DOHA: A delighted George Russell qualified in second place for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix following a late and confusing deletion of the best laps by rival McLaren drivers.
When the chequered flag waved to end Friday’s qualifying session, defending champion Max Verstappen was fastest for Red Bull ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren with Mercedes’ Russell third and Oscar Piastri fourth in the second McLaren.
The decisions to scub out the fastest laps by the two McLarens were not communicated to the drivers or organizers before the top-three finishers began to gather for their post-session broadcast media interviews — at which point Norris withdrew, knowing he had exceeded track limits on his best lap.
That left Russell to declare he was delighted to finish third on the grid — not knowing that he was promoted to second.
“It was a really tricky day for everybody,” he said.
“The new tarmac was really slippery and all the sand is blowing onto the track. We went out in qualifying and the lap times were just immense compared to the times we were doing this morning.
“That was good fun! And I’m really happy to be P3.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, for which Verstappen claimed pole position, he said: “Lando and the McLarens are really quick at the moment. We know Red Bull and Max are in a league of their own, but our fight is with Ferrari to secure P2 in the constructors’ championship.”
At one point, he turned to look for Norris. “Where is Lando?” he asked. “He seems to have disappeared!“
In a bizarre turn of events, Piastri was then interviewed although he was demoted from third position during the broadcast. He will start sixth while Norris fell to 10th.
Norris later said: “I just had a correction and oversteer and went off. The team have done a good job. I just messed it up. Not a good day for me.”
Piastri said: “I’m not particularly happy with myself. Very, very scruffy on that last lap. Bit more on the table, but I’ll take a top three.”
Hamilton said he felt that Norris deserved to have kept his place after taking issue with the severity of the penalties when drivers exceed the limits.
“I feel Lando should be up here really,” he told reporters.
Hamilton, who was elevated to third long after the chaotic sequence of broadcast interviews, was also one of four drivers to be investigated for allegedly driving too slowly in Q1 along with Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and Piastri.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was also called to see the stewards for baulking Verstappen in Q2 in an incident that resulted in the Dutchman claiming that he almost crashed.
Hamilton discussed his car’s erratic performance.
“It’s confusing because we were nearly out of Q1, which is incredibly frustrating in that moment, but then we get into Q2 and all of a sudden we’re right up there.
“So it’s very, very strange, but it’s really great for the team for us to be up there and George did a great job today.
“So for us to be so close is pretty awesome. I mean, for me, it was a relatively average qualifying session — Q1 and Q3 particularly. I was able to put together the lap, but it came too early, in Q2, so I wish I had that for Q3.”
He said he was not thinking about his personal battle with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez for second place in the title race. He trails the Mexican by 33 points with six events remaining.
Perez struggled again to extract the potential from his car and was eliminated in Q2, taking 13th place on the grid.
“No,” he said. “I’m not thinking about that. I want to win the race and I am trying to do that. It doesn’t matter who I’m fighting against.”
George Russell delighted with second in chaotic end to Qatar GP qualifying
George Russell delighted with second in chaotic end to Qatar GP qualifying
Pakistan in good shape for Champions Trophy after winning ODI series in South Africa
- Rizwan and Azam’s half-centuries along with Afridi’s 4-wicket haul sealed Pakistan’s 81-run victory
- Pakistan will play their last match of the ODI series against South Africa on Sunday in Johannesburg
CAPE TOWN: Pakistan won a second straight major one-day international series away from home when it beat South Africa by 81 runs at Newlands on Thursday.
After beating Australia 2-1 last month, Pakistan has taken the Proteas 2-0 with a game to spare. Half-centuries by Babar Azam, captain Mohammad Rizwan and allrounder Kamran Ghulam staked Pakistan to 329 all out.
Heinrich Klaasen hit 97 but South Africa’s chase was strangled by Pakistan, and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi ended the last meaningful resistance with three wickets in three overs. Klaasen was the last man out on 248 in the 44th over.
Pakistan’s fifth successive bilateral ODI series win puts it in good stead for the Champions Trophy it will host in February.
It was unchanged from the three-wicket win on Tuesday in Paarl, made to bat first, and minus both openers in the first 10 overs.
Rizwan was smashed on the back of his helmet by debutant pacer Kwena Maphaka but gathered his senses with Azam in a steady but safe stand of 115.
The partnership was broken when Azam was caught at midwicket for 73 off 95 balls, his first half-century in any format for Pakistan since May, and his first in ODIs in 13 months.
When Rizwan followed three overs later for 80 off 82, caught and bowled by Maphaka when he was accelerating, Pakistan was forced to reset at 192-4 with 14 overs to go.
Amid four dropped catches by South Africa, Ghulam piled more misery on the host by smashing a 25-ball half-century on his fifth six. Ghulam was the last batter out for 63 off 32, the main plunderer as Pakistan scored 105 runs off the last 10 overs.
“Kamran Ghulam’s innings was absolutely fantastic,” Rizwan said. “We were looking for 300 but we got 300-plus, must give credit to him. I had trust in him but not like that ... that was something different.”
Set 330 to win, openers Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi gave South Africa a promising start in the first 12 overs.
