World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton qualified fastest yesterday and will start today’s Hungarian Grand Prix in pole position.
The English driver spearheaded a McLaren one-two setting a time of 1 minute, 20.899 seconds, just 0.2 seconds ahead of teammate Finn Heikki Kovalainen. He will bid to become the first driver to win three races in a row since Michael Schumacher triumphed in the US, French and German Grand Prix two years ago.
“It’s been a pretty decent weekend for us so far and I feel safe with the position we’re in,” Hamilton told a news conference. “The team have done a great job in improving our car even from the last weekend and it would be great to get a one-two on Sunday. It would be about time.”
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was third, but teammate and reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen could only finish sixth, over half-a-second adrift of Hamilton.
“I wasn’t 100 percent happy with my laps in Q3,” said Massa, who trails Hamilton by four points in the standings. “I went out on the track at a little bit of a wrong time when there were too many cars around. That made it really tricky for the preparation of my tires, but I think our lap times from the first two qualifying sessions showed that we are pretty strong.”
BMW’s Robert Kibica overcame difficult conditions and will start in fourth, while Toyota’s Timo Glock bagged his best qualifying position of fifth.
Germany’s Nick Heidfeld was the biggest casualty of the first qualifying session as the BMW driver could finish only 16th, waving his arm in anger and frustration as he crossed the line. Heidfeld was joined by usual suspects Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil of Force India, with Honda’s Rubens Barrichello and Williams racer Kazuki Nakajima also missing out.
Nico Rosberg completed a disappointing afternoon for Williams as he failed to take to the track in the second session. Others going out were the Toro Rosso duo of Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull’s David Coulthard and Honda’s Jenson Button.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
SHORT-HANDED: Reigning champions the Boston Celtics were without stars Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, but they still downed the Timberwolves Oklahoma City on Thursday stretched the NBA’s best winning streak to 13 games with a home victory, while reigning champions the Boston Celtics held on for a last-shot triumph at Minnesota. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had game highs of 29 points and eight assists to spark the Thunder over the Los Angeles Clippers 116-98, improving the Western Conference leaders to 28-5. The Thunder’s winning streak is the longest since the team relocated from Seattle after the 2007-2008 season. “It’s just being present, going day by day, working on ourselves, and I think we’re doing a good job on that,” said Isaiah Hartenstein, who added 11
RSS