Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the European Grand Prix yesterday, while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton doubled his championship lead by finishing runner-up for the third year in a row.
Formula One world champion Jenson Button finished third for McLaren after an afternoon full of incident, controversy and uncertainty at a street circuit that has offered few thrills in the past.
Hamilton, who had started the day three points clear of his teammate, now has 127 points to Button’s 121 after nine races, with Vettel on 115 after chalking up his second win of the season.
While Vettel thrust himself back into the thick of the title chase by leading from pole to the checkered flag, teammate Mark Webber provided the day’s big drama when he walked away unscathed from a massive crash.
The Australian’s car was launched vertically into the air after slamming into the back of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, the Red Bull twisting in the air and landing upside down on the nose and roll bar.
“Motor racing has just seen one of its luckiest days. That could have been a very, very bad incident,” said David Coulthard, the former Red Bull driver turned BBC television pundit.
The safety car was deployed for four laps after Webber’s accident, triggering a drive-through penalty for Hamilton, who was judged to have illegally overtaken as it exited the pit lane.
To the fury of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who was immediately behind and found himself held up by the safety car, Hamilton had built up a sufficient margin that he was able to take his penalty and still retain position.
The drive-through, on the 27th of 57 laps, still took the sting out of what might have been an enthralling battle at the front.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS