lap 5 race restart, as Bottas dropped to the back of the field.  —read more— 

F1 | QUALIFYING: Mercedes shock Red Bull as Bottas takes pole ahead of Hamilton in Mexico

Valtteri Bottas soaked up the pressure and ripped up the formbook to take a sensational pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix, as his Mercedes team upset the odds and outpaced favourites Red Bull.

The Finn was positioned on track to give championship contender and team mate Lewis Hamilton a tow on both runs in qualifying, but it was the Alfa Romeo-bound driver who was the fastest Silver Arrows car on Saturday.  —read more—