03/09/2024

TUESDAY | SEP 3, 2024

29

SPORTS

‘Red Bull car undriveable monster’

McLaren boss bullish, orders may follow MCLAREN boss Andrea Stella said both Formula One titles were achievable after yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix and indicated team orders could be used to help Lando Norris battle Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. constructors’ championship is possible but even from a driver’s point of view with the performance we have at the moment in the car, and some of the struggle that we see with Red Bull, it is definitely possible.

RESULTS & STANDINGS

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX (TOP 10) : 1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) , 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 3. Lando Norris (McLaren) , 4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), 5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) , 6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 7. George Russell (Mercedes) , 8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull), 9. Alex Albon (Williams) , 10. Kevin Magnussen (Haas). FASTEST LAP: Lando Norris (McLaren) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS DRIVERS (TOP 5) : 1. Max Verstap pen (NED) 303pts , 2. Lando Norris (GBR) 241, 3. Charles Leclerc (MON) 217 , 4. Oscar Piastri (AUS) 197, 5. Carlos Sainz (ESP) 184. CONSTRUCTORS (TOP 5) :1. Red Bull 446 pts, 2. McLaren 438, 3. Ferrari 407, 4. Mercedes 292, 5. Aston Martin 74. SOUTH KOREA’S Ryu Hae-ran bounced back from a shocking third round to beat compatriot Ko Jin young in a playoff to win the LPGA’s FM Championship at TPC Boston on Sunday. Ryu had shot a superb 10-under 62 on Friday but followed it with a six-over 78 that threatened to undo all her good work, leaving her four shots off overnight leader and 15 time LPGA winner Ko. But she showed no signs of that round affecting her focus as she went out and promptly birdied the first four holes on Sunday, reaching the turn at 6-under on her way to a round of 64. “The second win was so hard for me because this year I got many chances before, but I missed out a couple of times,” said Ryu. “But today, I don’t want to miss again. I was so nervous at the playoff, but maybe Ko Jin-young was the same,” she added. China’s Liu Ruixin finished a shot behind on 14-under with American Allisen Corpuz and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul finishing a further shot back on 13-under. Magnussen handed one race suspension HAAS’S Kevin Magnussen is set to miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after becoming the first Formula One driver to trigger an automatic race ban for accumulated penalty points. The Dane, who is leaving the US owned team at the end of the season, was given a 10-second penalty and two points for causing a collision with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly at Monza on Sunday. The rules state that any driver reaching 12 points in a 12 month period be suspended. The last Formula One driver to receive a ban of any sort was Frenchman Romain Grosjean, for dangerous driving in 2012. “I don’t know what’s happening with these penalties. What’s the point?,” Magnussen fumed. “We had a slight contact into turn four, no damage on either car, no consequence, nobody lost anything. We both missed the corner but we’re racing. I just don’t get the point honestly.” SHORTS Ryu beats Ko in playoff

FORMULA ONE championship leader Max Verstappen said Red Bull had turned a dominant car into an undriveable monster and both titles were slipping away after he struggled to sixth place at the Italian Grand Prix yesterday. The Dutch triple world champion won a record 19 of 22 races last year in the most one-sided season on record, and he started 2024 strongly as well. Verstappen has now not won for six races and is 62 points clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris with eight races remaining. McLaren are a mere eight points behind in the constructors’ standings. “Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster,” he told reporters at Monza, a super-fast circuit where he won last year and in 2022. “So we have to turn it around. “At the moment both

championships are not realistic.” Verstappen said he had been unable to race with full power because of an engine issue and the team could have done a better job on strategy. “We basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of, what, six to eight months,” he added. “That is very weird for me. We need to really turn the car upside down.” At one point Verstappen was heard on the radio sharply telling the team to stay awake. He explained that was related to battery percentage and the team giving him an instruction to save and then failing to notify him when he could push harder.

The Briton would have cut Verstappen’s lead by much more had he converted pole position into victory at Monza but Australian teammate Oscar Piastri overtook him on lap one and also opened the door for Ferrari’s eventual winner Charles Leclerc. Piastri finished second with Norris third, but the Australian is still 44 points behind his teammate. Stella told reporters the team would review the race and possibly adjust the rules “such that they allow us to pursue in the best possible manner both the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship.

“So if we are going to achieve both as a team, we need to put the team in condition and Lando in condition to pursue both championships,” added the Italian. “I think both drivers are mathematically in condition (to win the title) but Lando is obviously in the best position from a numbers point of view and we are fighting Max Verstappen. “So I think if we want to give support to one driver we definitely have to pick the one that is in the best position,” added the boss.

