LE CASTELLET, France: World champion Max Verstappen took full advantage of Charles Leclerc crashing out of the lead to extend his advantage in this year’s title race with a crushing victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s sun-baked French Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old Dutchman drove with flawless control in the searing heat to guide his Red Bull home 10.587 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Hamilton, in his 300th race, with George Russell, in the second Mercedes, beating Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull, for third.
It was Verstappen’s seventh win this season and the 27th of his career and a blow to Leclerc’s challenge in the opening race of the second half of the season.
After 12 of the 22 races, Verstappen leads Leclerc by 63 points in the drivers’ standings.
“We had good pace, but it was hard to follow here with the tires overheating so we stayed calm,” said Verstappen.
“You never know how it is going to go... It was unlucky for Charles and I’m glad he is ok.”
Perez finished fourth ahead of a rampant Carlos Sainz, who drove from the back of the grid to finish fifth for Ferrari ahead of Fernando Alonso of Alpine and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Esteban Ocon was eighth in the second Alpine ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.
Hamilton was delighted to be second.
“It was a tough race as my drinks bottle didn’t work so it was a great result for us, especially considering we’re so far off the pace,” he said. “Great reliability from the team and George did an amazing job.”
On an afternoon of searing heat, with a track temperature of 52 degrees and the air 34 at the start, Leclerc made a clean start to lead into the first corner ahead of Verstappen, with Hamilton leaping clear of Perez into third.
Leclerc led by a second after the opening lap, which saw Yuki Tsunoda spin and recover while Sainz, from the back of the grid, began his charge.
Verstappen’s superior straight-line speed powered him close behind Leclerc’s Ferrari at the end of the Mistral Straight, but the leader held firm, his car squirming for grip in the heat.
Having resisted Verstappen’s early attacks, Leclerc held a lead of nine-tenths by lap 13.
Sainz, praised for his progress by Ferrari, reached 10th on lap 14.
At the front Leclerc increased his pace to draw 1.7 seconds clear by lap 15, when the track temperature was recorded at 55 degrees.
“We are planning Plan B,” Ferrari told Leclerc, refocusing on tire wear and strategy.
Verstappen came in on lap 17 for a stop in 2.4 seconds, rejoining seventh. As he came back, Ferrari warned Leclerc his tires were over-heating, but he held a 10-second lead ahead of Hamilton with Perez third, three seconds adrift.
Verstappen passed Norris swiftly for sixth, but Leclerc stayed out and then, on lap 18 crashed at Le Beausset, going heavily into the tire barrier.
He climbed out, apparently unhurt despite the estimated 175 kph impact.
The distressed Leclerc shouted that he had a throttle problem. It was his third exit from the lead this season, just as he looked capable of scoring Ferrari’s third consecutive victory.
A safety car was deployed, Hamilton pitted and Verstappen took the lead.
Leclerc emerged later to admit the crash had been his fault.
“It was a mistake, my mistake,” he said. “I was pushing too much and I lost the rear.”
Verstappen made a smooth restart to lead from Hamilton and Perez as Sainz climbed to fifth. The Spaniard was then handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from his pit stop.
By lap 34, Vertappen led Hamilton by 6.499 seconds with Perez third, 1.475 adrift, but blisters emerging on various tires, notably Sainz’s front right after he had passed Russell for fourth.
With 15 laps remaining, it posed problems for the Italian team’s pit wall crew and others as the swirling wind increased.
Frustrated in fourth, Sainz asked Ferrari for fresh tires who told him to go for Plan D, then to stay out and finally, in mid-overtaking of Perez to pit.
“Not now,” shouted the Spaniard who muscled through to third and then, on lap 43, pitted for tires and to serve his penalty.
It seemed Ferrari, bafflingly, had thrown away a solid chance of third as Sainz rejoined ninth, while Russell and Perez battled for the final podium spot.
Max Verstappen wins French Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc crashes out
https://arab.news/cz6wt
Max Verstappen wins French Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc crashes out
- The 24-year-old Dutchman drove with flawless control in the searing heat to guide his Red Bull home
- Lewis Hamilton was delighted to be second in the Mercedes
Former runner-up Jabeur retires from Wimbledon first-round match
Bulgarian Tomova took a tight opening set on a tiebreak and was 2-0 ahead in the second when Jabeur, who reached the final in 2022 and 2023, decided she could not continue.
The 30-year-old former world number two had looked uncomfortable in fiercely hot conditions on Court 14 and needed a long medical timeout in the first set.
Jabeur, who has slipped outside the world’s top 50, suffers from asthma and experienced breathing difficulties at this year’s Australian Open.
“I wasn’t expecting not to feel good,” Jabeur said. “I have been practicing pretty well the last few days but I guess these things happen.
“I’m pretty sad, it really doesn’t really help with my confidence and what I keep pushing myself to do even though it was a very tough season for me. I hope I can feel better and see what is going to happen.”
Temperatures at Wimbledon were expected to reach 34 degrees Celsius on the opening day of the championships and the All England Club has implemented its warm weather policy.
Pakistan name Azhar Mahmood as latest red-ball head coach
- Azhar Mahmood becomes fourth man to be appointed to the post in last 18 months
- Pakistan will host South Africa in their first series of latest WTC cycle in October
KARACHI: Pakistan on Monday named former all-rounder Azhar Mahmood interim head coach of the Test side, the fourth man to take the post in the last 18 months.
The 50-year-old will remain in the position until January, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.
As a pace bowling all-rounder Mahmood played 143 one-day internationals and 21 Tests for Pakistan, and has been serving as assistant coach since last year.
“The PCB announces Mahmood as the acting red-ball head coach of the Pakistan men’s team,” said a PCB press release.
Mahmood replaces Aaqib Javed, who was interim head coach for the Test series in South Africa in December-January and at home against the West Indies.
Javed left after Pakistan lost all four Tests and finished ninth and last in the third cycle of the World Test Championship.
Javed took over from former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie, who quit six months into his stint in December 2024 after differences with the PCB.
Before Gillespie, former Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez was team director and oversaw a 3-0 Test defeat in Australia.
Monday’s appointment is part of a series of changes the PCB has taken to improve the performances of the national team after a poor two years.
Last month, New Zealand’s Mike Hesson took over as white-ball head coach for two years.
Pakistan will host South Africa in their first series of the latest WTC cycle in October this year and then Sri Lanka in December-January.
Baniyas emerge victorious in round 4 of Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship
- Final day of action in Abu Dhabi concluded with Al-Jazira Jiu-Jitsu Club finishing second and Al-Ain Jiu-Jitsu Club taking third
ABU DHABI: The fourth round of the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship concluded on Sunday at Mubadala Arena in Zayed Sports City with Baniyas Club taking first place.
The final day of action had competitions in the kids and under-12 divisions (Gi category), with final overall standings confirming Al-Jazira Jiu-Jitsu Club in second and Al-Ain Jiu-Jitsu Club taking third.
Mohamed Humaid Hamad Dalmouj Aldhaheri, board member of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, said the championship “reflects the wise leadership’s vision of empowering individuals.”
“The involvement of younger age groups demonstrates the success of our long-term development plans, providing a safe, competitive, and professional environment that nurtures talent and builds a solid foundation for future national champions,” he added.
“The leadership’s continued support, including the directive of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed to double the prize pool, inspires the entire jiu-jitsu community,” he said.
“This sport promotes physical fitness, mental resilience, and values like discipline and respect — key pillars for a strong society and a sustainable, world-leading nation.”
Hamad Nasseeb Al-Ahbabi, father of young athlete Matar Al-Ahbabi, said: “Anyone who’s seen my son’s progress in jiu-jitsu understands how much this sport can transform young lives. This championship is about more than medals.
“It’s about building character, values, and confidence. The generous prize initiative from His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed is a clear sign of how much the leadership cares about motivating and supporting the nation’s youth.”
The next round is in August, as jiu-jitsu strengthens its position as one of the UAE’s leading sports.
Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier chosen as captains of WNBA All-Star Game by fan vote
- Clark received 1,293,526 votes from fans, while Collier had about 100,000 fewer
- Collier leads the league in scoring at a career-best 24.5 points and is fourth in rebounding at 8.4 per game
NEW YORK: Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier will captain the WNBA All-Star Game next month, the league announced Sunday.
Clark received 1,293,526 votes from fans, while Collier had about 100,000 fewer.
“It’s cool that fans get to be a part of it and have a little impact on the game,” Clark said. “It’s going to be special to do it here in this city. ... Trying to make it the best All-Star that the WNBA has ever had. It’s certainly a cool honor.”
The Indiana Fever star, who is sidelined with a groin strain, is averaging 18.2 points and a career-high 8.9 assists. She also led the fan voting last season, her rookie year, but the All-Star format was the US Olympic team playing against a select group of WNBA stars so no captains were chosen. She learned she was captain in a phone call from WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Collier leads the league in scoring at a career-best 24.5 points and is fourth in rebounding at 8.4 per game. Her daughter surprised her wearing a shirt saying “Mama you’re a All-Star,” as she scooted into the locker room with former Lynx great Sylvia Fowles right behind her to let Collier know the news.
