DOHA: Newly-crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen claimed his first pole position for five months on Saturday when he beat George Russell in a tense and tight qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver had forecast he would continue to struggle for pace after a disappointing showing in the earlier sprint race, but late set-up changes enabled him to clock a fastest lap in one minute and 20.520 seconds.
Russell was second for Mercedes just 0.055 seconds adrift of pole ahead of Norris, who needed a late lap to grab third for McLaren, 0.252 off the pace, ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was sixth in the second Mercedes ahead of Carlos Sainz, in the second Ferrari, two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Sergio Perez, in the second Red Bull.
Kevin Magnussen was 10th for Haas.
It was Verstappen’s career 41st pole and his ninth of the season.
“I didn’t expect that,” said Verstappen. “Honestly! But well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected — and once the car is a bit more together you feel you can push harder.”
The final seconds of the session saw Verstappen criticized by Russell for running too slowly in front of him.
“Super-dangerous by Verstappen,” said the Mercedes driver, whose thoughts prompted the stewards to investigate.
“I ended up going through the gravel and all over the floor it felt like it was scraping,” said Russell.
Norris admitted his disappointment at missing out on a front row start.
“It’s not what we hoped for, but it was the maximum we could do. My lap was pretty good, but not quick enough.”
Hamilton, set for Ferrari next year, finished sixth, admitting: “I don’t really care. I just want to get through these races, do my job, turn up and look forward to the winter break.”
After the early laps, Verstappen led before Russell went top in 1:21.519, a time that was seven-tenths quicker than Hamilton’s best as he struggled to extract matching pace on his way to ninth.
With four minutes to go, Russell offered Hamilton a tow which lifted him to sixth, 0.118 off the pace in a tight field before Russell trimmed two-tenths off his best lap in 1:21.241, beating Leclerc by 0.037 with Sainz third ahead of Norris.
Out went Alex Albon and his Williams team-mate Franco Colapinto along with Liam Lawson of RB, Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Russell began Q3 in the same style, clocking 1:21.161, but his top spot was quickly taken by Verstappen in 1:21.085, Red Bull’s set-up changes, following the sprint, paying dividends.
On his second run, Russell improved to go top again by 0.001 seconds, but it was not enough in improving conditions to resist a revitalized Verstappen, or Norris, who clocked 1:20.983.
It looked solid for McLaren, but in a final flurry of laps Verstappen went top in 1:20.687 with Hamilton rising to fifth, within 0.026 of Russell in fourth, and Alonso and Magnussen claiming top ten spots.
The ‘top 10 shootout’ began with Russell topping the pile in 1:20.575 ahead of Leclerc on their opening runs when Norris ran off at Turn Five and failed to clock a time before Verstappen slotted into second.
This left McLaren in need of a strong late lap in the final seconds as they all ran again and Verstappen, against his own forecasts, secured pole ahead of Russell and Norris — his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
F1 champion Max Verstappen takes pole for Qatar Grand Prix
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F1 champion Max Verstappen takes pole for Qatar Grand Prix
- McLaren driver Norris admitted his disappointment at missing out on a front row start
Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun tie at The Players Championship to set up Monday playoff
- The Players has a three-hole aggregate playoff on the most dynamic holes on the TPC Sawgrass — the par-5 16th, the island green on the par-3 17th and the daunting par-4 closing hole
- It will be the first Monday finish since Cameron Smith won in 2022 and the first playoff at The Players since Rickie Fowler won 10 years ago
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida: Rory McIlroy built a three-shot lead on the back nine at The Players Championship and unheralded J.J. Spaun didn’t blink. They wound up tied after a four-hour rain delay and had to return Monday for a playoff to decide the richest tournament in golf.
McIlroy needed two putts from 75 feet on the par-4 18th for a 4-under 68. All he could do was wait in the scoring area on Spaun, who had caught up with a marvelous chip on the par-5 16th and stood over a 30-foot putt for the win.
It stopped inches short, giving Spaun a 72 to match McIlroy at 12-under 276.
They did well to finish in regulation before sunset. The Players has a three-hole aggregate playoff on the most dynamic holes on the TPC Sawgrass — the par-5 16th, the island green on the par-3 17th and the daunting par-4 closing hole.
It will be the first Monday finish since Cameron Smith won in 2022 and the first playoff at The Players since Rickie Fowler won 10 years ago.
“I’m standing here feeling like I should be going home with the trophy today,” McIlroy said. “But it’s all right. I’ll reset and try to go home with the trophy tomorrow.”
