Lewis Hamilton yesterday proved he retains the pace and intensity required for a title scrap, when he topped the times for Mercedes in the third and final practice for today’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
With dark clouds threatening rain, the revitalized defending five-time world champion responded to a record-breaking lap from Dutch tyro Max Verstappen of Red Bull with an outright record lap of his own at the hot, dusty and technical Hungaroring.
It resulted in Hamilton, much recovered from the virus that had hit him at last weekend’s Germany Grand Prix, on top in an all-time record lap time of 1 minute, 16.084 seconds, ahead of Verstappen by 0.013 seconds with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari only 0.082 seconds adrift in third.
Photo: Reuters
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who on Friday had required an engine change, was fourth, 0.271 seconds behind the leader, with Charles Leclerc fifth for Ferrari and Pierre Gasly sixth in the second Red Bull.
The session was delayed by 10 minutes to clear oil deposited at the fourth turn by a blown engine during an earlier F2 race.
This required much cement dust that blew in dusty clouds as darker heavier ones filled the sky.
The air temperature fell from a pre-session 25°C and the track dropped from above 40°C to 38°C as the threat of rain passed overhead.
“The dust coming off the track is incredible, no other way to describe it,” British rookie Lando Norris said as he sped to the early fastest lap.
After a tentative first few laps, Hamilton went top to be succeeded by Verstappen, Bottas and then Leclerc, before Hamilton regained the ascendancy in 1 minute, 16.339 seconds, a sequence that demonstrated the competitiveness of the leading cars.
Verstappen then swept to an outright lap record in 1 minute, 16.097 seconds, but it was not enough to quell Hamilton’s enthusiasm.
The reduced 50-minute session, following Friday’s rain-hit day, created an intense practice with all the top drivers pushing for times throughout.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB