Sebastian Vettel claimed his third pole position of the season yesterday at the British Formula One Grand Prix as local hero Jenson Button had to settle for a season-worst sixth place.
The German Vettel clocked 1 minute, 19.509 seconds in his Red Bull on the 5.141km circuit as he topped the grid from Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber in the second Red Bull.
Championship leader Button managed no better than sixth and compatriot Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion and the winner at Silverstone last year, will have to start in the last row from 19th place in his McLaren-Mercedes.
Button has won six of the seven races this season for a commanding lead on 61 points. Teammate Rubens Barrichello has 35 points and Vettel 29 points. Vettel won the other race in China.
German Force India driver Adrian Sutil crashed heavily into a tire wall at the Becketts turn at the end of the first session. He walked away from the wreck on his own, but then underwent medical checks. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
Meanwhile, Formula One intends to sue the eight teams that announced plans for a rival series next season — the biggest crisis to engulf the sport since the championship began in 1950.
The governing body accused the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) of “serious violations of law.”
The breakaway came after Ferrari, championship leader Brawn GP and six other teams failed to resolve a dispute over the introduction of a budget cap for next season.
Governing body the FIA has responded by delaying publication of a final entry list for next season while it “asserts its legal rights.”
“The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series,” the organization said in a statement. “The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law, including willful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari’s legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law.”
Ferrari is already countersuing the ruling body “to protect its contractual rights.”
But FIA president Mosley remains “completely confident” that the breakaway series will never come to fruition.
“In the end, people do what it’s in their interests to do and it’s in the interest of teams to be in F1 world championship, and there is actually no fundamental, or even important, issue preventing them from taking part,” Mosley said. “It’s all about personalities and power, and who can grab what from whom, which is easy when nothing’s at stake but, when it comes to the first race and it’s make-your-mind-up time, they will be there.”
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