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 men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland on Friday advanced to the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon, just one step away from clinching their first mixed doubles title at the tournament. Hsieh and Zielinski, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year and who had reached the semi-finals at the French Open, battled past second seeds Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6, (7/0), 6-3. In the first set, the Taiwanese-Polish duo saved a set point, pushing the set into a tiebreaker. They clinched the set by winning the tiebreaker with seven straight points. The duo
CHALLENGE SET: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski are to play against New Zealand’s Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe in the mixed doubles semi-finals Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her Polish partner, Jan Zielinski, on Thursday advanced to the mixed doubles semi-final at Wimbledon in a tight battle that ended in a super tiebreaker. The seventh-seeded duo, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles title earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the French Open, needed 125 minutes to beat Britain’s Jamie Murray and the US’ Taylor Townsend 7-6, 6-7 (10-5). Hsieh and Zielinski took the first set with a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker and seemed poised to close out the match in the second set tiebreaker when they took a 4-0 lead. With the Taiwan-Poland
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super