The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| McLaren wary of Webber ‘riding shotgun’ for Vettel Posted: 13 Oct 2012 07:43 AM PDT YEONGAM, South Korea, Oct 13 — McLaren's Jenson Button today dismissed, with a broad smile and theatrical nod of the head, Red Bull rival Mark Webber's chances of winning the Korean Grand Prix tomorrow. Australian Webber will line up on pole position with teammate and double Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel alongside.  Button (left) high-fives fans before an autograph signing session in Yeongam. — Reuters pic Asked whether he expected Webber to "ride shotgun" for the German, allowing Vettel to pass and build up an advantage while keeping others behind him, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said he doubted it. "I don't think he will, do you?" said Whitmarsh. Button, sitting on a stool alongside, nodded vigorously to the assembled reporters. "I do," said the driver. "Well, I don't think he will willingly," added Whitmarsh. McLaren have Lewis Hamilton, fourth in the standings and 42 points behind Alonso, third on the starting grid and directly behind Webber. With Vettel on the "dirty" side of the track, and Webber not always the quickest driver off the grid, Hamilton will be looking to strike early. So-called "team orders" are legal in Formula One but Red Bull have so far resisted imposing them, or not had any need to. Button will have to play a more strategic race after qualifying 11th at a track where overtaking has not been straightforward in the past although the "DRS Zone" where the rear wing can be manually operated for more straight-line speed has been extended in distance. "As soon as the field spreads out, I think you'll see more overtaking than in previous years," said Button. "There's quite a lot of degradation with the tyres, so I think people will be doing different strategies. "I'm hoping there's going to be a lot of fighting and overtaking." — Reuters |
| Australian White admits to doping within Armstrong team Posted: 13 Oct 2012 07:17 AM PDT PARIS, Oct 13 — Australian Matt White today stepped down as Orica-GreenEDGE sports director after admitting to doping while riding with Lance Armstrong's US Postal cycling team. "I am sad to say that I was part of a team where doping formed part of the team's strategy, and I too was involved in that strategy," White, who rode at US Postal from 2001-03, said in a statement. "Given my admissions above, I have been in contact with my employees and will be voluntarily standing down from my positions with the National Men's High Performance Program with Cycling Australia and as a Sports Director with GreenEDGE Cycling while inquiries into my case are conducted and the Board of Cycling Australia and GreenEDGE make a determination regarding my future with each organisation." On Wednesday, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) published a 1,000-page document that said Armstrong used banned substances and organised team doping during his career. Although he has denied any wrongdoing, Armstrong, who is set to lose his record seven Tour de France titles, has chosen not to fight the USADA charges before an arbitration panel. White, 38, was fired from the Garmin team in 2010 after allegedly sending rider Trent Lowe to consult with a doctor outside the team's frame, Spaniard Luis Garcia del Moral. Del Moral has been banned for life by USADA this year for his involvement in the Armstrong case. White said that cycling had dramatically changed over the past decade. "A lot has changed for the better, cycling is totally different now, and I have seen these changes as an athlete and also in management with my own eyes in the last decade," he said. "As a sport, cycling has received a lot of criticism regarding doping and rightfully so — but certain teams have also led the way in fighting an otherwise never ending battle to ensure that professional cycling can stay clean." — Reuters |
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