The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Rosberg outshines home favourite Hamilton and wins British GP Posted: 30 Jun 2013 07:54 AM PDT
Australian Mark Webber finished second for Red Bull, while Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third in his Ferrari. Perhaps the one consolation for Hamilton, who finished fourth, was the retirement of world champion and 2013 championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Vettel's Red Bull broke down while he was leading, and the rival who benefitted the most was Alonso. Vettel has 132 points to the Spaniard's 111 after eight of 19 races, with the German's home race at the Nuerburgring next up in a week's time. Australian Mark Webber, who had started on the second row but plunged to 14th at the end of the first lap after a nightmare start, finished second to continue a run of Silverstone podium finishes dating back to 2009. "It's a very, very special day," said Rosberg of his second win of the season. "With Lewis, I feel sorry for all the British fans. It would have been a great race for Lewis here in front of his home crowd. That's racing sometimes," said Rosberg in a podium interview with 1996 champion Damon Hill. "When Sebastian stopped, I won't lie. I wasn't disappointed by that one. And it was just a great race from then," added the German, who beat Webber by 0.7 seconds after a thrilling last seven laps following the second safety car. Hamilton had started on pole, chasing his first win for Mercedes since his move from McLaren, and led for the first eight laps until the 2008 world champion's rear left tyre exploded in a flash of flailing rubber. He nursed his bucking car around the circuit, pitted in 18th place and returned to the track 21st with his hopes of victory wrecked. It was the start of a mighty drive by the Briton, who ended the race in fourth place. "Wonderful drive, Lewis," said team principal Ross Brawn over the team radio at the finish. "Sorry it didn't quite work out but well done." Hamilton's blowout was the first of five rear left failures in a race with two safety car stints - one of them caused by Vettel whose car ground to a halt on the pit straight while he was leading. "Lost the drive, lost the gearbox," the German shouted over the radio. Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso and Mexicans Esteban Gutierrez and Sergio Perez for Sauber and McLaren respectively also suffered tyre failures. Red Bull said they found cuts in Vettel's tyre after he had pitted while Mercedes detected the start of delamination in Rosberg's rear left. "We have seen something new, a different type of problem. We're currently performing our analysis, we've got to go away and understand what has happened today," said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery. "It was one tyre at the back, left rear, so we need to understand that. It's pointless me adding anything else until we have all the facts," he told reporters. Massa went to the back of the field after he pitted on three tyres and a rim but also fought back to finish sixth, behind Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen set a Formula One record for his 25th successive points finish. Germany's Adrian Sutil was seventh for Force India with Ausralian Daniel Ricciardo eighth for Toro Rosso. Britain's Paul Di Resta was ninth for Force India, after qualifying fifth on Saturday and then being demoted to the back row of the grid when his car was found to be underweight. Germany's Nico Hulkenberg took the final point for Sauber, with former champions Williams finishing empty-handed for the ninth race in a row. Their Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado was 11th. – Reuters, June 30, 2013. |
| Serena turns on style to beat golden oldie Posted: 29 Jun 2013 08:24 PM PDT After all the shocks and spills of the opening week, top seed Serena Williams remained impregnable as she unleashed her full arsenal to move almost effortlessly into the last 16 at Wimbledon yesterday. A crushing 6-2 6-0 win over Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm offered a reminder that, while her closest rivals in the women's game are often vulnerable to upsets, she is an immovable object at the top of the tree. With main rivals Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka departing in the second round, Williams spoke optimistically of a new generation coming through. The fact the she was playing a 42-year-old, perhaps told a different story. "I feel like this might be the beginning of maybe the future," she said. "Eventually there's going to have to be a shift of players." Williams, considered an old-stager herself despite being 11 years younger than her opponent, never allowed Date-Krumm to gain a foothold in the match, crunching winners and firing down eight aces with her usual high levels of aggression. The fact that the Japanese had got this far was a testament to her wiles, but without the weapons to threaten arguably the greatest athlete the women's game has ever seen, she came up well short of turning the match into a contest. The 84th-ranked Date-Krumm originally retired two years before Williams set foot on the Wimbledon grass for the first time, but is currently enjoying a late bloom in her career having returned to the court in 2008 after a 12-year break. The spirit that helped her reach a Wimbledon semi-final in 1996 is there but the raw power now required to make an impression against the likes of Williams is missing. The pedestrian Date-Krumm serve seemed to belong to a different era and was ruthlessly dispatched as Williams took the first set in 35 minutes, breaking three times. The second set was an exercise in brutality as Williams wrapped up the match without dropping another game to extend her winning streak 34. The top seed had been made to wait before getting under way. She was scheduled third on Court One, but when the two men's matches that came before dragged on she was switched to Centre for a maiden appearance under the roof lights. She complained that maybe Wimbledon's tradition of having two men's matches on the showpiece arenas was unfair. "Well, it's their policy," she said. "I'm always fighting for the ladies. Maybe one day we'll get two matches and the men will get one match, and maybe they'll be able to switch back and forth hopefully." The fans may disagree. The two men's matches on Court One yesterday produced more than six hours of entertainment, while Williams's brief appearance lasted 61 minutes. Williams, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title and 17th grand slam overall, will face Germany's 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round. "I feel like she's serving massive," she said. "I feel like she plays some of her best tennis on grass. She always pulls an upset. It will be a really tough match for me. I have to get serious to play it." - Reuters, June 30, 2013. |
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