“It’s really cool,” Collier said to reporters before warming up for a game Sunday night “I went from never being a starter to captain.”
This will be her fifth All-Star appearance.
Before squaring off in Indianapolis on July 19, Clark and the Fever will face Collier and the Lynx on Tuesday in the Commissioner’s Cup final.
The 10 starters were selected from across the WNBA without regard to conference affiliation. Current players and a media panel joined fans in selecting the All-Star starters. Fans voting accounted for 50 percent, while the players vote and the media choices each account for 25 percent.
The pair will draft their fellow starters from a group that will be revealed on Monday. After the starters are announced, the league’s head coaches will choose the 13 reserves by voting for three guards, five frontcourt players and four from either position. Coaches can’t vote for players from their own teams. The 12 reserves will be revealed next Sunday.
“Obviously I’m going to try and get my teammates on my team, that’s the goal,” Clark said. “Once they come out with whoever has made it and whoever hasn’t, I’ll get to pick and choose. I don’t know how it works.”
The two All-Star captains will then draft their respective rosters by selecting first from the remaining eight players in the pool of starters and then from the pool of 12 reserves.
Clark and Collier also led the initial fan voting, with Indiana’s Aliyah Boston in third. Boston finished second last season behind Clark in the fan vote.
Hall of Fame horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a winner of 15 Triple Crown races, dies at 89
- His family said Sunday that Lukas died Saturday night at his Louisville, Kentucky, home
- Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby four times. Only good friend Bob Baffert has more Triple Crown victories, and Lukas owns a record-tying 20 in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships
NEW YORK: D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Famer who became one of the most accomplished trainers in the history of horse racing and a face of the sport for decades, has died. He was 89.
His family said Sunday that Lukas died Saturday night at his Louisville, Kentucky, home. Lukas had been hospitalized with a severe MRSA blood infection that caused significant damage to his heart and digestive system and worsened pre-existing chronic conditions.
“Wayne devoted his life not only to horses but to the industry — developing generations of horsemen and horsewomen and growing the game by inviting unsuspecting fans into the winner’s circle,” his family said in a statement. “Whether he was boasting about a maiden 2-year-old as the next Kentucky Derby winner or offering quiet words of advice before a big race, Wayne brought heart, grace, and grit to every corner of the sport. His final days were spent at home in Kentucky, where he chose peace, family, and faith.”
Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby four times. Only good friend Bob Baffert has more Triple Crown victories, and Lukas owns a record-tying 20 in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
“The whole secret of this game, I think, is being able to read the horse: Read what he needs, what he doesn’t need, what he can’t do, what he can do,” Lukas said in May before his 34th and final Preakness Stakes. “That’s the whole key. Everybody’s got the blacksmith, everybody’s got to the same bed available, the feed man. We all can hire a good jockey. We all can hire a pretty good exercise rider if we’ve got the means, so what the hell is the difference? The horse is the difference and what we do with him in reading him.”
Lukas was affectionately known around the barns and the racetrack as “Coach” because he coached high school basketball before his professional career with horses began. Even with months to go before his 90th birthday, he would get up on his pony in the early morning hours and go out to the track himself, rather than letting his assistants do the day-to-day work.
Born Darnell Wayne Lukas on Sept. 2, 1935, in Wisconsin as the second of three children, he rose to prominence in the sport with quarter horses in races that are effectively sprints. He moved into thoroughbreds in the late 1970s and won his first Preakness with Codex in 1980.
Lukas has 4,967 documented victories in thoroughbred racing, with his horses earning more than $310 million from more than 30,600 starts.
“Today we lost one of the great champions of Churchill Downs and one of the most significant figures in Thoroughbred racing over the last 50 years,” Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said. “We will miss his humor, his wisdom and his unmatched capacity to thrill the fans with the performances of his horses on our sport’s biggest days.”
Achieving something of a career renaissance over the past decade, one he credits to finding the right owners willing to spend money on horses, Lukas won the Preakness last year with Seize the Grey. Asked what motivates him to keep doing his job well into his late 80s, he gave a pep talk fit for a locker room before a big game.
“If you have a passion, you eliminate all the excuses,” Lukas said. “That’s how it works. You get up early. You go without a meal. You drive. You go without sleep — as long as you got the passion. Don’t let that sofa pull you down. It’s a little easy when that alarm goes off to say, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know if I really want to do this today.’ Erase that. The most important decision you’ll ever make in your life is your attitude decision. Make it early, and make the right one.”
