Lewis Hamilton secured his second win of the year and the 16th of his career yesterday when he confirmed McLaren’s renaissance with a brilliant victory at the German Grand Prix.
The 26-year-old Englishman, who started from second on the grid, took the lead from the start and produced a well-judged race supported by excellent strategy to resist strong challenges from his rivals and finish triumphant.
The 2008 champion controlled the race for long periods, but had to fight at times to retain his advantage as he came home 3.9 seconds ahead of second-placed Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
The two-time champion, who had won the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, finished a strong second ahead of third-placed Australian Mark Webber, the pole-sitter, of Red Bull and his teammate and defending champion Sebastian Vettel, in fourth, after a brilliant final pit stop.
It was runaway leader Vettel’s worst finish of a dominant season and it signaled that, at last, the Red Bull team have a battle on their hands in the second half of the year.
Brazilian Felipe Massa came home fifth for Ferrari ahead of Germans Adrian Sutil of Force India, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and his teammate, seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.
Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi was ninth for Sauber, after starting 17th, while Russia’s Vitaly Petrov finished 10th for Renault.
Alonso stopped out on the track on the slow-down and had to hitch a lift.
Vettel remains out in front of the title race by 77 points, with 216 ahead of Webber on 139 and Hamilton, now third, on 134.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was