Australian Mark Webber took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday and ended Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel’s bid for a sixth in succession.
Formula One world champion Vettel, winner of three of the first four races of the season from pole position, as well as last year’s final round in Abu Dhabi, will start alongside on the front row.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, favorite of his home Spanish crowd, will line up together on the second row.
Photo: AFP
“I don’t think we can speak of big disappointment, we made a good step forward,” said Vettel, who will still be making his 10th successive front row start. “He [Webber] did a better job today.”
The Australian has yet to win a race this season, but was triumphant last year from pole position at a circuit where the winner has started in the top slot for all of the past decade.
However, the new moveable rear wing (DRS), kinetic energy recovery system and quick-wearing Pirelli tires should make Sunday’s race far less predictable with plenty of overtaking and pit stops expected.
“I’ll have a good sleep tonight, come back and do the best job I can tomorrow,” Webber said after his first pole since Belgium in August last year and the seventh of his career.
He had been fastest throughout practice on Friday and, with drivers eager to save their soft tires for the race knowing that the harder tires carried with them a big drop off in performance, wrapped up pole with his one flying lap in the final qualifying session.
The Australian was parked up in the garage and out of the car with more than a minute of the session remaining, with McLaren recognizing the futility of making any attempt to wrest pole from him.
Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion, who won six times in Barcelona with Benetton and Ferrari before making his comeback with Mercedes, did not set a timed lap in the last part and will start 10th.
That was one place behind Venezuelan rookie Pastor Maldonado, making his first appearance in the top 10 with Williams.
Further back, Team Lotus celebrated Heikki Kovalainen’s 15th place on the grid, their best qualifying performance in dry conditions.
Renault’s Nick Heidfeld did not take part in qualifying after his car caught fire in final practice and could not be rebuilt in time.
Fears that the Hispania and Virgin cars would not make the qualifying standard, based on times in practice, proved unfounded.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS