Do you know each other

Mai Xa village in Gio Linh district in the central province of Quang Tri is the only one in Vietnam that makes “bánh hộc” rice cake.

Mai Thu with her car, a reward for her relentless efforts

I met Mai Thu on a cold, windy day at the beginning of the Year of the Buffalo in the impoverished district of Tanh Linh in Binh Thuan province.

It was a time when the porch was lit up by golden sunshine and the confetti in the front was swaying in the wind, showing off its colours on the dry ground that looked like baked tiles.

With her eyes filled with joy, the charming young woman recalls her journey filled with difficulties she had to overcome to achieve her current success.

“ I used to be a very poor student with only VND1 million ($43.47) to my name that my mother managed to borrow from a pagoda after walking back and forth between so many places when I entered university,” Thu reminisced. “I had only flip-flops to wear as a student, and they were so worn out that they eventually broke at school and I had to go home barefoot.”

“After I graduated as an accountant, I had to look for a livelihood. Life sometimes brought difficulties that seemed too hard to bear until the day I applied for a job at C.T Group,” she began her story.

“At the beginning, it was harder than I thought. I started in a low position as a fresh graduate without experience and it was very stressful.

I have constantly reminded myself to remember everything I saw, heard, and did: I had to observe, pay close attention to everything around me, always ask questions, and find the answers to ensure my work went smoothly and efficiently, and commit everything to memory.

Gradually, I began to find my work more interesting and I come to know what I was doing, what I needed to do, and how much effort I had to put in to complete a certain task.

I began to fall in love with my work as I grew to understood my teammates better and learned the board of directors’ directions, which enabled me to keep pace.

I have lived and worked like that and today I have almost everything I dreamt about: an apartment of nearly 70 square metres in the I-Home area, a nearly 1,000sq.m house for my parents in the countryside that is always full of laughter from my loved ones who bore hardships for my sake, as well as houses and steady jobs for my brothers and sisters.

At the end of 2019, my division was awarded a Tet bonus of more than VND1.5 billion ($65,217), and I spent more than VND500 million ($21,740) from that to financially support colleagues’ further studies.

Just before this New Year, I shed tears of joy after being named Excellent Employee of 2020 and was gifted a deep-blue Mercedes car.

I felt so much luckier than my friends. Things got even better when I registered the car urgently so that I could drive it to my hometown before Tet, and got allotted the lucky number 88 2 33.

To achieve today’s success, I think I have been strong and resilient in the face of difficulties because I always think a challenge often comes with an opportunity and I always strive to grasp that opportunity.

I always trust in myself and believe I can “do it”, and C.T Group has made sure my belief grows day after day.

For me, C.T Group is a world that helps nurture big dreams and can help me fly high and far.

I am very proud that I am a member of C.T Group, which has helped me become strong and brave and made my life more prosperous and happier than I had dared to dream.”

Thu might have wanted to say a lot more, but I wanted her to drive around her hometown in the dark blue Mercedes parked under the confetti.

I asked her, “How many people received this award?”

Thu said, “Four individuals and one group were awarded Mercedes cars, but my car has the most beautiful colour.”

When I asked her about a boyfriend, she blushed and laughed. Perhaps that is the next goal for this dynamic young lady.

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton competes during the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa on August 30, 2020.(photo: JOHN THYS / POOL / AFP)

Championship leader and six-time world champion Hamilton has won five of this year’s seven races and is now within two triumphs of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher’s career total of 91 wins as he demolishes the German’s statistical grip on Formula One’s peaks.

This weekend, he will be favourite to claim his sixth victory in the old royal park, moving him one clear of the record five he now shares with Schumacher – and leaving him on 90 wins overall ahead of the Tuscany Grand Prix a week later, an event organised to celebrate Ferrari’s 1,000th F1 race.

After their dismal and pointless performance at last Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, it is a nightmare scenario.

Ferrari travelled back to Italy warning absent fans not to expect miracles.

Many believe Ferrari could be heading towards the team’s worst-ever Monza performance in 70 years.

The ‘scarlet scuderia’ has won 19 of the 69 races to date, but will – if they repeat their Belgian showing – register a new first by failing to qualify a car in the top ten on the grid and in the race.

Monza is famous as the “temple of speed”, a track where outright power and straight line speed are usually decisive.

“It is a circuit that is high power-sensitive,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.

“So it may change the balance of competitiveness in qualifying and we all know how important it is to start ahead on the grid.”

In the circumstances, departing four-time champion Sebastian Vettel has said it is “probably better” that there will be no fans at the behind-closed-doors event, his last race in red at Monza.

“Don’t get me wrong, it will be sad not to have the fans in Monza – it is the first time,” he said.

“For me, it would be so difficult to race in front of the Ferrari fans knowing it’s my last time in red. So, in that regard, perhaps it is a little better this way.”

Given his excellence this year, Hamilton will be expected to rule again, but he may face a serious challenge from Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, as well as a threat from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the only other drivers to have won this season.

Bottas this week revealed that Hamilton has raised his game in qualifying this year to a level that he is struggling to match.

“Lewis has been really consistent, not making any mistakes in qualifying,” said the Finn.

Hamilton has five wins from pole already in 2020 while his fastest lap last Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps prompted Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff to suggest he was “extra terrestrial”.

“This year, I have had to make a couple of adjustments and with this car it seems to work quite well,” said Hamilton.

“So now I am back to being able to produce qualifying laps that I was able to do before last year and on a more consistent basis.”

Drivers vie for position during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in the Emirati city of Abu Dhabi on December 13, 2020.(HAMAD I MOHAMMED / POOL / AFP)

— 2020 —

Effect of Covid-19

— Despite widespread lockdowns following the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Formula One managed to deliver a competitive and dramatic season – 17 races packed into 23 weeks.

The original season was mostly cancelled and races re-arranged with the cancellation of many outside Europe or the Middle East, including the customary season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.

Teams, paddock staff and media had travelled to Melbourne for that race before it was cancelled at short notice on the eve of opening practice, a decision and situation that reflected the health crisis that lay ahead.

A new calendar was put together by F1 with races held in blocks of two or three together and the entire paddock staying in tightly-controlled ‘bubbles’ to avoid risks of spreading the virus.

Some circuits – like those at Spielberg and Silverstone – held back-to-back races while drivers, teams and other staff were subjected to Covid-19 tests before, during and after every event.

By the final race, a total of 78 positive tests had been returned, including three drivers — world champion Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.

This signalled a ratio of around one positive per 1000 tests, a triumph for the sport’s rigorous protocols.

Seven just heaven for Hamilton

— Lewis Hamilton found the need to “live like a monk” suited to his development as a driver and an activist as he stayed in a luxury camper van for weeks at a time.

The defending champion revelled in the performance of the Mercedes W11 car and a chance to concentrate on the issues that mattered and interested him most including human rights and racism.

He bounced back after team-mate Valtteri Bottas won the opening race in Austria and went on to win 11 of the 16 races he started, taking his career total to a record 95, passing Michael Schumacher’s mark.

He also won his seventh title with dominant, measured and error-free racing to draw level with Schumacher on seven titles.

He won the series by more than 100 points ahead of Bottas – his greatest winning margin – as Mercedes reeled off an unprecedented seventh constructors championship.

Grosjean’s miracle fireball escape

— More than 30 years after the last significant accident that resulted in a fire – when Gerhard Berger crashed in his Ferrari at Imola in 1989 – there was shock at the sight of Romain Grosjean’s fireball at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The opening lap accident came at Turn Three when the French driver pulled right to find a way of avoiding three cars abreast ahead of him and ran over the front wheel of Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha Tauri.

His Haas car lifted up and skewed off at high speed, estimated at around 245km/h, into the barriers.

A steel guardrail failed as the car split in half and burst into flames, the front half staying lodged in the punctured railing and the back spinning to a halt nearby.

A brilliant rescue and recovery reaction by marshals and the Medical Car crew helped as Grosjean, lucky to remain conscious, extricated himself and climbed to safety.

He suffered burnt hands and other slight injuries.

— 2021 —

Will Max be title factor?

— Max Verstappen proved on Sunday, with his flawless victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, that he is ready to lead a Red Bull bid to end Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s dominance.

But can the Milton Keynes-based team give him a car to match or beat the Mercedes and fulfil forecasts that he is a champion in waiting?

The impending departure of engine suppliers Honda is a setback the team may overcome, but Mercedes’ funding, organisation and scale – pulled together and guided by team boss Toto Wolff – gives them a bullet-proof look after seven straight title wins.

As Hamilton goes on past his 36th birthday in January, however, Verstappen has shaken off his impetuous youth and ‘Mad Max’ moniker.

It’s ‘Mature Max’ now, clinical race winner.

Can Vettel rediscover his mojo?

— After six years, 14 wins and twice finishing as runner-up in the title race, the four-time champion German has left Ferrari for Aston Martin, the re-badged 2021 version of Racing Point.

Vettel, a father of three and one of the best-loved drivers in the pit lane, has won only once in two years – at the 2019 Singapore GP.

He won his titles with the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull Racing – a team based close to his new outfit’s Silverstone base. Many feel the move to breathe more English air may help him rise again.

Clever, understated and a lover of British humour, he will bring experience and leadership when he succeeds Sergio Perez, who was fast, dependable and embedded.

Vettel knows the team will be well-funded by Canadian billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll, father of his team-mate Lance Stroll.

His task is to convert the cash into points, podiums and, if he can, a few wins to add to his 53.