Tom Hoge had to wait out the four-hole delay with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th. He returned and missed, posting a 66 and wound up two shots behind. Lucas Glover rallied from a rough front nine for a 71 and joined Hoge and Akshay Bhatia (70).
Bud Cauley, whose thought his career was over from crushing injuries in a 2018 car crash in Ohio, fell back early and steadied himself for a 74. He tied for sixth, giving him more than enough points to fulfill his medical exemption for the rest of the year.
McIlroy faced a four-shot deficit going into the final round and roared into contention with an 8-foot birdie putt and beautiful long iron to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 second. He took the lead for the first time when Spaun made bogey on the seventh hole.
Spaun caught a big break on the ninth hole when his second shot was in the collar of deep rough. He got relief from standing on a sprinkler head, then more relief when his drop was in the sprinkler head, leading to a clean lie. He chipped to 6 feet for birdie.
Still, McIlroy appeared to start pulling away right before and after the four-hour delay from a band of thunderstorms moving across north Florida.
He holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th to reach 12 under. Spaun, playing in the group behind him, was in trouble in a bunker well short of the green.
Four hours later, McIlroy made a 15-foot birdie on the 12th, while Spaun barely got the bunker shot on the green and three-putted for bogey from some 70 feet.
Just like that, McIlroy was three shots clear and Spaun appeared rattled, missing birdies chances from the 12-foot range on consecutive holes. And then it became tight again.
“Once that bogey kind of hit me, I just tried to just fight back,” Spaun said. “I kind of went with the odds. I had nothing to lose. Now I’m trying to catch Rory, and I can’t really control what he does, but I can control what I do, and I just started committing to my shots and my swing and trusting it more.
“When I’m hunting, it’s easier to let it go. Whereas, starting the round I was a little tentative, a little scared and stuff,” he said. “I think it put me in a pretty comfortable spot to finish off the round.”
McIlroy fanned a drive well right on the 14th, couldn’t reach the green, hit wedge to 15 feet and powered it through the break for only his second bogey of the round. The one-quarter inch of rain softened the green. The 15 mph wind all but vanished. The Stadium course was vulnerable.
McIlroy, however, missed a birdie chance from just inside 6 feet on the 15th and didn’t judge the rain-softened speed of the green on the par-5 16th, missing a 12-foot birdie. Behind him, Spaun threw a dart to a foot on the 14th for birdie, and chipped tight at the 16th for a birdie that tied him for the lead.
Both found land on the island at the 17th — McIlroy against the collar for an awkward stab at his 15-foot birdie attempt, Spaun lagging beautifully from 45 feet on a putt that is slow up the slope and races to the pin.
Danny Walker, who has lived in the area the last few years and only got in as an alternate Thursday morning when Jason Day withdrew with illness, shot 70 and tied for sixth with Cauley and Corey Conners (71)
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler was never really in the mix. He went 15 straight holes without a birdie between the third and fourth rounds, made only one birdie on Sunday and closed with a 73 to tie for 20th.
“Being able to repeat here was very special and I would have liked to have done it a third time,” Scheffler said. “At the end of the day, I just didn’t have what it took this week. The guys that are ahead of me on the leaderboard — there’s many of them, so they obviously played better than I did.”
Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters
- Draper: All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words
- Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton
INDIAN WELLS, California: Britain’s Jack Draper roared past Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells.
The 14th-ranked Briton, who toppled two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, didn’t face a break point as he subdued the 13th ranked Dane in just 69 minutes.
He’ll make his top 10 debut on Monday at seventh in the world.
“It’s incredible,” said Draper, a US Open semifinalist last year whose preparations for 2025 were hindered by a flareup of hip tendinitis.
“I’m just so grateful and happy to be out here, to be able to play, my body feeling healthy, to feel great in my mind.
“All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words,” added the 23-year-old, who also missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2023.
Draper was rock-solid in his first Masters 1000 final, racing to a 4-0 lead as Rune made a nervous start.
Draper dropped just four points on serve in the opening set as Rune, who burst on the scene with a precocious Paris Masters triumph in 2022, had 10 of his 19 unforced errors in the set.
The Dane had managed to hold serve twice before Draper pocketed the set, giving himself set point with an ace before Rune thumped a backhand into the net.
Draper broke Rune to open the second set, and even though the Dane got a few more looks at Draper’s second serve he couldn’t take advantage.
Draper seized a second break for a 5-2 lead and after sending a forehand long on his first match point he had the win when Rune went long with a backhand.
Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton.
“I feel like I deserve it, in all honesty,” Draper said. “It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in and to be here now to say that I’m going to be No. 7 sin the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller
- Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season
MADRID: Barcelona battled back from two goals down to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 and land an important blow in the Spanish title race on Sunday.