“These are obvious things that you need to be on top of. I know that I’m not racing anyone, but that shouldn’t matter,” he said. “It’s still an F1 race where you have to maximise everything.” – Reuters Leclerc sends Ferrari fans wild Monegasque wins at Monza after bold one-stop strategy “We have to be now in condition to acknowledge that not only the “We will review all these things for the next races and if we come to the conclusion that swapping is the right thing to do, then we will do it,”he said. – Reuters

C HARLES LECLERC triggered wild Ferrari celebrations with a surprise home Italian Grand Prix victory yesterday as favourites McLaren let slip a chance to go top in the Formula One championship. The Monegasque finished 2.664 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who had seized the lead on lap one from teammate and title contender Lando Norris, as Ferrari made a bold strategy decision and reaped the rewards. Norris ended up third after starting from pole position at Monza’s super-fast circuit and is now 62 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished only sixth, with eight races remaining. Leclerc succeeded by making just one pitstop, to McLaren’s two, and nursing a set of hard tyres for 38 of the 53 laps as he hung on for victory. “Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia,” he screamed over the team radio as former Italy football player Alessandro Del Piero waved the chequered flag. “It’s an incredible feeling,” Leclerc said before the podium celebrations and traditional track invasion by an army of fans swamping the pit straight with a tidal wave of red shirts and flags. “I want to win Monza and Monaco every year and I have managed to do so. It is so, so special.” Leclerc, a

clear with seven laps to go and 8.3 ahead with five remaining as the crowd

had,” said Norris, who took a bonus point for fastest lap. “We are disappointed but Ferrari drove a better race.” McLaren are now eight points behind Red Bull, down from a previous 30. They opened the door

willed him on to his second victory of the season. Piastri, who said

the defeat hurt, had pitted for a second time on lap 39 after Norris did so at the end of lap 32. “ W e considered a o n e - s t o p strategy the whole race but it was not possible with the amount of (tyre) graining I

for Ferrari on the opening lap when Piastri went past Norris at the second chicane – an aggressive move that forced the Briton to back off and allowed Leclerc, who started fourth, to speed past. Norris took back the place by

pitting earlier than Leclerc, an undercut that kept him ahead when the Ferrari came in, but the strategy then unravelled and McLaren were left with questions to answer about team priorities and tactics. “Oscar caught me by surprise as he got past,” Norris told reporters. “I don’t know what I could have done differently. If I brake a metre later, I probably would have crashed.”

Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari, overtaken by both McLarens in the final stages, with seven times world champion and future Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton fifth for Mercedes. – Reuters

winner at Monza in 2019 and at home in Monaco this year, was 11 s e c o n d s

Charles Leclerc. – AFPPIX

Scheffler crowns fantastic season with FedEx title

WORLD NO. 1 Scottie Scheffler crowned his remarkable season by winning the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship and with it the US$25 million (RM112m) FedEx Cup title with a four-stroke win at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta yesterday. Scheffler began the final round with a five stroke lead over Collin Morikawa but saw that advantage cut to just two after back-to-back bogeys on the 7th and 8th but he recovered to secure his seventh win on the PGA Tour this season. He is the first player to win seven PGA Tour events in a year since Tiger Woods in 2007 and his remarkable season has also included a Masters win and an Olympic gold.

For the past two years, Scheffler had entered the Tour Championship as No. 1 in the rankings but had failed to close out and clinch the FedEx Cup and having led the standings for most of this year he was delighted to get his reward. “I try not to think too much about the past or think too much about the future,” he said. “But I think two years ago was pretty tough, having a good lead going into the last round and not playing my best and then losing. And then last year I just had a pretty off week so was fairly disappointing. “So to come in with a lead for the third time and be able to finish it off is definitely pretty sweet,” he added. Morikawa, who collected US$12.5m (RM 56m)

for his second place, was pleased with his effort but said Scheffler provided the perfect example of how to close out a golf tournament. “Nothing fazes him. Whether I was close in gaining some ground or he was gaining ground, it didn’t change how he walked or how he played or how he went through every shot,” he said. “That’s something to learn. I think his mental game is a lot stronger than a lot of people know. “It’s amazing what he’s been able to do for this entire season, and over this past three years now. It’s been really cool to watch him, and hopefully I can draw something from that,” he said. Sahith Theegala finished third while Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley and Australian Adam Scott ended tied for fourth on 19-under. – AFP