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SEBASTIAN VETTEL

Vettel bids for Italian Grand Prix win

Sebastian Vettel bids this weekend to become only the second driver to win the Italian Grand Prix with three different teams as Ferrari seek to add some lustre to an inconsistent season in the last European round of this year's world championship.

Vettel bids for Italian Grand Prix win
Sebastian Vettel claimed his maiden Formula One win in 2008. Photo: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP

Two weeks after a dramatic tyre failure ended his hopes of a podium finish at the Belgian Grand Prix, the four-time champion German aims to emulate the 56-year-old achievement of Briton Stirling Moss who triumphed in 1956, 1957 and 1959 with Maserati, Vanwall and Rob Walker Racing.

Vettel claimed his maiden Formula One win at the famous old Autodromo Nazionale with the Toro Rosso team in a downpour in 2008 and then won twice more with Red Bull in 2011 and 2013.

Now, he seeks to add a memorable victory on home soil for the scarlet scuderia at a time when the team and their local race, not to mention F1's Italian tyre suppliers, badly need a boost.

In the wake of his angry departure from Spa-Francorchamps, Vettel clarified his emotional criticism of tyre-suppliers Pirelli.

“Just to make things clear,” he said in a statement. “The team and I decided our strategy for the race together. I support the team and the team supports me, and this is what makes us a team. Our strategy was never risky, at any point. The team is not to blame.

“We deserved to finish on the podium, but that's racing. A different thing though is not to finish the race because of what happened. This is not easy to accept for a driver, even if it's not as bad as in Silverstone a few years ago.

“But still we need to talk to each other as it can't happen without prior notice.”

This ongoing Italian argument – Pirelli have pointed at the team's one stop strategy as risky – ensures an emotional backdrop to highly-charged weekend as the defending double world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton seeks to repeat his 2014 victory and stay in control of the title race.

He currently leads his Mercedes team-mate German Nico Rosberg, who became a father for the first time last weekend, by 28 points.

Hamilton, however, may not find events unfold entirely to his liking at the fastest circuit of the year where it is notoriously difficult for any driver to win twice in succession.

The last to succeed was Briton Damon Hill for Williams in 1993 and 1994 and, before him, Brazilian Nelson Piquet, also for Williams, in 1986 and 1987. They are the only two to do so in 30 years.

Add to that statistical challenge the fact that Rosberg will be desperate to take pole position and has been fired up by his own tyre-failure experience at Spa-Francorchamps.

“Vettel blowing up his tyre, that's really not acceptable,” said Rosberg. “For either of us – for me on Friday or for him – if that would have happened a couple of metres earlier or later we would have had huge shunts, I mean the biggest shunts ever, because the track is just so fast.

“The next track is Monza, the fastest track of the year, so they have to think of something to try and improve that situation.”

Pirelli hope to defuse a tense situation at Monza. Racing boss Paul Hembery said: “We have finalized the investigation into Sebastian Vettel's tyre at Spa. Detailed conclusions from the technical analysis will be presented at Monza.”

Against this backdrop, Ferrari plan an engine upgrade for more power in its race to catch Mercedes.

“We are working, but in Monza there will not be a “super engine,” said team chief Maurizio Arrivabene. “We could spend some tokens, but they will be very few. It is not worth talking about a super power unit, but just an engine.

“This is not to say that we will throw in the towel and run away. We will do our best, but we know we go there not being the team to beat.”

As Ferrari seek a resurgence on track, the future of the Italian race remains in the balance following comments by the sport's ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone in which he said he “hopes we don't lose it…”

Monza's current deal with Ecclestone ends next year and talks about a new deal have stalled several times.

The track has been on the F1 Championship calendar every year, but one, since 1950. It was replaced by Imola in 1980 and is the most used venue in the sport's history.

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INTELLIGENCE

Danish PM sees ‘no need to restore relations’ with France and Germany over spying

Denmark has "good dialogue" with its European allies and "no need to repair ties" with France and Germany, its prime minister said Wednesday following revelations that the US used Danish cables to spy on European leaders.

Danish PM sees 'no need to restore relations' with France and Germany over spying
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made her comments at the closing debate of parliament. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

In her first remarks on the subject since the revelations emerged on Sunday, Mette Frederiksen refused to address the claims directly.

But as a general rule, “there should not be any systematic surveillance of allies”, she told reporters.

In an investigative report on Sunday, Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) and other European media outlets said the US National Security Agency (NSA) had eavesdropped on Danish underwater internet cables from 2012 to 2014.

They spied on top politicians in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Reports of allies spying on each other have surfaced ever since the Snowden affair in 2013, and after these latest revelations Paris, Berlin and other European capitals on Monday demanded answers from Denmark.

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Frederiksen played down the damage done to Denmark’s relations with its allies.

“We have a good dialogue,” she said. “I don’t think it’s correct to say that there’s a need to repair relations with France or Germany. We have an ongoing dialogue, which includes the field of intelligence,” she said.

According to DR, the NSA got access to text messages, telephone calls and internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services — including those of Germany’s Merkel, then-foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then-opposition leader Peer Steinbruck.

It remains unclear whether Denmark knew at the time that the US was using the cables to spy on Denmark’s neighbours. Washington has yet to comment publicly on the matter.

DR’s revelations are based on a classified, internal report written by a working group at Denmark’s military intelligence unit FE.

The report, submitted to FE management in May 2015, was commissioned by FE after the Snowden affair came to light — which suggests Denmark may not have been aware the US was using its cables to spy on its neighbours.

Five years later, in August 2020, several top FE directors were removed from their posts, a move DR said was linked to the US spying.

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