Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso scored a dramatic victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday when the Spaniard denied Sauber’s Sergio Perez a first Formula One triumph in a race turned on its head by the weather.
The race started in torrential rain and was stopped for 51 minutes after eight laps, but Alonso took charge on its resumption to register a shock 28th career victory in a car that had been outpaced in qualifying in the opening two rounds.
“A big surprise today the win,” championship leader Alonso told reporters. “Our goal was to score as many points as possible. An unbelievable result, a great job from the team.”
Photo: AFP
Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton repeated his third-place finish from the opening race of the season in Melbourne last weekend, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber in fourth and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen fifth in his Lotus.
Australia race winner Jenson Button and world champion Sebastian Vettel both suffered mid-race collisions with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan and finished outside the points.
Alonso started the race in eighth place, but worked his way up to fifth by the red flag, passed Webber soon after the resumption and capitalized on a well-timed pit stop to get past Hamilton.
The double world champion overtook Mexico’s Perez on the 17th of the 56-lap race and after initially dropping back, the Sauber closed to within a second of the Ferrari in the late stages and was on course to secure an unlikely victory.
However, his dreams of becoming the first Mexican to record a Formula One since 1970 were shattered with five laps remaining when he ran wide on turn 13 and slipped too far behind Alonso to catch him before the checkered flag.
“I knew I had to get him soon because in all the high-speed corners I was losing my front tires running behind him,” said Perez, who was ordered by Ferrari-powered Sauber to “be careful” just before the error.
“Then I ran wide in the quick left hander. I touched the curb and I went onto the dirty side of the track. It was completely wet and I lost the win,” he said.
Nevertheless it was Sauber’s best result as an independent team as Perez scored more points in one race than he did in the whole of last season.
Hamilton looked dejected after he slipped from pole to third just like in Australia, but this time, the 2008 world champion was delighted to just finish in the points.
“I can’t complain as I’m on the podium for the second weekend in a row. I was able to stay out of trouble with the conditions. We did a great job,” he said.
The Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg flattered to deceive for a second race in a row, struggling all day in the conditions to finish 10th and 13th respectively after looking quick in qualification.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS