Mark Webber produced an astonishing flying lap in the closing seconds of yesterday’s hotly contested qualifying session to maintain Red Bull’s supremacy in speed this season and take pole position for today’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The 33-year-old Australian, who took pole last weekend on his way to winning the Spanish Grand Prix and is many observers tip as a strong contender to lift the drivers world title this year, clocked the only sub 1 minute, 14 seconds lap so far this weekend.
He recorded a best time of 1 minute, 13.826 seconds, a virtuous effort that extended the Red Bull team’s run of poles this year to six out of six races. It brought Webber his fourth career pole after he had out-paced nearest rival Pole Robert Kubica in a Renault by 0.3 seconds.
It is the first time that the popular Australian has delivered back-to-back pole positions. His Red Bull teammate German Sebastian Vettel was third-fastest, ahead of Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari, Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and German Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes.
The seven-time champion German Michael Schumacher was seventh in the second Mercedes, ahead of defending champion and current series leader Briton Jenson Button in the second McLaren, with Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello ninth for Williams and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi of Force India an excellent 10th.
The opening session Q1 saw the removal of the usual suspects, the six drivers from the three new teams, and none of the widely predicted trouble associated with 24 cars running together on track looking for a fast-timed lap.
At least this time they were in good company with the 24th place on the grid — in the pit lane in fact — reserved for Fernando Alonso of Ferrari following his big crash in practice.
Indian Karun Chandhok, who was slowest for the struggling Hispania team, one place behind his teammate Brazilian Bruno Senna, said he had had a frustrating session.
“That was very frustrating, we are a second behind where we think we should be,” he said.
The Virgins of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi were sandwiched between the other two teams.
Q2 then saw the elimination of German rookie Nico Hulkenberg, but with a very creditable 11th place on the grid, ahead of compatriot Adrian Sutil of Force India, Swiss Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso, Russian Vitaly Petrov of Renault, Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa of Sauber, his teammate Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso, who was 17th.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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