Author: Neel Achary

FIA President Ben Sulayem: “Without Volunteers, We Simply Could Not Go Racing”

Dubai, UAE, 13^th April 2026:  FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has paid tribute to the thousands of volunteers who make Formula One racing possible, after a landmark study by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile revealed the true scale, value and dedication behind the crucial role they play.

Conducted by the FIA University, the Federation’s academic arm, the first-of-its-kind research reveals that a minimum of 20,112 trained volunteers are required to staff all 24 rounds of the Formula One World Championship calendar each season.

An average of 838 volunteers operating at each individual race weekend represents a ratio of 42 for every F1 driver competing on track, the highest volunteer-to-competitor ratio of any global sport.

With each volunteer committing approximately 48 hours of dedicated service to each race weekend, that amounts to a remarkable 965,376 hours contributed to the world’s premier racing series across the full season.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “The FIA Formula One World Championship relies on volunteers, they are the backbone of our sport – without them we simply could not go racing. They ensure our competitions are safe and fair. They act with professionalism and pride, and they support drivers, teams and fans. 

“The FIA deeply values their contribution and this landmark report not only delivers vital insights into their role but recognises our significant investment and helps the FIA continue to provide support in the most effective ways. 

“Together with our Members, and our volunteers around the world, we are powering the FIA Formula One World Championship.” 

From flag marshals to observers, incident officers to extrication teams, volunteers are the race makers who keep motor sport safe and create the unmistakable spirit of camaraderie, teamwork and unity present at every round of the Championship.

The report highlights the depth of their commitment, with 65% of volunteers taking annual leave or unpaid time off to serve at events.

As the global governing body for motor sport, the FIA continues to invest in the sport’s long-term development, ensuring each race is supported by trained and dedicated personnel. The study estimates that training and development programmes delivered by the FIA and its member clubs equate to more than €11 million annually.

Retention remains a key strength. Two-thirds of Formula One volunteers have been active for more than five years, reflecting a strong and positive culture across race weekends. This consistency has proved essential as volunteer workloads have increased by 20% during the same period alongside the sport’s global expansion.

Volunteering also offers a unique opportunity for race fans to play an active role in their home F1 Grand Prix. Many see it as a meaningful recreational activity alongside their careers, with the total replacement labour value of their contribution estimated at €13.2 million annually.

These figures underline both the economic importance of volunteers and the FIA’s commitment to supporting them.

The new report, the first of its kind in the FIA’s history, sets out a series of recommendations to further enhance the volunteer experience and maintain a healthy retention rate. The FIA is proposing a dedicated Centre of Excellence to act as a learning hub, recruiting and training volunteers and officials using world-leading innovation and global best practice.

Alongside this, an expanded FIA Officials Department, including a new volunteer charter, would outline the minimum standards required to support and value volunteers during a Formula One World Championship round.

IMF Tax Advice to India and Other Developing Nations Under Scrutiny: Oxfam

New Delhi, Apr 13 (BNP): India has received a significant share of regressive tax-related recommendations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2022 and 2024, according to a report by Oxfam.

The analysis, released ahead of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, alleges that the IMF has shown inconsistency in its policy advice. It claims that while wealthier countries are often guided toward more progressive taxation, developing nations are more frequently advised measures that could widen inequality.

The report states that around 59% of IMF tax advice given to low- and lower-middle-income countries is considered regressive. It also highlights concerns that such policy guidance may have implications for inequality and economic fairness.

The findings have sparked discussion on the need for more balanced and equitable global financial policy recommendations.

Gartner Predicts 25 percent of All Enterprise GenAI Applications Will Experience At Least Five Minor Security Incidents Per Year By 2028

STAMFORD, Conn., Apr 13:  By 2028, 25% of all enterprise generative AI (GenAI) applications will experience at least five minor security incidents per year, up from 9% in 2025, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

As organizations continue to build and integrate agentic AI applications using technologies such as Model Context Protocol (MCP), new attack vectors and immature security practices will significantly elevate risk exposure.

