LAS VEGAS: George Russell of Mercedes took pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Friday while title-chasing Max Verstappen was fifth as the Dutchman closes in on a fourth successive world championship.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was second ahead of Pierre Gasly of Alpine with Red Bull’s Verstappen finishing one spot ahead of title rival Lando Norris of McLaren who was sixth.
Verstappen, who won the Las Vegas race in 2023, leads Norris by 62 points with three races remaining and needs simply to finish ahead of him on Saturday night to become only the sixth man to win four world titles.
Norris has to beat Verstappen by three points to keep his slim championship hopes alive.
“At least we are ahead of the McLarens. I didn’t expect that so it’s good,” said Verstappen, hampered by Red Bull’s error in bring the wrong rear wing to Las Vegas.
“We’re just a bit too slow. We have been struggling to get the tires to work over a lap and we’re too slow on the straights.”
Charles Leclerc, in the second Ferrari, was fourth fastest in qualifying and will share the second row with Gasly whose impressive performance on the Las Vegas street circuit followed a shock third-place finish in Brazil last time out.
Yuki Tsunoda of RB was seventh with Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg in a Haas and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes completing the top 10.
Russell clocked a best lap in one minute and 32.312 seconds to outpace Sainz by 0.098 seconds for his third pole this year the fourth of his career.
“It feels incredible to be back on pole,” said Russell, who clipped a wall in the third and final qualifying run.
“I had a bit of a moment on my first run and we had to change the front wing so for a while I didn’t think we were going to make the flag, but I am just so happy.”
Norris felt the “top four was out of reach” for him.
“But I will keep going to the end and will do my best in every race whether I am fighting for the championship or not.”
On a cool night in America’s gambling capital, with a track temperature of 13 degrees Celsius, it was Gasly who set the pace as the rest slithered in early pursuit.
Having been quickest in the earlier final free practice, Russell topped Q1 ahead of Hamilton.
Unfortunately for Red Bull, Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez’s miserable season continued as he was eliminated along with Aston Martin’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, Williams’ Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas of Sauber and Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin.
Hamilton set the Q2 pace in 1:33.136. After his dismal outing in Brazil where he finished 10th in the rain, this was evidence of a revitalized Hamilton ahead of a move to Ferrari next year.
Verstappen briefly went top with an edgy lap before Mercedes responded with Russell taking control as both he and Hamilton delivered improved laps, Russell clocking 1:32.881.
At this stage, Verstappen was showing enough pace to stay ahead of Norris before the Q2 segment ended with a yellow flag as Franco Colapinto hit the wall at the penultimate corner in his Williams, climbing out of the wreckage unhurt.
It was his second consecutive crash in qualifying and left the team with a big repair and rebuild job — the British team’s sixth in three Grands Prix.
The Argentine driver was already heading for a Q2 exit in 14th place along with RB’s Liam Lawson, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Hamilton topped Q2 to lead the way into the top ten shootout with a best lap in 1:32.567 ahead of Sainz and Russell.
The Q3 action resumed after a 25-minute delay for repairs, Verstappen leading the way followed by both McLarens before Russell clocked an early marker in 1:32.811 ahead of Sainz while Hamilton locked up and aborted his first lap.
Russell on pole position at Las Vegas GP, Verstappen ahead of Norris
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Russell on pole position at Las Vegas GP, Verstappen ahead of Norris
- Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was second ahead of Pierre Gasly of Alpine
McLaren’s Lando Norris wins wet and wild Australian Grand Prix. Hamilton finishes 10th
- Norris holds off Verstappen to win rain-hit Australian Grand Prix
MELBOURNE, Australia: McLaren’s Lando Norris has won a chaotic rain-affected Australian Grand Prix, his first at Albert Park, with the Brit just managing to stay ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following a third safety car late in Sunday’s season-opening Formula 1 race.
Lewis Hamilton had a miserable Ferrari debut. The seven-time champion finished 10th and was annoyed by constant radio messages from his pit team.
Norris started Melbourne’s first wet race since 2010 from pole position. But, while he initially came under increasing pressure from Piastri, who set a series of fastest laps until his papaya team told him to hold position, the Australian spun at the penultimate corner on lap 44 as the rain intensified and dropped down the order. A late race fightback helped Piastri recover to take ninth place — including passing Hamilton on the final lap — and two championship points.
Verstappen finished 0.895 of a second behind Norris after starting from third on the grid, and took advantage of Piastri’s misfortune and the final safety car and tire stops. Mercedes’ George Russell closed out the top-three.
“I knew I had a good pace, but I made one mistake in turn six and he got me in the DRS and the DRS around here is probably like a second or something so that allowed it to keep staying within that second,” said Norris, who scored McLaren’s 12th win in Australia to steal the outright record from Ferrari.
“I know what I’m capable of, I know what I can do, but obviously it’s just round one, so we need to go and do it again next weekend and then continue from there. A long season ahead, we’ve just got to keep our head down and keep pushing.”
