One British Formula One world champion led another in first practice for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday, with Lewis Hamilton just ahead of successor Jenson Button.
Spanish rookie Jaime Alguersuari, driving a Toro Rosso, had the honor of setting the first competitive timed lap at the lavish new Yas Marina circuit in an incident-free opening session.
McLaren’s Hamilton and Brawn’s Button traded fastest laps toward the end of the session, with the outgoing champion coming out on top with a best of 1 minute, 43.939 seconds.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Button, looking forward to his first race of the year with no pressure after he secured the title at the previous race in Brazil, was 0.096 seconds slower.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was third on the timesheets ahead of Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello. The two are fighting for second place overall in the championship.
With track temperatures of 35ºC and a new but dusty surface, the leading drivers sat out the first half hour before taking to the track.
“It is a cool track, it’s going to be good to race on and from a driver’s perspective, it sure is fun,” said Germany’s Nico Rosberg, preparing for his last race for Williams. “Obviously as the track surface is completely new, it was quite dirty, so you have to be a little careful to find your way to begin with.”
“It will be interesting to see how the track changes with the cooler temperatures which we will get a chance to see this afternoon,” Rosberg said. “Obviously this will be more reflective of the conditions we will encounter for qualifying and the race.”
Today’s floodlit race will be the first to start in daylight and end after dark. The anti-clockwise layout also has the novel features of a hotel built across the track and a pit lane exit through a tunnel.
“I haven’t pushed really hard through the narrow pitlane exit just yet, but because it is covered under the tunnel, it is a completely unique experience unlike anywhere else in the world,” Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima said.
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
RSS