Anatoly Chubais, who resigned as a high-ranking adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin and left Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, was reported to be in intensive care in a European hospital for a neurological disorder
Anatoly Chubais, who resigned as a high-ranking adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin and left Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, was reported to be in intensive care in a European hospital on Sunday for a neurological disorder.
Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian television personality and family friend of Chubais, said on Telegram that she had spoken with his wife, Avdotya, and that he was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome. She did not say which clinic he was in.
Guillain-Barre is a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. Sobchak said Chubais’ condition was “unstable,” but she quoted him as saying it was “moderate, stable.”
Although Chubais did not state his reason for resigning in March, it was presumed to be because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
His was the highest-level of a series of official resignations. Chubais had most recently been Putin’s envoy to international organizations on sustainable development. He is well-known in Russia, having held high-profile posts since the early 1990s, when he oversaw privatization efforts under Boris Yeltsin.
Wins don’t come much more emphatic than from 10th on the grid at the Hungaroring.
Max Verstappen’s against-the-odds victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix was only the fourth time someone’s won in Budapest starting further back than the front two rows. Not only was it a clear underline on Red Bull Racing’s superiority in the 2022 championship race, it was also a neat encapsulation of the entire season to date as the sport heads into the mid-season break.
It featured a wildly slow then unexpectedly and inexplicably fast Mercedes that threatened to win the race but ultimately couldn’t manage it.
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It featured Ferrari somehow fumbling what should’ve been an unimpeachable pace advantage early in the weekend to finish off the podium and denying it lacks operational sharpness.
And as its centrepiece it featured Red Bull Racing executing most effectively, Verstappen seizing his opportunities and both ending Sunday with enhanced points leads.
You almost don’t need to have seen any other race this year to understand where the championship stands and predict where it’ll head when racing resumes at the end of August after the mid-season break.
REMINDER: FERRARI TARGETED TO ONE-TWO
There’s no team that needs the mid-season break more urgently than Ferrari, which contributed yet another way to ship more points to Red Bull Racing and Verstappen in an already bleak title campaign.
All this despite having explicitly targeted a one-two finish just days earlier.
It won’t shock you to know that the team’s embarrassing loss came mainly from the pit wall.
Slow pit stops meant it took longer for Leclerc to pass pole-getter Russell than it should have, and it cost Sainz the opportunity to pass the Briton at all.
It then made the fatal error of swapping Leclerc onto the unfancied hard tire for his final stint in a hasty attempt to cover the undercutting Verstappen — despite the fact every other car that had used the tire was struggling badly for grip.
Not only did it cost him the lead, but he was forced into making a third stop that left him an almost unbelievable sixth at the flag.
Ferrari protested after the race that the problem wasn’t its strategy but the car, which in the cooler Sunday conditions wasn’t exhibiting the dominant edge it enjoyed during Friday practice.
Leclerc burnt by ANOTHER Ferrari blunder | 01:14
“Certainly we didn’t have the performance we were expecting,” team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports. “Whatever the tyres, somehow the performance of our cars was not as expected.
“Today the car was not behaving well, I think that’s the point.”
Binotto isn’t wrong to make that argument, but he is exaggerating. Ferrari was slower than it was on Friday, but it was still the fastest car on track.
We can make a like-for-like comparison between Leclerc and Verstappen on the medium tire in the middle of the race, Even accounting for the Dutchman’s older rubber, the Monegasque was still quicker, or at least quick enough to take him on directly.
But the team let itself be spooked by Verstappen’s second undercut attempt with 32 laps to go. Rather than race to its own pace, run deep and switch to softs — which it did with Sainz — it brought Leclerc in immediately for the hard tire and suffered the consequences.
“I felt very strong on the medium. Everything was under control,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “I don’t know why we needed to go on the hard.
“I said on the radio I was very comfortable on the medium and I wanted to go as long as possible on those tires because the feeling was good. I don’t know why we made a different decision.”
So really there are two key mistakes here. One is coolness under pressure in reading the race, and the other is misunderstanding the hard tyre, which the team thought would warm up after 10 laps but which in reality was never going to be effective. It’s not the first time it’s committed either foul this season.
Leclerc left Budapest with a whopping 80-point deficit to Verstappen and Ferrari is now 97 points adrift of Red Bull Racing. More worrying still, the team’s just 30 points ahead of Mercedes.