Lamine Yamal struck in the 92nd minute and Ferran Torres in the 98th to help take the Catalans back top of the table after Real Madrid beat Villarreal on Saturday to briefly claim pole position.
Barcelona have a game in hand on the champions with both sides level on 60 points, while Atletico trail the top two by four after they crumbled at home against Hansi Flick’s side to end a disastrous week following their Champions League elimination.
Having twice been caught out late by Atletico this season, this time it was Barcelona’s turn to provide the sting in the tail, extending their unbeaten streak to 18 matches across all competitions.
Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth put Atletico ahead before Robert Lewandowski and Torres hit back for Barca, who went on to win in stoppage time.
Flick selected Marc Casado in midfield, with Frenkie de Jong not fit enough to be included in the matchday squad.
The German had warned his players to stay focussed after they conceded a 96th minute goal in December to surrender the lead at the top of the table to Atletico in a 2-1 home defeat.
Barcelona also conceded two late goals in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg to draw 4-4 against Diego Simeone’s side in February.
They played within themselves in the first half, overly cautious and conserving energy, failing to create many openings.
Teenage winger Yamal created one for himself but fired wide with Jan Oblak’s goal gaping, while Lewandowski directed a header at the Slovenian stopper.
At the other end Atletico wanted a penalty when Inigo Martinez pulled back Marcos Llorente in the area but they were not given it.
Barcelona’s best chance of the first half came when Pedri played in Lewandowski, who hit the top of the crossbar with a powerful drive. From the resulting goal kick, Atletico found the opener.
The hosts worked the ball to Griezmann, who threaded a brilliant pass across the area to Giuliano Simeone, with Alvarez finishing from his cut-back.
It provided a moment of joy for the former Manchester City striker who felt deep frustration in midweek when his penalty against Real Madrid was controversially disallowed for a supposed double touch on the ball, as Atletico were eliminated in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.
Yamal probed after the break as Barca looked for a way back in and Simeone turned to his bench to freshen up his side, who played 120 draining minutes against Los Blancos.
The coach introduced Sorloth and Conor Gallagher and they combined for Atletico’s second goal.
Atletico put together another fine team move with Griezmann heavily involved, before Gallagher squared to perennial super-sub Sorloth to net his 11th league goal of the season, despite just nine starts.
Barcelona had complaints about a Rodrigo De Paul handball in the build-up dismissed and they turned their anger into an instant response.
Martinez drove forward with the ball and slung it into the box for Lewandowski, who controlled well and powered a low finish past Oblak to spark the comeback.
Substitute Torres netted the equalizer when Raphinha, on an othewise quiet night in the capital for the Brazilian, crossed from the right.
With Atletico shaken, Barcelona took full advantage, with Yamal’s deflected shot from distance sending them ahead in stoppage time.
Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season.
Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title
- Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour
INDIAN WELLS, United States: Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva toppled world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her second WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells.
Andreeva, who last month become the youngest ever player to win an elite 1000 level crown with her triumph in Dubai, ended a frustrating run against the Belarusian to ensure she will rise to a career-high sixth in the world on Monday.
Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour.
“I would like to thank myself for fighting to the end,” Andreeva said. “I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna she was sending bullets and it was really hard to keep up.”
In a match of swinging shifts of momentum, Andreeva was in full control by the end, giving herself a match point on Sabalenka’s serve with a defensive lob that forced a miss from the number one and clinching victory with a forehand winner.
“The match point I just really tried to just put the return in, it doesn’t matter how,” she told Tennis Channel. “Then I just saw the ball and I decided I might just go for it.
“And I did,” added Andreeva, who sank to her knees in celebration after her winner landed.
Andreeva claimed her first hard court victory over Sabalenka, who had beaten her twice already this year at Brisbane and the Australian Open.
Sabalenka had powered into the final without dropping a set but it was another disappointment for the Belarusian, who was stunned by Madison Keys in the final at Melbourne to see her bid for a third successive Australian Open title denied.
Unlike in Melbourne where she played “like a joke,” Sabalenka said, this time she let her emotions get the best of her.
“Honestly, was me against me,” she said. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better ... I was just too pissed with myself, because I think it shouldn’t be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself.
“I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too hard on myself.”
Andreeva had Sabalenka under pressure early, and the youngster’s frustration was evident as she was unable to convert four break points in the third game.
Sabalenka took full advantage, breaking the Russian to love for a 3-1 lead and keeping her foot firmly on the accelerator from there.
Sabalenka backed up her power from the baseline with some confident forays to the net, breaking Andreeva to take the opening set in 37 minutes.