“MCP was built for interoperability, ease of use and flexibility first, so security mistakes can manifest without continuous oversight for agentic AI,” said Aaron Lord, Sr. Director Analyst at Gartner. “Because of this, the rate of minor security incidents within GenAI applications is set to grow at an increased rate. We will eventually see 15% of all enterprise GenAI applications experience at least one major security incident per year by 2029, up from 3% in 2025.”

As enthusiasm for frameworks like MCP grows, software engineering leaders must be prepared for the security realities that follow, ranging from data exposure incidents to vulnerabilities lurking in widely used third‑party components. Protecting against these risks requires establishing rigorous security review processes, prioritizing low‑risk use cases, mitigating known threat‑patterns, and empowering domain experts to define guardrails that keep agentic AI both powerful and safe.

MCP’s design optimizes interoperability and developer speed, not security enforcement by default, which means missteps can surface through ordinary usage. This can happen especially where agents can access sensitive data, ingest untrusted content, or communicate externally in the same flow. Software engineering leaders should treat any use case that combines those three factors as a “no‑go zone” due to heightened exfiltration risk.

“Software engineering leaders should collaborate with data, security, and infrastructure teams to create a formal security review for MCP use cases to prioritize low‑risk patterns and explicitly exclude high‑risk combinations,” said Lord. “They should reinforce this with strong authentication and authorization practices tailored specifically for AI agents, not inherited from human user roles, to keep permissions tightly scoped. Applying well‑known threat‑pattern mitigations, such as guarding against content‑injection and tightening oversight of third‑party MCP components, will help close the most common gaps before they can be exploited.”

Successful, proactive mitigations for MCP security requires knowledge of antipatterns that can lead to vulnerabilities. Software engineering leaders will need to mitigate MCP vulnerabilities focused on known threat-patterns, such as content injection attacks, supply chain threats, and disclosure of sensitive data or escalation of privileges when AI tries to be helpful but makes a mistake.

“Software engineering leaders will need to establish domain-oriented ownership for MCP servers to drive domain-driven guardrails,” said Lord. “Growing complexity from agentic AI will eventually lead to complications managing access to data and maintaining compliance.”

To address this at scale, Gartner recommends that software engineering leaders collaborate with domain experts and work backward to ensure secure-by-default interactions for agentic AI. It will be critical for domain experts to predefine their guardrails before allowing MCP clients to access their data and resources. These domains should be the owners of MCP servers and define the guardrails for agentic AI usage.

Gartner clients can learn more in Best Practices to Counter MCP Security Risks.

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Foreign Investors Continue Heavy Sell-Off in Indian Markets Amid Global Uncertainty

New Delhi, Apr 13 (BNP): Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have continued their aggressive selling in Indian equities, pulling out around ₹48,213 crore (about $5.14 billion) during the first 10 days of April, according to market data.

The sustained outflow is being driven by rising geopolitical tensions and broader global economic uncertainty, which have reduced investor appetite for riskier assets like emerging market equities.

This follows a massive withdrawal of ₹1.17 lakh crore in March, marking the steepest monthly outflow on record. In contrast, February had seen strong inflows of ₹22,615 crore, the highest in 17 months, indicating a sharp shift in investor sentiment.

Market experts say the volatility highlights the sensitivity of foreign capital flows to global developments, with investors quickly adjusting positions based on changing risk conditions.

Row Over Paddy Incentives: Sitharaman Rejects Stalin’s Claim

New Delhi, Apr 13 (BNP): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dismissed allegations made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin regarding paddy cultivation incentives, calling them “factually baseless” and a “deliberate distortion.”

Pic Credit: Pexel 

Responding to the remarks, she clarified in a post on X that the Centre had not directed states to stop incentives for farmers. Instead, she said the suggestion was aimed at encouraging states to align their bonus and support policies with broader national agricultural priorities.

These priorities, she noted, include promoting crop diversification and strengthening self-sufficiency in key crops such as pulses, rather than continuing excessive focus on a single crop.

The exchange comes amid ongoing political debate over agricultural policy and Centre–State coordination in farmer support measures.