And with performance like that, would you be willing to back Ferrari to hold second?
Max & Lewis chuckle at Ferrari’s tactics | 00:33
MAX VERSTAPPEN PUTS ONE HAND ON THE TROPHY
If Charles Leclerc’s solo crash at the French Grand Prix effectively decided the destination of the title, Verstappen’s slick victory in Budapest gave him a chance to put one hand on the trophy.
An 80-point advantage is more than three clear race victories. He can now afford to finish second to Leclerc at every race, including the sprint in Brazil, and ship the point for fastest lap and he still won’t lose the title lead before the end of the season.
Before the mid-season break he’s been able to put the fate of the drivers championship completely in his own hands. No mean feat.
After last season’s down-to-the-wire blockbuster finale, you’ll be concerned to know we can start counting down the points needed to win the championship.
With nine rounds remaining, Verstappen can win the championship with just five more victories even if Leclerc finishes second to him in all of them. That puts him on track to claim the crown at the Japanese Grand Prix.
And perhaps Verstappen winning the next five races is unlikely — he’s yet to win more than three in a row this season — but with Mercedes potentially in the mix, he may have a team to pick points off Ferrari and Leclerc, in which case just finishing with one or two cars between him and the Monegasque regardless of their finishing position would probably be enough to get the job done.
The weekend wasn’t perfect of course. A power unit problem was part of the reason he qualified poorly, and a clutch issue spun him around in the race, temporarily costing him the lead. He’ll also need to serve a penalty for a new power unit at some point in the second half of the year, having installed his third and final motor this weekend.
But the gap is easily wide enough to absorb that pressure, and with Leclerc needing at least one more round of power unit penalties, it’s extremely difficult to imagine a scenario in which Verstappen doesn’t win the title with at least two rounds to spare
Max spins but still wins in Hungary | 01:11
MERCEDES UNEXPECTEDLY FAST BUT UNSURE ABOUT PERMANENCE
Mercedes arrived in Budapest in the brace position, appeared to be justified by its lackluster Friday performance, but by the end of the weekend it had collected its first pole of the year with George Russell and a second straight double podium.
Lewis Hamilton had even been on a late an unlikely charge for victory that team boss Toto Wolff said could’ve ended in success had he qualified higher up the grid rather than suffer a DRS failure in Q3.
What’s more, the Hungaroring layout should have been a struggle circuit for the car, which tends to prefer faster tracks — Hamilton almost won at Silverstone, both drivers showed good pace in Austria before crashing out of qualifying, and the team got both cars onto the podium in France.
Wolff, however, said it was less a case of not understanding the reasons for its speed in Budapest but rather figuring out if those reasons applied universally or only to the specific characteristics of the Hungaroring.
“It’s not that we have no clue why the car has been fast,” Wolff said, per The Race.
“We had directions during the season where we believed it would unlock the potential of the car, and it didn’t.
“So here we have another direction, and that was very quick on the stopwatch.
“But I don’t want to have another false dawn and we come to the realization tomorrow and Spa that it didn’t reap the benefits that we were hoping to have.
“In that respect, let’s just wait and see where this is going.”
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In that respect Mercedes must be frustrated to have to wait three weeks to try to validate its progress, though the triple-header comprising three distinct track types will be the ultimate test of its solution.
The team is long out of championship contention, but the W13’s fortunes are still relevant to the title outcome.
Potentially now quick enough to contend for regular merited podiums and perhaps victories at some tracks, how well Mercedes does on any given weekend will decide three things: how soon Verstappen wins the title — or, if you’re extremely optimistic, whether he wins the title; where Ferrari will finish in the constructors standings; and whether Leclerc will finish second in the drivers standings.
George Russell is now just 20 points behind Leclerc in the battle for a second, with Hamilton 12 points further back, and the team is now only 30 points short of Ferrari in the teams title battle.
It’s too late for the major prizes, but the minor placings are still very much up for grabs.
McLAREN STILL IN TOUCH FOR FOURTH DESPITE RICCIARDO PENALTY
The battle for best of the midfield is similarly still very much alive, with McLaren maintaining its four-point deficit to Alpine in fourth on the constructors title table.
Ricciardo pulls off epic double pass | 00:46
This was an improved weekend for Woking, one week after it introduced its major upgrade package at the French Grand Prix. Not only did Lando Norris again outqualify both French cars, but this week he retained his place ahead of them despite a slow first pit stop, ensuring maximum midfield points with seventh place.
