04/10/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | OCT 4, 2025

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‘I have nothing to lose’ Verstappen relaxed ahead of F1 title race run-in Ű BY KIERAN JACKSON

would be nice, and if that means we still didn’t win the world championship then so be it.” Norris, meanwhile, admitted that Verstappen is now “genuinely” a contender following a sensational September for the Dutchman. “If you go back to the beginning of the season, they (Red Bull) were challenging us for the first six or seven races for wins, then we (McLaren) brought some upgrades and improved a little bit,” Norris said. “But then they brought a couple of upgrades and that has put them on the same level. “We are still expecting to dominate and we come to these races with the goal and ambition of winning and wanting to dominate and continue the form we have shown all season. “But in Baku, we had the car to win and we didn’t. We had the chance to fight Max. At the round before in Monza, they were too quick for us. “And if there are some races coming up where he is too fast, which is very possible, because I expect them to be quick for many of the races this season. “We will go to Las Vegas and other low downforce tracks where we don’t expect to be as great as we have been – so that is an opportunity for Red Bull – but we are just focusing on ourselves and maximising our performances. This weekend’s race has been declared a ‘Heat Hazard’ – the first time a new rule to help drivers stay cool has been invoked. This means drivers will be able to wear cooling vests because ambient temperatures are expected to be 31°C or higher. – The Independent/AFP

M AX VERSTAPPEN insists he has “nothing to lose” as he looks to launch an extraordinary come back and win his fifth consecu tive F1 world championship. The Dutchman has won back-to-back races, in Monza and Baku, to narrow the gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri to 69 points with seven rounds remaining and 199 points still to play for. At this stage last year, Verstappen was protecting a 59-point lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris – currently positioned in second, 25 points off Piastri – before sealing his fourth world title with two races remaining. Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix – the only race on the calendar that he has not won. Verstappen was keeping his feet on the ground despite the huge strides in performance Red Bull have made in recent weeks. “I have nothing to lose, really,” Verstappen said. “And as a team, we approach it like that, too. “Sixty-nine points is still a lot, especially when you look at how the season has gone so far, and McLaren have been incredibly dominant. That doesn’t suddenly change. “But I am not too stressed about anything. I am enjoying what I am doing in F1 and outside of F1 and trying to do the best I can every time I jump into the car. “Some tracks will be better, some worse, and this could be one of those. But if we win it, great, and if we don’t we don’t. Life goes on. “If we can win a few more races that NOVAK DJOKOVIC (pic) said yesterday that talk about reorganising the tennis schedule has been going on for at least 15 years and his fellow players definitely are “still not united enough”. The amount of tennis the elite play was thrust back into the spotlight this week after world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz pulled out of the Shanghai Masters to rest and there were a raft of injuries at the China Open. Speaking in Shanghai, ago I was talking about us needing to come together and reorganise the schedule,” said the 38 year-old, a 24-time Grand Slam champion. “It’s an individual sport. At the end of the day you can still make choices,” he said. However, “there are people who just don’t want to change things in our sport for the better … when it comes to the players’ wel fare”, he added. Players are “still not united enough”, or investing enough time and energy into try ing to make change happen, he said. “You need the top players, particularly, to sit down and roll up their sleeves and really the Serbian great said it was “very complex” and similar complaints had been going on for years but to no avail. “More than 15 years TRAMLINES Players not united enough: Djokovic

care,” he added. Gauff quells Lys challenge

COCO GAUFF put down a spirited challenge from Eva Lys to earn a 6-3, 6-4 victory yester day and set up a China Open semifinal against fellow American Amanda Anisimova, who overcame a first-set stumble to beat Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4. Gauff, who is bidding to become the first woman to win back-to-back titles at

the WTA 1000 event, had battled through three-setters in the previous two rounds and had to overcome stiff resistance from the 66th-ranked German. “I’m happy with how I

played today. She’s a tough opponent, she hit a couple of great shots on the run,” Gauff said. “I think I need to stay

confident in my game and not be too passive when I have the lead. I played one passive point in this match, but otherwise I played well.” World No. 4 Anisimova, who was playing with a bandage on her ankle after pulling out of last month’s Korea Open due to injury, was tested by Paolini in a battle that lasted two hours and 47 minutes. “It was a goal that I set for myself at the beginning of the year. I think it was one of the only goals I made,” Anisimova said. “I’m excited to play Coco… it’s going to be fun to play another American here.”