But spinners Abrar Ahmed and part-timer Salman Agha chipped out three top-order wickets and slowed the scoring so the run rate required gradually climbed.
Klaasen and the fit-again David Miller were reviving the chase and starting to charge when Miller was caught behind off Shaheen for 29, ending a stand of 72 runs in 12 overs with Klaasen.
Klaasen soldiered on, out three runs short of a fifth ODI century, as Shaheen grabbed 4-47 and fellow pacer Naseem Shah took 3-37.
The last ODI is on Sunday in Johannesburg.
Inter Milan reach Italian Cup quarterfinals after Asllani scores direct from corner kick
- Marko Arnautovic and Kristjan Asllani netted in the first half to help Inter set up a quarterfinal match against Lazio
- Teenage defender Mike Aidoo came on two minutes from time for Inter for his professional debut
MILAN: A much-changed Inter Milan side eased to a 2-0 victory over Udinese in the Italian Cup on Thursday.
Marko Arnautovic and Kristjan Asllani netted in the first half to help Inter set up a quarterfinal match against Lazio — the team they routed 6-0 in the league on Monday. Inter coach Simone Inzaghi made eight changes to that side.
The match was briefly halted shortly before halftime when a spectator collapsed in the stands. The fan was immediately treated as the stadium fell into silence and the players looked on, clearly concerned.
A defibrillator had to be used before the fan was carried out on a stretcher to the applause of the San Siro crowd. The fan was reportedly stable in the hospital.
When play resumed after a delay of more than five minutes, the Udinese players still seemed distracted as Asllani’s corner from the left evaded everyone and went in off the far post.
That put Inter 2-0 up as it had broken the deadlock in the 30th minute following an Udinese error. A hideous pass from visiting midfielder Jurgen Ekkelenkamp was straight at Mehdi Taremi and he fed in Arnautovic, who slotted into the bottom right corner.
Taremi hit the post in the second half, while Inter also had an early penalty revoked on review.
Teenage defender Mike Aidoo came on two minutes from time for Inter for his professional debut.
Guiu hat trick helps Chelsea rout Rovers 5-1 to extend Conference League dominance
- Guiu, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona this summer, has scored six goals in six games in the third-tier competition
- Rolando Mandragora netted for Fiorentina three minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Vitoria
LONDON: Marc Guiu’s first-half hat trick helped Chelsea ease past Shamrock Rovers 5-1 on Thursday to complete the league phase of the UEFA Conference League with a 100 percent record.
The 18-year-old forward, who netted twice in a 3-1 win over Astana in the previous round, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a header from close range at Stamford Bridge.
Markus Poom equalized for the Irish visitors, but Guiu restored Chelsea’s lead with an angled shot from the left in the 34th.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made it 3-1 six minutes later before Guiu completed his first hat trick for the Blues with a header in stoppage time.
“I’ve never seen anyone press like him,” Dewsbury-Hall told TNTSports about Guiu. “He doesn’t slow down, he’ll keep working hard. You forget how young he is. He’s only 18. I’m happy that he got his hat trick, he deserves it.”
Guiu, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona this summer, has scored six goals in six games in the third-tier competition.
Marc Cucurella finished off the rout in the second half.
It’s now eight straight wins in all competitions for Enzo Maresca’s team, which equals the club’s record set in December 2016.
Of the 36 clubs involved in the revamped competition, the top eight in the standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into the knockout playoffs in February. The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
Unlike the new-look Champions League and Europa League, teams in the Conference League face six opponents, not eight, in the league phase that replaced the traditional group stage.
Chelsea was the only team that stayed perfect, the only team that qualified to the round of 16 with a game to spare, and it scored 26 in six games, by far the most goals.
Despite its first defeat in the competition, Rovers finished 10th and became the first Irish club to advance to the knockout stage of a European competition.
Top eight
Rolando Mandragora netted for Fiorentina three minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Vitoria, a result that gave the Portuguese team second place with 14 points. Fiorentina, runner-up in the previous two editions, was a point back in third.
Rapid Vienna beat Copenhagen 3-0 to advance from fourth place on 13 points. Djurgarden was fifth with 13 points after a 3-1 win over Legia Warsaw, which was seventh place.
Lugano finished sixth after being held 2-2 at home by Pafos from Cyprus.
Cercle Brugge’s 1-1 draw against Basaksehir was enough to finish eighth.
‘And the winner is’: World’s first AI boxing judge unveiled in experiment for Fury-Usyk fight
RIYADH: Organizers of the rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have released a video of how an Artificial Intelligence powered 4th judge will score the fight between the heavyweights this Saturday.
The much anticipated rematch between Britain’s Fury and Ukraine’s Usyk will take place in Riyadh, as part of the cultural and sporting spectacle known as Riyadh Season.
The video, posted early on Friday by the Saudi entertainment authority chief, Turki Alalshikh, features an AI judge explaining how it will score the bout.
“I am the first ever AI boxing judge,” the humanoid figure announces in the 38-second clip, “and I am here to bring fairness to the ring.”
The AI judge, powered by The Ring, a boxing magazine dedicated to the sport, is just an experiment and will not decide the fight, according to Alalshikh.
Boxing fights are usually scored by three judges, who use the 10-point system each round to choose a winner in case there is no knockout.
“I analyze every round, every move, and every decisive moment during the fight,” it said.
Like human judges, the bot will try to track landed punches, effective aggression and defense, collecting real-time metrics to calculate a score and decide who has won.
In the past, human judges have been accused of not scoring correctly, being biased, or more seriously, being corrupt, leading to controversy within the sport.
It is unclear what the long term impact of the experiment will be, but other sports such as football and cricket use similar technologies to support referees and umpires to make accurate decisions more quickly, which have led to fairer results.
Excitement continues to build for the Saturday night fight, which is expected to start some time after midnight in the Saudi capital. Fury, who exercised a clause in his contract for a rematch after his May defeat to the Ukrainian, who has an unblemished 21-0 record, is out for revenge, exciting boxing fans across the globe.
The fighters, who attended an event hosted by The Ring, faced-off for media photos on Thursday night ahead of the official Weigh-In on Friday.
Balancing act required from Renard and Saudi at 26th Arabian Gulf Cup
- Green Falcons will be taking a strong squad to Kuwait, but one eye will be on the resumption of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
- Bahrain and Iraq will see this tournament the same way as Saudi — a chance to lift a trophy but also to get ready for March’s crucial qualifiers
The last time the Arabian Gulf Cup rolled around was just after the 2022 World Cup and it was almost an afterthought for Saudi Arabia and head coach Herve Renard, especially as the Saudi Pro League was in full swing.
Not this time. As the 26th edition kicks off this week, all eyes are on Kuwait and whether the Green Falcons can find the form to lift the trophy and also ignite their faltering 2026 World Cup qualification campaign.
Winning the Gulf Cup for the first time since 2004 will be a big deal but the excitement and plaudits would quickly fade if the team miss out on the expanded 48-team World Cup. Renard has a tricky test to get the balance right: achieve results but also look ahead. Another failure would increase the already substantial pressure surrounding Saudi Arabia.
Qualification for the 2026 World Cup has not been going well. After six games in the third round, Saudi Arabia have six points, with just that one win in China (courtesy of a last-minute Hassan Kadesh header) to look back on. With only the top two certain of going to the World Cup and Japan already nine points clear, the other five teams are separated by just a single point. It is going to be a brutal race for second and if the Green Falcons do not improve before March’s games then everything is in doubt.
The Gulf Cup is also important for Renard. The Frenchman returned in October to replace Roberto Mancini. Renard may only have ended his first spell just over 18 months earlier, but he needs time to get to grips with the team. His first game in November was a battling 0-0 draw in Australia, an encouraging start that was quickly followed by a 2-0 loss at the hands of Indonesia in Jakarta.
Against that background comes the Gulf Cup. There are no Saudi Pro League games meaning that, unlike last time, Renard will take his strongest side to compete in the eight-team tournament that is split into two groups of four with the top two going into the semis. Saudi Arabia are in Group B and kick off against Bahrain on Sunday — a rival for that second spot in World Cup qualification — before Yemen on Dec. 25 and Iraq three days later.
Even assuming, as expected, Yemen end up fourth and last, it should be a tough few days. Bahrain and Iraq will see this tournament the same way as Saudi — a chance to lift a trophy but also to get ready for March’s crucial qualifiers. Getting to the final is not just an objective in its own right but also means five competitive games and valuable preparation time.
The biggest issue for Saudi Arabia is obvious: goals, or rather the lack of them. Three scored in six qualifiers is a shocking statistic and none in the last four is even worse. Defender Kadesh scored twice from set pieces in the second matchday against China which followed Musab Al-Juwayr’s equaliser against Indonesia in the opening game. The strikers have not found the target at all. If these issues continue then Saudi Arabia are going to miss out on the World Cup.
Firas Al-Buraikan, Saleh Al-Shehri and Abdullah Al-Hamdan are all familiar names while Abdullah Radif is an increasingly regular face at international level. Renard needs to get these forwards firing, or at least one of them.
There is some encouraging news. In this week’s friendly, played behind closed doors to the media as well as fans, Saudi Arabia defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-1. Both Al-Shehri and Al-Hamdan were on target. With the poor results of late and the negative publicity around the team, it was perhaps a wise decision to make the match low-key and Renard will be hoping that his strikers now have a little more confidence.
The injury to Salem Al-Dawsari makes it all a little harder. The team’s talisman and best creative talent is likely to miss the early stages, meaning that others will have to step up. There may be a chance for some younger talents such as Ayman Fallatah, Abdulmalik Al-Oyayari, Abdulaziz Al-Othman and Mohammed Al-Qahtani to make a name for themselves but the old stalwarts at the back such as Ali Al-Bulaihi, Sultan Al-Ghannam (though these two missed training Wednesday due to minor ailments) and Yasser Al-Shahrani need to play their part.
In short, the pressure is on. The Gulf Cup could be the catalyst for change that Renard and Saudi Arabia are looking for after a disappointing 2024.