He had Alpine’s unlikely one-stop strategy to thank in part. Alpine did n’t have a second set of medium tires for either driver, having burnt through them during practice, and so he had little choice but to go long, meaning he neither could challenge the leading Briton.
Daniel Ricciardo was the only weak point for McLaren. The Australian had been marginally off Norris’s pace through the race but quick enough to be running behind him before the first stops, even makingthat excellent double pass around the two battling Alpine drivers to hold the place.
But his struggles really started during his final stint on the hard tire and intensified once he was lapped, costing him precious tire temperature each time he was waved a blue flag.
The lack of grip on the white-walled tire was also behind him running wide and into Lance Stroll at turn 2, earning him a five-second penalty, when he was trying to let the Canadian by.
It left him out of the points, allowing a superb drive by Sebastian Vettel to be rewarded by one point, the German having recovered from 18th by avoiding that troublesome hard tire.
Shayna Jack almost apologized for saying she was about to get emotional after her bronze medal swim. The 23-year-old comeback star has nothing to apologize for.
After a string of cruel injuries and a two-year doping ban, Jack on Monday morning enjoyed the single sweetest moment of her swimming career and was overcome with emotion.
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Jack missed out on gold in the women’s 50m freestyle final to Aussie superstar Emma McKeon, who won a mind-boggling 11th career gold medal.
It was an astonishing medal sweep for Australia with Meg Harris taking the silver, just 0.04 seconds ahead of Jack.
Jack has previously won world championship gold medals and a Commonwealth Games gold medal in relay events — but this was her first ever major individual swimming medal. You could tell as she fronted the press after the swim that it meant everything,
Jack had qualified fastest for the final and had some regret about missing out on the gold — but falling short against one of the greatest athletes of all time is nothing to be disappointed by.
She started her brief press conference by saying: “I’m just going to get emotional.
“Like it might not have been the result I wanted tonight, but I have to be really proud of how far I’ve come.
“It’s not been an easy journey. It’s been two major hiccups. Just to be standing here today and to be able to get on the podium with these two girls is actually such an honor. I probably can’t put into words how amazing it feels to be here.”
Jack said winning a gold medal in an individual event is the next thing for her to chase with plenty of fire in her belly.
“I have always loved being part of the relays but to progress and to be on the podium as an individual swimmer is second to none,” she said.
“I’m so proud of myself and these girls tonight. We gave it our all.
“I don’t think I’ve given myself that time to recognize how far I’ve come.”
It was an emotional night for the Aussie team with McKeon also briefly breaking down in tears after her historic achievement.
Jack’s emotion shows how far she has come.
She last month became a world champion after anchoring the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team to gold in Budapest.
Jack was returning after the shock moment on the eve of the 2019 World Championships where it was revealed she had tested positive to anabolic agent Ligandrol.
Jack continually maintained her innocence and had her suspension cut in half by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in November 2020.
World champion Max Verstappen fully exploited another Ferrari flop to pull 80 points clear of Charles Leclerc in this year’s title race with an emphatic Red Bull triumph in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Just a week after his crushing win at the French Grand Prix, where Leclerc crashed out of the lead, the 24-year-old Dutchman scored his first win at the Hungaroring, his eighth this year and the 28th of his career.
Starting from 10th on the grid, after engine problems in qualifying on Saturday required a new power unit, he sliced through the field to finish 7.8 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who had started from his maiden pole position.
That was despite a 360 degree spin on lap 40 from which he managed to recover from.
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‘LET’S F***ING GO!’ Ricciardo nails insane double overtake before penalty drama strikes
“When we woke up this morning who would have thought we would win this race?” said the Dutchman.
With Russell on pole and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Leclerc second and third on the grid, pre-race forecasts made the Italian team favorites to control and win with some ease as the Red Bulls were 10th and 11th.
But a combination of poor tire management, slow pit-stops and questionable strategy saw them finish fifth and sixth, behind Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, who started 11th, after looking likely winners.
“I was hoping I could get close to a podium, but it was very tricky out there,” said Verstappen.
Max Verstappen is running away with the championship.Source: AFP
“But we had a really good strategy, we were really reactive, always pitting at the right time.” Hamilton, who started seventh was seeking to increase his record haul of eight Hungarian wins, registered his fifth consecutive podium and a successive second position.
