Australian Mark Webber left it late to top the times for Red Bull yesterday evening’s final free practice ahead of tonight’s Singapore Grand Prix. The 35-year-old Australian, watched from the pits by his father Alan, clocked a fastest lap time of 1 minute, 46.081 seconds around the floodlit Marina Bay street circuit.
His time was 0.02 seconds faster than second-place rival Briton Jenson Button of McLaren, the 2009 champion, who recovered splendidly from a frustrating Friday to reproduce his best form.
Championship chasing German Sebastian Vettel, in the second Red Bull, was third fastest after failing to find an outstanding clear lap in the closing seconds of the session on soft tires. This left him ahead of his nearest championship rival, two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, with Briton Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 champion, down in fifth in the second McLaren.
Photo: EPA
Defending title-holder Vettel can clinch the title tonight if he wins and Alonso is off the podium. The session was run in steaming heat with a temperature of 35 ?C and humidity levels of 68 percent.
German Nico Rosberg was sixth fastest ahead of his Mercedes teammate and compatriot, seven-time champion German Michael Schumacher, 42, with Brazilian Felipe Massa eighth in the second Ferrari. Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi was ninth for Sauber ahead of German Adrian Sutil in a Force India car.
The Saubers were fast in the opening laps. before Button went quickest, only to be replaced by a sequence of drivers including Rosberg and Vettel.
Button regained the top spot again, before Webber laid down his marker in the final minutes. Schumacher’s best hopes were dashed when he was blocked by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado of Williams — not the first time this season that the Latin American has been in similar trouble.
The incident saw the German pit after raising a red-gloved fist at his tormentor.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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