“The anger was just boiling inside of me, because I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t convert,” said Andreeva, who wasted another three break points to open the second set.
She finally gained a foothold with a break for 2-1 — pouncing on a Sabalenka second serve to end a run of 18 missed break point chances against the Belarusian this year.
“I was so desperate to win at least one game on her serve ... every time she served I just tried to win one more game and then one more game,” Andreeva said. “Somehow I kind of crawled and came back and we got into the third set like this.”
Andreeva saved a pair of break points to push her lead to 4-2, her winners tally climbing with her confidence.
After missing one chance to take the set on Sabalenka’s serve, Andreeva sealed the set with her first love service game, complete with a pair of aces to close it.
The Russian maintained her momentum as she broke Sabalenka to love to open the third.
Sabalenka promptly broke back, but that proved just a speedbump as Andreeva broke again for 2-1 and didn’t face another break point.
Newcastle stun Liverpool in League Cup final to end decades-long trophy drought
LONDON: Newcastle ended their decades-long trophy drought in stunning style as Dan Burn and Alexander Isak sealed a 2-1 win against Liverpool in the League Cup final on Sunday.
Eddie Howe’s side made history at Wembley with a superb display that left the runaway Premier League leaders shell-shocked.
Burn put Newcastle ahead late in the first half and Isak’s 27th goal in all competitions doubled their lead after the interval.
Federico Chiesa got one back in the closing seconds, but Newcastle held on for their first major silverware since the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
That success in the predecessor to the Europa League is a relic of a bygone era, but this long-awaited triumph will be forever etched in the memories of the Newcastle fans who turned one half of Wembley into a roiling sea of black and white with their ecstatic celebrations.
It was also Newcastle’s first major domestic prize dating back 70 years to the 1955 FA Cup.
Since the Magpies lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 30 different English teams had won silverware, while Liverpool had clinched 38 major trophies in that time.
But after losing the 2023 League Cup final against Manchester United, Howe’s team returned to Wembley and set the record straight at last.
Newcastle had endured five relegations to the second tier since their last trophy, with club legends like Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne and Malcolm MacDonald failing to win silverware in their time on Tyneside.
Aside from a brief period when Kevin Keegan’s self-styled “entertainers” challenged for the title in the 1990s, Newcastle have endured decades of underachievement and self-inflicted wounds that rendered them a laughing stock for long periods.
All that changed in 2021 when a Saudi-backed consortium completed a takeover from unpopular owner Mike Ashley and quickly hired Howe as their manager.
Thanks to Howe’s astute leadership and the Saudi financial backing, Newcastle have been transformed from relegation candidates to silverware winners.
The defeat was another painful blow for Liverpool just days after their Champions League last 16 exit on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain.
But despite failing to win their first trophy under boss Arne Slot, Liverpool still sit 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League, within touching distance of a record-equalling 20th English title.
Liverpool are 23 points ahead of sixth-placed Newcastle in the league and hadn’t lost to them for 17 games dating back to 2015.
But Howe’s men were in no mood to be cowed by past failures
Newcastle fans unveiled a banner before kick-off urging their team to “write your name in the history books.”
They rose to the challenge in spectacular fashion, snapping into tackles and counter-attacking with purpose, while Liverpool were sluggish and sloppy in possession.
Bruno Guimaraes had a golden opportunity to reward Newcastle’s enterprising start when Burn headed Kieran Trippier’s corner toward the Brazil midfielder, but he nodded at Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher from close-range.
Newcastle’s desire and drive was clear to see when Joelinton tracked back from midfield to stop Jarell Quansah in his tracks and celebrated with a fist-pumping roar.
Despite nearly being caught out by Burn’s aerial prowess once before, Liverpool failed to heed the warning as the towering center-back put Newcastle ahead in the 45th minute.
Bizarrely left unmarked, with only the diminutive Alex Mac Allister anywhere near him, Burn was allowed to rise unchallenged to meet Tripper’s corner as he thumped a powerful header into far corner from 12 yards.
Burn’s goal — Newcastle’s first in a cup final since 1976 — capped an incredible week for the journeyman center-back, who received his first England call-up on Friday.
With Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah completely anonymous, the lethargic Reds had no answer as Isak put Newcastle into dreamland after 52 minutes.
Jacob Murphy met Tino Livramento’s cross with a header that found Isak, who drilled a superb first-time finish past Kelleher from 10 yards.
Chiesa’s stoppage-time strike set up an anxious finale, but good things comes to those who wait.
And all across Wembley, Newcastle players and fans celebrated with abandon as a party over half a century in the making got into full swing.