“I was definitely struggling at the beginning, but bit by bit I got more comfortable with the balance,” he said.
“I had a really good start so I want to acknowledge my team. We’ve had a tough year and for both cars to be on the podium is an amazing way to go into the summer break.
“The other guys have an edge, but we are clearly closing the gap. Hopefully, we can bring some more into the second half of the season and start fighting with them.”
It was an up-and-down race for Daniel Ricciardo who executed a stunning double overtake on both Alpines and yelled “let’s f***ing go”, but had his race ruined after an incident with Lance Stroll.
Ricciardo made contact with the Aston Martin and was handed a five-second penalty for causing the collision. He also struggled with the harder tire and continued to slip down the field, eventually finishing in a lowly 15th position.
His teammate Lando Norris finished seventh.
– ‘I was confused’ –
Russell, who led for 30 laps, said he had a strong first stint, but that he struggled on the medium compound tires and lost temperature in the closing laps.
“But it’s been an amazing job by the team to have pole position and a double podium – we are definitely making progress. I am really proud of the work everyone has done.”
Both Sainz and Leclerc were disappointed by their results.
“I felt very strong and very comfortable on the mediums,” said Leclerc who led the race and looked likely to win before a pit-stop to switch unexpectedly to hard tyres.
“I wanted to stay out and I don’t know why I was called in. I was confused by that.
“I lost the race on the hard tires and I don’t know why. We need to speak about this inside the team.”
He added: “Honestly, the pace on my side, I was pretty happy, the only thing is that everybody will remember the last part of the race where it was a disaster for me, especially the hard – that’s why I lost the race basically .”
Sainz said he felt he was slower than expected.
“It is what it is,” he said. “We struggled as a team and in the lower temperatures the track changed and the car and the tires did not perform.
“We need to analyze this to see what we did wrong and, after the summer break, come back with a better package. We have to speak about it inside the team to get to do this better.” Ferrari team chief Mattia Binotto defended the team’s decisions.
“We didn’t have the performance we expected and the car was not performing well in the cooler conditions,” he said. “It’s the first time this season.
“We did not have the edge today. We believed we could do it, but it did not work out as we were expecting. Sometimes, we can make mistakes, but I fully support the team.”
HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS
1. Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 1hr 39min 35.912sec
2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) at 7.834sec
3. George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 12,337
4. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) 14,579
5. Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) 15,688
6. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 16,047
7. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:18.300
8. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) 1 lap
9. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 1 lap
10. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1 lap
11. Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1 lap
12. Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 1 lap
13. Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo) 1 lap
14. Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 1 lap
15. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 1 lap
16. Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari) 1 lap
17. Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes) 1 lap
18. Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 1 lap
19. Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 2 laps
20. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo) 5 laps
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:21.386 on 57th lap (average speed: 260.580 km/h)
The rate at which construction costs are soaring – contributing to a spate of high-profile building company collapses – will ease next year, according to new forecasts from global consultancy firm RLB.
Construction cost inflation in Melbourne is forecast to halve, dropping from 8 per cent this year to 4 per cent in 2023, and in Sydney it is predicted to slow from 6.9 per cent to 3.9 per cent.
An even bigger decline is forecast for the Gold Coast with cost growth dropping from 11.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent. Similarly, in Brisbane it should drop from 10.5 per cent this year to 5.1 per cent in 2023, according to forecasts published this week in RLB’s second quarter 2022 International Report.
RLB research and development director Domenic Schiafone said the expectation that costing will ease through next year was due to curtailing demand, likely to be caused by inflationary pressures.
“This easing of demand should allow manufacturing and logistics to get back to ‘normality’ or pre-Covid levels,” he said.
“The easing of demand should also see a softening of material prices with the high level of ‘demand-led price premiums’ reducing.”
Association of Professional Builders co-founder Russ Stephens, whose clients are residential home builders, agreed to escalate costs could halve next year, but off a much higher base.
He said the cost to build a residential home had increased a lot more than non-residential or commercial builds due to the larger percentage of timber used, and that temporary price hikes created by supply and demand were not reflected in the reports we were seeing.
Australia’s typical house build cost has soared more than $94,000 in 15 months, according to figures revealed in analysis by the Housing Industry Association and News Corp Australia earlier this month.
The national inflation rate hit 6.1 per cent in the year to June with new dwellings and automotive fuel the most significant contributors, new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week showed. New dwellings were up 20.3 per cent.
