Mark Webber gained the reward his commitment and courage deserved yesterday when he survived tropical storms and a flooded circuit to grab pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
On an afternoon of downpours and costly decisions by some of the leading teams, the Australian steered his Red Bull to a best lap of one minute and 49.327 seconds after swapping to “intermediate” wet weather tires.
It was a decision praised by team boss Christian Horner, who was delighted to see Red Bull record their third successive pole this season and the second of his career for Webber.
PHOTO: AFP
“That showed you how committed and determined he is,” Horner said.
“There was a lot of risk involved, but as a team we were happy to split the cars. It was right on the bubble, but he got the lap in. He did a great job” he said.
Webber was fastest by 1.3 seconds ahead of German Nico Rosberg who grabbed the best grid position of his career for the new Mercedes team.
‘THANKFUL’
“It was a tough call and it could easily have gone wrong … I was thankful to get through earlier on when the other guys went out and today we all did it together. It’s a great one for the team, we got the job done” said Webber.
“It is a great feeling to be here on the front row, but that was so difficult. I was just happy to keep it on the road” Rosberg added.
The session was hit by torrential rain shortly before it began and this caused widespread chaos — most notably for Ferrari and McLaren who made the big mistake of keeping their drivers in their garages when other teams went out.
As a result, three of Formula One’s four world champions contesting the 2010 title race skidded off the track.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso, his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and his team-mate and defending champion Jenson Button were all left at the back of the field, after their teams waited for the rain to stop only to be forced to send them out later in much more treacherous conditions.
‘TREACHEROUS’
Button summed it up when he said: “We read it wrong basically. We thought that first rain storm was it and there was nothing else coming so we waited, and it was obviously the wrong thing to do.”
Hamilton, who criticized his McLaren team heavily last weekend for a bad pit-stop during the Australian Grand Prix, said: “It was treacherous out there, we were sliding around and aquaplaning everywhere …Of course, with hindsight, we would have gone out earlier, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
Alonso though remained defiant.
“For sure, we have to avoid these kind of mistakes. We really thought the rain had finished so we waited in the garage, but it got heavier … But the race is tomorrow and we saw last week in Melbourne that we can get results from the back of the grid, so we will just have to make sure we do that.” He said.
Alonso qualified, 19th, Hamilton was 20th and Massa was 21st. Button, the winner in Australia last week, spun off and had to settle for 17th.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS