Quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel’s bid for a record eighth straight Formula One race win of the season picked up speed on Friday, with the Red Bull driver fastest in free practice for the US Grand Prix.
After sitting near the bottom of the timing sheets in a foggy and chaotic opening practice session, the 26-year-old German sizzled under the blazing afternoon Texas sun and lapped the Circuit of the Americas with a best time of 1 minute, 37.305 seconds. Vettel, who won his fourth successive title in India last month and now has 11 wins this year, was 0.115 seconds faster than Australian teammate Mark Webber, who cemented the Red Bull one-two.
No driver has ever won eight races in a row in a single season, but Vettel equaled Michael Schumacher’s seven earlier this month in Abu Dhabi and is favorite to win again this weekend.
The two Red Bulls were followed by the two Mercedes drivers, with Germany’s Nico Rosberg third and Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, winner of the inaugural race in Austin last year with McLaren, ready for another strong weekend in fourth.
Heikki Kovalainen, the Finn who is replacing compatriot Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus for the last two races after the 2007 champion pulled out to have back surgery, was an impressive fifth fastest in the afternoon.
The Finn’s French teammate Romain Grosjean was eighth in the same session.
Lotus are fighting with Ferrari and second-placed Mercedes for the coveted, and lucrative, runner-up slot in the constructors’ championship already won by Red Bull.
McLaren had another tough day, with Jenson Button handed a three-place grid penalty for today’s race after stewards ruled the Briton had overtaken a car while the morning session was under a red flag.
The Briton was ninth quickest in the afternoon ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who was given the all-clear to race after a medical on Thursday.
The Spaniard, who hurt his back when he hit a kerb at high speed during the race in Abu Dhabi, had topped the delayed and truncated morning practice session, but could not match that pace in the afternoon.
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,
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care. The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them. Valverde is going to miss today’s Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks. Tchouameni took part in training on Friday and could feature at Camp
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