Lewis Hamilton kept championship leader Sebastian Vettel off the top of the timesheets in both of yesterday’s practice sessions for the Korean Formula One Grand Prix, while Kimi Raikkonen slammed his Lotus into a tire wall.
The Mercedes driver lapped the anti-clockwise Yeongam circuit, set against a backdrop of coastal marshes and South Korean shipyard cranes, with a best time of 1 minute, 39.630 seconds in the morning and 1:38.673 after lunch.
“I feel like I have a bit of a better foundation this weekend. I can’t remember the last time I had a really strong Friday,” the Briton said.
Photo: AFP
Red Bull’s Vettel, chasing his fourth win in a row since the end of August and third in succession in Korea, was second-quickest in both sessions run in bright sunshine and under cloudless skies.
The German was a mere 0.037 seconds slower in the first, after firing in his best lap in the closing seconds, and 0.108 adrift in the second.
“I think it will be very close this weekend with Mercedes,” Vettel said.
Raikkonen, who struggled with a bad back in Singapore two weeks ago, skidded hard into the tire wall at the final corner in the closing seconds of the morning session, but clambered out of the car without any apparent difficulty.
The 2007 world champion clocked the eighth-best times in both sessions.
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
RSS