The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Ferrari prefer Vettel to Hamilton Posted: 21 Dec 2012 07:48 AM PST  Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany celebrates winning the world championship after the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix at Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo November 25, 2012. — Reuters pic The Red Bull driver has been repeatedly linked to Ferrari this season, with talk of a pre-contract for 2014, although the 25-year-old German and his team have tried to put the speculation to rest. Speaking at Ferrari's Maranello factory before the Christmas break, Montezemolo left no doubt about the Italian team's admiration for Vettel. "If for whatever reason Fernando Alonso were to leave one day, maybe because he wants to retire in Hawaii with his girlfriend, then I want Vettel," the Gazzetta dello Sport quoted him as telling German media. "Sebastian is a potential Ferrari driver for the future." Whether Vettel and Alonso ever pair up at Ferrari remains to be seen, however, with Montezemolo previously saying he did not want to have "two roosters in the same hen house" but rather two drivers "who race for Ferrari and not for themselves." Montezemolo said Alonso, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were clearly a cut above the rest in Formula One and he preferred the Red Bull driver to the Briton "because he's younger and hasn't been around so many teams". Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, will be racing for Mercedes next year after six years with McLaren — the team who have backed him since he was in go-karts. He will be 28 in January. Vettel is now on his third F1 team, having made his debut for BMW-Sauber and then raced for Toro Rosso before joining sister team Red Bull. In a separate interview with Britain's Sky Sports television, Montezemolo sounded more positive about Hamilton. "Alonso is in Ferrari. If tomorrow, and I would be very unhappy with this, he will decide to go to live in the moon then for sure Hamilton is a driver that I like very much," he said. Double world champion Alonso, 31, has a contract with Ferrari until at least the end of 2016. He won his two titles with Renault, after starting out with Minardi, and was Hamilton's teammate at McLaren in 2007. "I'm immensely pleased with Alonso. He's more than a driver, he's a key figure. He fits into the way the team work perfectly," said Montezemolo of the Spaniard who finished runner-up to Vettel this year. — Reuters |
| Mancini still surprised by Man City’s rise Posted: 21 Dec 2012 07:33 AM PST  Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini. — Reuters pic Decades of disappointment and false dawns meant the key to the City trophy cabinet had been redundant since a 1976 League Cup triumph, after which a succession of managers tried and failed to drag them out of United's shadow. Even the "golden ticket" of an Abu Dhabi United Group takeover in 2008 failed to convince some of better times ahead and Welshman Mark Hughes, the first manager tasked with moulding the world's top talent into a title-winning side, was shown the door after an unspectacular start to the season. The charismatic Mancini endeared himself immediately to the fans by sporting a blue and white scarf on the touchline but even he admits he is surprised by what has followed. "When I arrived here three years ago I didn't think that maybe we would win in two years the FA Cup and the Premier League," Mancini told reporters today. "I thought maybe we would need four or five years to win the Premier League because it's not easy to change things in England because for 20 or 30 years Manchester United won everything and we've changed this situation. "That's not to say we didn't make some mistakes because that's normal. And we need to work harder to improve." Bottom club Reading visit the Etihad Stadium tomorrow, almost three years to the day that Mancini took over, with City locked in a dogfight with United as they seek to retain the Premier League title they clawed away from their rivals in May. While a second successive Champions League flop has been a major disappointment, City's defence of their English crown has so far been tenacious, even if they trail United by six points heading into a four-game holiday programme. Mancini offered up Champagne to reporters at the club's training ground today, a stylish touch at the onset of the holiday season. But behind the smile there is clearly substance. The Italian, who steered the club to the FA Cup in his first full season in charge and third-place in the Premier League, has coped admirably with a dressing room full of millionaires, instilling a team ethic despite high-profile bust-ups with the likes of Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli. For a club always associated with wildly fluctuating fortunes, tears and moments of hope, Mancini's reign has been almost boringly efficient. Until a 3-2 defeat by United, City had gone 37 home games in the Premier League undefeated. Yet they responded to that disappointment with a 3-1 victory away to Newcastle United and Reading should be put to the sword tomorrow. Mancini boasts 70 wins from 114 Premier League matches and only once have City suffered back-to-back defeats with him at the helm and that was more than two years ago. If United are to reclaim their title at the end of the season they know they will have to earn it the hard way as Mancini's City battle-hardened side will not be handing it over without a scrap. — Reuters |
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