Warning to Australians wanting to build
While construction cost inflation is expected to ease sometime next year, in the meantime the pain will continue.
Mr Stephens said because costs were increasing so quickly, consumers needed to be aware prices quoted for builds would not last long.
“If they’ve had a price quoted that is older than 30 days they should expect to have that price renegotiated,” he said.
He also said consumers would see more builders including rise and fall clauses, also known as cost escalation clauses, in contracts.
“It gives the ability for a builder to pass an increase in cost of materials on to the consumer,” Mr Stephens explained, adding it was common in other countries but Australia didn’t typically use them.
“What I would say to consumers is that’s not necessarily a negative thing because if the builders don’t put those clauses in they’ll have to put more contingency in to the price to protect themselves against potential increases.
“So rise and fall clauses are probably a good thing for consumers because it means they will only pay the cost of the increase rather than an inflated prediction of what increases might be, especially as we’re seeing evidence now that the increases will start to slow down next year.”
Factors contributing to the construction industry crisis
The construction industry is facing challenges so great that high-profile building companies are dropping like flies.
Mr Schiafone said fragmented supply chain issues were not resolved and labor shortages across the nation have continued as a result of the pandemic.
The consultancy’s report noted lead times for some products from overseas were currently
16 to 20 weeks, when traditionally they were half that at eight to 10 weeks.
Additionally, the need for construction labor and materials after recent flood damage will enhance existing shortages across the country, he said.
Mr Schiafone said higher fuel prices, increasing power costs and timber shortages were all symptoms of the war in Ukraine and were likely to linger for some time yet.
RLB global chairman Andrew Reynolds said significant cost escalation, global delivery uncertainty, aberrant weather events causing significant construction delays, and labor shortages were common challenges in the industry across the world.
Failed building companies
The latest company to collapse was prominent Melbourne apartment developer Caydon earlier this week, blaming “one difficult market situation after another”.
The next day, on Wednesday, ASX-listed developer Cedar Woods shelved a major inner-city Brisbane townhouse and apartment project due to rising costs and delays.
It came less than a week after Perth developer Sirona Urban killed off a $165 million luxury tower, where more than 50 per cent of apartments had been bought off the plan, blaming skyrocketing construction costs and labor shortages.
It was the second major apartment project to fall over in Australia last week.
A Melbourne developer, Central Equity, abandoned plans to build a $500 million apartment tower on the Gold Coast, blaming the crisis in the building industry and surging construction costs for making the project unprofitable.
Earlier this year, two major Australian construction companies, Gold Coast-based Condev and industry giant Probuild, went into liquidation.
The grim list has continued to grow from there as a number of other high-profile companies also collapsed, including Inside Out Construction, Dyldam Developments, Home Innovation Builders, ABG Group, New Sensation Homes, Next, Pindan, ABD Group and Pivotal Homes.
Others joined the list too including Solido Builders, Waterford Homes, Affordable Modular Homes and Statement Builders.
Then two Victorian building companies were further casualties of the crisis, having gone into liquidation at the end of June, with one homeowner having forked out $300,000 for a now half-built house.
Hotondo Homes Horsham, which was a franchisee of a national construction firm, collapsed a fortnight ago affecting 11 homeowners with $1.2 million in outstanding debt.
It is the second Hotondo Homes franchisee to go under this year, with its Hobart branch collapsing in January owing $1.3 million to creditors, according to a report from liquidator Revive Financial.
Meanwhile, a Sydney family face never being able to build their dream home after their builder Jada Group collapsed in March owing $2.4 million and the cost of their home’s construction jumped to $1.9 million, a whopping $800,000 more than the original quote.
Snowdon Developments was ordered into liquidation by the Supreme Court with 52 staff members, 550 homes and more than 250 creditors owed just under $18 million, although it was partially bought out less than 24 hours after going bust.
Dozens of homeowners and hundreds of tradies were left reeling after a Victorian building firm called Langford Jones Homes went into liquidation on July 4 owing $14.2 million to 300 creditors.
News.com.au also raised questions about NSW builder Willoughby Homes, which is under investigation by the Government after builds stalled and debts blew out to 90 days.
There are between 10,000 to 12,000 residential building companies in Australia undertaking new homes or large renovation projects, a figure estimated by the Association of Professional Builders.
