Lewis Hamilton grabbed McLaren’s 150th Formula One pole yesterday in a Spanish Grand Prix qualifying that left him well-placed to become the fifth different winner in five races.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado secured his first front-row start with second place on the grid for former champions Williams.
Hamilton’s pole was his third of the year, but celebrations were short-lived as his team told the Briton to stop the car immediately because of an unspecified problem.
Photo: EPA
“It’s a little bit of a worry,” team principal Martin Whitmarsh said.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso secured third spot for his home race — one that has only once in 21 years been won by a driver starting off the front row, with Frenchman Romain Grosjean alongside for Lotus.
“I think it’s one of the best ones I’ve ever had,” Hamilton, runner-up last year, said of his afternoon’s work. “This has always been a great place for me.”
Maldonado, who had rocketed to the fastest time in the second session, was delighted to shake up the order at the front with Williams’ first front-row start since Nico Hulkenberg’s surprise pole in Brazil in 2010.
“We have been working so hard trying to understand these tires and to develop our car around these tires, we did a very good step forward for this race,” he said.
Red Bull’s double world champion and series leader Sebastian Vettel qualified eighth without setting a lap time in the final session.
Vettel’s Australian team mate Mark Webber saw his hopes of a third Spanish pole in a row disappear when he failed to make the cut for the final session and qualified 12th.
That was one place behind Hamilton’s British teammate and 2009 champion Jenson Button, who will also be able to change his car’s setup with tires saved for the race.
Kimi Raikkonen starts fifth for Lotus, with Mexican Sergio Perez sixth for Sauber. Nico Rosberg qualified seventh for Mercedes, with teammate Michael Schumacher ninth.
At the slow end of the pack, Indian Narain Karthikeyan had his fate left in the hands of race stewards after failing to qualify for HRT with the required lap time.
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two