McLaren’s world champions dominated Turkish Grand Prix free practice yesterday, with Lewis Hamilton quickest in the morning and Jenson Button lapping faster after lunch.
Button, the reigning champion and last year’s winner with Brawn at the undulating anti-clockwise Istanbul Park circuit, set the pace in the afternoon with a time of 1 minute, 28.280 seconds.
That time was faster than Sebastian Vettel’s pole position for Red Bull last year of 1 minute, 28.316 seconds.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hamilton, the 2008 champion, had earlier led a McLaren one-two with a best lap of 1 minute, 28.653 seconds, with Button 0.962 seconds slower in second place.
Red Bull’s championship leader Mark Webber was second in the afternoon, but stopped on track five minutes from the end with a smoking car.
Vettel, fifth in the morning, was third.
Yesterday was the German’s first chance to try out a different chassis, dubbed “Randy Mandy” and used previously only in pre-season testing, at a Grand Prix weekend after a defect was discovered in the car he had used for the past six races.
Yesterday’s practice is more morale-boosting than indicative of true performance, although Webber warned on Thursday that the McLarens could be a real threat.
Webber is going for a third win in a row after his victories in Spain and on the winding streets of Monaco.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, third in the championship ahead of his team’s 800th race, was ninth and fifth respectively.
Force India’s Adrian Sutil had the only accident of the morning session, the German losing control through the difficult Turn Eight in the closing minutes and spinning into the barriers.
Brazilian Bruno Senna sat out that practice for HRT, his place going to test driver Sakon Yamamoto. The Japanese was 7.4 seconds off the pace and more than a second slower than India’s Karun Chandhok in the other HRT.
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
RSS