Williams endured a mix bag, with Alex Albon securing his best result since Abu Dhabi 2020, and new recruit Carlos Sainz – who won here last year driving for Ferrari – out at the final turn on the opening lap.
Mercedes was thrilled to get two cars in the top five, with Russell onto the podium, his first since winning in Las Vegas last year. Rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who replaced Hamilton at the silver squad, showed his class with a superb fightback drive from 16th on the grid, following his Q1 exit, to finish fifth.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll also made the best of the chaotic conditions to move up from 13th to sixth, ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, bringing home eight points in what has been a difficult weekend for the green team with its car uncompetitive in dry running.
Ferrari is the most successful constructor at the Australian Grand Prix, with 11 wins since its first in 1987, but it will leave Melbourne disappointed with just five points to show after Charles Leclerc finished eighth and Hamilton 10th.
The Scuderia was seen as a potential championship challenger ahead of the season start and has plenty of work to do ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix next week.
The Melbourne race had a thrilling start with Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar out on the formation lap, and Alpine’s Jack Doohan joined Sainz in crashing out on the opening lap.
There were just 14 finishers, after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso hit the turn eight barriers on lap 34, while Red Bull’s Liam Lawson and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the barriers and out of the race 10 laps from home in the treacherously wet conditions.
New Zealand romp to nine-wicket win in first Pakistan T20
- Pakistan began New Zealand tour in poor fashion, managing only 91 runs after batting first
- New Zealand opener Tim Seifert got Kiwis off to a flying start, scoring fiery 44 off 29 balls
Christchurch, New Zealand: Pakistan slumped to a nine-wicket loss in the first Twenty20 against New Zealand in Christchurch on Sunday after failing to defend a meagre score of 91.
The tourists began the five-match series in disastrous fashion, reduced to 11-4 at the end of the fifth over after towering paceman Kyle Jamieson ran amok with the new ball.
They were eventually dismissed for their lowest score in a T20 on New Zealand soil and the home side had few problems in responding with 92-1 off just 10.1 overs.
Jamieson claimed three of the first four wickets to finish with 3-8 off four overs.
New ball partner Jacob Duffy returned later in the innings to sweep up the tail and, like Jamieson, claimed career-best T20 figures of 4-14 off 3.4 overs.
Pakistan never recovered from their top-order collapse after being sent in on a Hagley Oval pitch offering early life, with only three players reaching double figures.
Newly-installed captain Salman Agha scored 18 and put on 46 for the fifth wicket with top-scorer Khushdil Shah, who struck three sixes in his 32 off 30 balls.
Jahandad Khan scored 17 at a run-a-ball before the innings ended with eight balls still to be bowled.
Pakistan’s previous lowest T20 score in New Zealand was 101 all out in a 95-run loss in Wellington in 2016.
Opener Tim Seifert got New Zealand off to a flying start, with 44 off 29 balls, striking seven fours and one six.
Finn Allen on 29 and Tim Robinson on 18 completed the chase off the first ball of the 11th over.
The second match is in Dunedin on Tuesday.
Al-Hilal win to keep in touch at the top
- The result means that Al-Ittihad, who left it late to defeat Al-Riyadh 2-1 on Thursday, are top with 61 points while Al-Hilal are in second with 57
Al-Hilal won 2-0 at Al-Taawoun on Saturday to cut Al-Ittihad’s lead at the top of the Saudi Pro League back to four points.
Both Hilal and Taawoun had enjoyed success in Asian competitions during the week, and returned home to play out a hard-fought clash in Buraidah. The champions' form in the league may have been patchy of late but they bounced back to return to winning ways with a strong performance.
There were only 12 minutes on the clock when Mohamed Kanno put the defending champions ahead. Salem Al Dawsari swung over a corner from the left which was met by the midfielder who directed his header home.
Hilal goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made a number of saves to maintain the champions’ lead though the Riyadh giants had, and missed, plenty of opportunities, but then with a quarter of an hour remaining, Marcos Leonardo added a second to seal the win.
Hamad Al Yami floated over a deep cross for the in-form Brazilian to head home for his 17th league goal of the season, just two behind top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
The result means that Al-Ittihad, who left it late to defeat Al-Riyadh 2-1 on Thursday, are top with 61 points while Al-Hilal are in second with 57.
Al-Ahli also won in Asia in midweek but came home to lose 2-1 at Al-Okhdood to stay in fifth behind Al-Nassr and Al-Qadsiah.
The Jeddah club have been in fine form of late and were full of confidence and took the lead just before the half hour thanks to an own goal from Damion Lowe.
It was all looking good for the Greens until the 95th minute when the hosts equalised through Saleh Al-Abbas. There was still time for it to get worse for Al-Ahli as Godwin Saviour struck to win the game for the relegation-threatened Al-Okhdood
Al Ahli’s shock defeat means that they are in fifth in the table, on 48 points, three behind Al-Qadsiah and Al-Nassr. Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad are, however, out in front.
