Max and his father Joss are used to danger having both competed in premier class of single seater racing. Yet the least dangerous part of each season should be during the winter when the drivers have around three months without any on track action.
Yet it appears the Red Bull young driver programme protégé and his family escaped serious danger during their winter break in the UAE. Max and his family were having dinner in the immediate vicinity of ‘The Address” skyscraper hotel and restaurants on New Years Eve when the fire broke out which destroyed much of the 63 story iconic building.
Dutch publication De Telegraph reports, Joss, Max and his girlfriend had to make a hurried escape as flames engulfed “The Address”. They returned to their hotel nearby and watched the fire, an experience which Max described as “pretty scary”.
Verstappen will soon be behind the wheel of the new Torro Rosso car, which has undergone some fundamental re-designs due to the switch in 2016 from Renault to Ferrari power. The new power unit and gearbox requires a greater distance from the MGU-K than did the Renault 2015 PU. The result is a longer wheel based chassis though the short nose design will be retained.
Verstappen believes even though Toro Rosso will be using the 2015 Ferrari power unit, whilst Sauber and Haas have the latest iteration, the team will still be able to progress up the grid. “I think we will make a bigger step compared to other teams who already have Ferrari or Mercedes power. I don’t think they will find that much in the engine, compared to what we will gain in the engine,” claims the dutch driver .
If this is the case, then the Red Bull junior team may well cause some red faces in Milton Keynes. However the likelihood of Toro Rosso consistently finishing ahead of RBR this year is but a fantasy at present.
Torro Rosso will also benefit from the installation of the old Red Bull Racing simulator, which has been replaced by one capable of running in conjunction with the AVL Virtual test Track installed in Milton Keynes.
I didn’t even know about that fire. Looks pretty bad.
I hope many others escaped as well – of not everybody. Unlikely place for such a fire, it seems.
The good news is there was no serious injuries.
The bad news is that around 70% of these high rise buildings in Dubai are clad with an highly flammable aluminium/polyurethene panels which are non fire rated. These were banned in 2013.
And its not so unlikely… the fire at the hotel was the latest in a string of building blazes in Dubai last year, including ones at The Torch Tower at Dubai Marina in February and the Regal office tower in Business Bay in November.
It certainly does seem unlikely, Verstappen. But there’s a revealing update on the incident that’s being widely reported in the Russian conservative press and (strangely) the LGBT community of San Francisco’s bi-weekly gazette.
CCTV footage has emerged of a masked person running from the building. Footage is unclear, however Christian-faith image experts working with Muslim authorities have managed to clarify an image which has the word “#blessed” on the back of the person’s jacket. It’s unclear if this incident is related to the underground movement of a global gang called ‘The 44’s’; a group who’s motives are still unclear but seem to be attacking young open-wheel racing drivers around the world.
In seemingly related news, Monaco authorities have confirmed a high-profile sports personality is being questioned in relation to the New Years Eve fire. The suspect has not been named yet, but witnesses to the arrest have been reported saying they heard the suspect singing as he was placed in the Monegasque environmentally-friendly police Prius. It’s being reported that the singing is similar to chanting heard recently in Oregon by the “Ya’llQaeda” group who are reclaiming their inalienable rights to indiscriminately burn stuff, retain rights to bear canons and scream, “IMA PAYTRIUT!”
The FBI have released a transcript of the chant in question (below) and warn citizens that if heard, immediately report the person singing to authorities and do not engage. Singers of said chant are considered to be highly dangerous and self-contradictory.
Warning: The repetitive nature of the transcript may cause internal bleeding, cognitive impairment and the questioning of one’s own existence in the cosmos as a result of plummeting into a mental quantum loop of word-salad.
“I’m lookin’ at chu, lookin’ at me… lookin’ at CHUuuuuuuuu. Lookin’ at me, yeah, just lookin’ at CHUuuuuu.”
Very clever, WTF
Wasted on a holiday blog post. But already we have an early favourite for comment of 2016!
“Jos” not “Joss”
“the fire at the hotel was the latest in a string of building blazes in Dubai last year, including ones at The Torch Tower at Dubai Marina” … The … TORCH … tower. Am i the only one disturbed enough to see the hilarity in this?