Ferrari cursed their misfortune on Sunday after Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa endured a nightmare weekend at the British Grand Prix.
While Spain’s double world champion Alonso could at least look forward to watching his country in the World Cup final, there was little for the Italian team to cheer about at Silverstone.
Alonso started third and finished 14th after falling foul of the safety car for the second race in a row, while Brazilian Massa was 15th.
To cap a dismal afternoon, the two drivers collided on the opening lap, Massa pitting with a puncture.
“We seem to be really cursed at the moment, when everything that could go wrong does,” team boss Stefano Domenicali told reporters.
Two weeks ago, Ferrari had slammed the European Grand Prix in Valencia as “false” and “manipulated” after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton suffered no meaningful punishment for illegally passing the safety car, while Alonso was left behind.
At Silverstone, it was the Spaniard’s turn to fall foul of the stewards — including former Ferrari driver Nigel Mansell — after they ruled he had cut a corner to pass Robert Kubica’s Renault.
Unable to give the place back to Kubica because the Pole suffered a drive-shaft failure and soon retired, a drive-through penalty was imposed only for the safety car to be deployed before Alonso could take it.
When he did, he found himself at the back of the group of cars not yet lapped by the leader.
“As soon as we received the information that in the opinion of the steward Fernando should have given back position to Robert, he [Robert] was already very far behind and was really slowing down because he had a problem,” Domenicali said. “You can have a situation where immediately there is a possibility to give position back to a driver if you feel there is really an advantage to be gained, but on our side we felt that was not the case, otherwise we would have done it.”
Alonso, who recognized he had made a “horrible start,” was more resigned to the day’s events and the decision of the stewards.
“The criteria is the same for everybody,” he told Spanish media. “The stewards look closely at all the incidents of the race and they always make the decision they think is the right one.”
Ferrari sit third in the constructor standings, 113 points behind leaders McLaren and 84 behind Red Bull.
Domenicali said there was still plenty to play for.
“Don’t forget that we won a championship [in 2007] with two races to go and 17 points behind,” he said. “Before saying that everything is finished, let’s wait.”
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
Mexico’s teenage playmaker Gilberto Mora has lit up the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as he basks in the limelight afforded by the absences of Barcelona and Real Madrid stars Lamine Yamal and Franco Mastantuono. “I don’t know if I’m the biggest star, and I’m not really interested in that. I think you can always give more,” 16-year-old Mora said before Mexico’s 4-1 win against host nation Chile in the round-of-16 on Tuesday, in which he provided the assist for the opening goal. Next on Mora’s schedule is a quarter-final clash against Argentina this morning Taiwan time, but after
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Monday said that he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, world No. 54 Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Nathan Lukes hit a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays bounced back After taking down the storied New York Yankees in their own ballpark in their American League Division Series on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph. “Start spreading the news,” Schneider said while popping a bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse. With the party under way, the familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York — the Yankees’ long-time victory anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx. This time, it was their
RSS