Sabalenka to face teen Andreeva in Indian Wells final
- The misfiring Keys finally held serve for 5-1 in the second, but minutes later Sabalenka sealed the win
INDIAN WELLS: Aryna Sabalenka avenged her Australian Open loss to Madison Keys, thrashing the American 6-0, 6-1 to book an Indian Wells title showdown with teen sensation Mirra Andreeva.
Red-hot Russian 17-year-old Andreeva showed plenty of poise in a 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 6-3 victory over defending champion Iga Swiatek, ending the second-ranked Pole’s bid to become the first woman to win three titles in the California desert.
“I was hungry,” said Sabalenka, who had made no bones about wanting revenge after Keys denied her bid for a third straight Australian Open title in January.
“That Australian Open match was really heartbroken for me, and I really needed some time to recover after that.
“And if I would lose today again, it would get in my head and I didn’t want that to happen. I was really focused — I was just really hungry to get this win against Madison.”
Keys, who was riding a 16-match winning streak, couldn’t get a foot in the door.
Sabalenka was untroubled by the cold, swirling wind on Stadium Court as she won the first 11 games.
“I think tactically I played really great tennis,” said Sabalenka, adding her strategy was to “just keep her out of the rhythm.”
The misfiring Keys finally held serve for 5-1 in the second, but minutes later Sabalenka sealed the win and lined up a shot at the WTA tour’s newest sensation Andreeva in what 26-year-old Sabalenka quipped would be “kind of like an old mama playing against a kid.”
Andreeva beat Swiatek for the second time in as many tournaments, having stunned the Polish star in the quarter-finals at Dubai last month on the way to becoming the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion.
Swiatek, who hadn’t dropped a set in winning 10 straight Indian Wells matches, looked supremely confident as she dropped just one point in her first three service games.
But it was Andreeva who claimed the first break of the tense first set for a 5-4 lead.
After Swiatek broke back and they reached the tiebreaker, Andreeva seized control, opening with a blistering backhand winner and pocketing the set on her first opportunity as Swiatek sent a backhand wide.
“I felt like I’m gonna go and play the tiebreak like it’s the last tiebreak of my life,” she said. “So I just went for all my shots. My serve was great. I just felt super comfortable and confident,” she said.
Swiatek put her frustrations aside and broke Andreeva to open the second set, breaking her twice more as the Russian’s errors multiplied under pressure from her opponent.
“The second set, it was a bit weird,” Andreeva said. “I just felt like she literally overplayed me, because she was playing pretty deep with good height over the net. It was really hard to do something with these shots.”
The roles reversed again, however, when Andreeva stepped up her attack and broke Swiatek to open the third, and she sealed the win with her third break of the set.
“I just decided to kind of still play the same but maybe go for my shots more, trying to play a little bit more aggressive,” she said.
“I feel also that I was dealing with the nerves and the pressure pretty good, so I just feel proud of myself.”
Real Madrid will never play with under 72 hours rest again: Ancelotti
- “I think today is the last time we will play a game before 72 hours (of rest),” Ancelotti told reporters
- “We will never play another game (without) 72 hours of rest”
VILA-REAL, Spain: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Saturday his team will not play another football game after fewer than 72 hours of rest.
Los Blancos beat Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night in the Champions League on penalties and then earned a 2-1 win at Villarreal on Saturday, with the game kicking off at 1630 GMT.
“I think today is the last time we will play a game before 72 hours (of rest),” Ancelotti told reporters.
“We will never play another game (without) 72 hours of rest.
“We asked La Liga twice to change the time of the game and they did not do anything, this is the last time.”
World football governing body FIFA recommends at least 72 hours between matches in order to protect the health of the players.
French striker Kylian Mbappe struck twice for Madrid against Villarreal to take them top of La Liga ahead of Barcelona’s game at Atletico on Sunday.
“I am very proud of this team,” continued Ancelotti.
“It was a potential banana skin, above all for what has happened, the (few) hours of rest, and the strength of the opponent.”
Ancelotti has regularly complained about the packed football calendar, with Madrid one of the clubs who will also be involved at the expanded Club World Cup this summer in the United States.
“Everyone saw the game against Atletico, 120 minutes, a very intense match, it’s hard to play after two days... but we have to respect the club badge and fight until the end, and we did that today and we were able to win,” Mbappe told Real Madrid TV.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said the scheduling of the game was disrespectful to Madrid.
“We don’t want to look for excuses, I’m happy to say we did not lose or draw because of the tiredness, but it’s not normal playing (at this time) today,” said Courtois.
“I know La Liga don’t like to put (the three biggest teams) on the same day, but sometimes it’s what you have to do... it was a lack of respect to the team and our players, because we could have left here with someone injured.
“Tomorrow is Atletico against Barca and that’s not a problem, it could be a ‘Super Sunday’ with Madrid playing first.”
