13/02/2026

SPORTS FRIDAY | FEB 13, 2026

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Trouble on the grid Hamilton wants ‘equal playing field’ amid engine controversy L EWIS HAMILTON has chal lenged Formula One’s gov erning body, the FIA, to “take care” of the sport’s engine urging rivals to “get their s*** together” instead of seeking excuses. Speaking at the first of two three by Ferrari to get behind the wheel of the SF-26 for the morning session at the Bahrain International Circuit and, afterwards, told gathered reporters that, while it is “a more fun car to drive”, he still has reservations. Ű BY PHILIP DUNCAN

McIlroy confident ahead of Pebble Beach title defence DEFENDING champion Rory McIlroy makes his US PGA Tour season debut in the overnight opening round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, confident in his game and a return to familiar equip ment. McIlroy won last year at Pebble Beach and The Players Championship before his epic triumph at the Masters to complete a career Grand Slam. “Game feels in good shape. I feel pretty good coming in here,” McIlroy said. “I want to move on and I’ve got more goals. There’s more things I want to try to accomplish and achieve.” That includes repeating as a cham pion at Pebble Beach, the site of next year’s US Open. “It was a perfect way to start the year here last year,” McIlroy said. “Hoping for something similar this week.” The five-time major winner from Northern Ireland switched to cavity back irons for last December’s Australian Open and two events this year in Dubai but is back to familiar equipment this week. “Sort of messed around with some different iron setups and sort of messed around with a different ball and a few equipment changes,” he said. “That experiment’s over, back to the trusty irons I’ve played basically my whole career. “It just was a different feel, especially under pressure or in the heat of compe tition. Just didn’t feel as familiar as I wanted it to.” McIlroy remains second in the world rankings behind American Scottie Scheffler, who won his 20th career PGA title last month at the American Express in the California desert. “If I had a critique of myself last year it’s that I didn’t bring the consistency that I maybe would have wanted post the Masters. Some of that is sort of understandable, but Scottie just had his 17th top-10 in a row,” McIlroy said. “He’s relentless. I’ll never stop singing Scottie’s praises because he’s incredible at what he’s doing and the way he does it.” McIlroy compared him to Tiger Woods in his prime. “I’ve had nice runs like that, but I’ve always been a little more up and down. I think anyone that wants to catch Scottie or get anywhere close is going to have to consistently bring that sort of game week in and week out like he does,” McIlroy said. “He’s really the first one since Tiger that’s doing this.” – AFP

said: “It certainly feels like an F2 car in some ways with how you have to drive it. “I don’t know if I like that or not, for the time being. But I think we understood quite a few things already from Barcelona on how you had to drive the car. “But Barcelona, you’re talking about fourth-gear corners, third-gear corners, quite open, quite wide. When you get to a street track or bumpier tracks, slower tracks, that’s a question we’re yet to answer. “Bahrain will answer some of those questions. It will be a learning curve. But I have strong confidence in myself and strong confidence in my team. But it will be a learning curve for both of us as it will for everyone on the grid.” – The Independent/Express newspapers tomorrow,” said Norris. Piastri said all had run smoothly and felt he had a better handle on the car. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third on the timing screens, ahead of Ferrari-powered Haas’s Esteban Ocon (115 laps) and Piastri. Pre-season favourite George Russell was sixth for Mercedes. Mercedes had an issue in the after noon when Kimi Antonelli was in the car while the Aston Martin AMR26 didn’t appear at all for the later stint. Lance Stroll completed 36 laps before a data anomaly emerged in the Honda power-unit and stopped fur ther running. Williams made up for lost time by getting in 145 laps with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon after missing the pre season shakedown in Barcelona last month. “Our intent all the way through was just making sure we did the mile age required to learn and understand about the chassis, the power unit, and to start flushing gremlins out of the system,”said team boss James Vowles. “There will be a lot of them, and these next three days are all about getting a good foundation to work from, and we can then build perform ance.” Newcomers Cadillac managed 107 laps, with Sergio Perez 14th of 18 driv ers who set a time. Audi, the former Sauber team, had Nico Hulkenberg ninth fastest with 73 laps. – Reuters

day tests in Bahrain, Hamilton, who spent 12 seasons with Mercedes before joining Ferrari, told Sky Sports of his concerns: “I hope we are in the mix (this season). Apart from Mercedes, we all look like we are quite close, but we don’t know what fuel loads everyone is on. “There are whispers of certain fuel loads that Mercedes are on. There are whispers of extra power that they have that the rest of us don’t have. And the compression ratio sort of thing. “Hopefully that gets sorted and the FIA take care of that to make sure we are all starting on an equal playing field.” Hamilton was the driver chosen and completed 136 laps, however, compared to McLaren’s combined 112 laps with Oscar Piastri doing 54 in the morning. “They (Red Bull) are able to deploy far more energy on the straights than everybody else,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told reporters at the break. “I mean, I’m speaking a second per lap, over consecutive laps. “I would say that as per today on the first official day of testing, which is always with the caveat of that, they’ve

The Brit, who also had a minor spin during the four-hour session, said: “It’s a lot less downforce. The car is shorter, it’s lighter, and it’s actually easier to catch. “It’s quite fun, it’s like rallying a lot. Yeah, I think we’re slower than GP2 [F2], right now, right? I mean, it does feel like that.” Hamilton’s words echoed those from Lando Norris only a few days ago, as the reigning world champion reflected on his own early experi ences of the 2026 car. Speaking as McLaren unveiled the livery for the MCL40, the 26-year-old set the benchmark,” added the Austrian. Red Bull are racing with their own engine this season after parting from Honda. Mercedes-powered McLaren said they had focused on gathering aero dynamic data, rather than mileage or lap times, to provide a broader under standing of the car’s operating win dow. “Positive day, lots learned and look ing forward to getting back in the car

controversy, demanding an “equal playing field” for all teams this sea son. Rival teams allege that Mercedes, who supply engines to McLaren, Alpine, and Williams, and Red Bull, now using their own power units, have exploited a loophole. This allows them to increase the compression ratio beyond the limit, potentially gaining critical lap time. Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff has vehemently defended his team amid lobbying for rule changes before the Match 8 season opener in Australia. He insists their engine is legal, MCLAREN’S Formula One world champion Lando Norris was fastest on the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain yesterday but Max Verstappen and Red Bull caught the attention with pace and plenty of laps. Norris lapped the Sakhir circuit in a time of one minute 34.669 seconds in the new MCL40, with four-times world champion Verstappen 0.129 slower, but quickest after the first half of the day’s running. Verstappen was in his RB22 all day

Norris fastest but Verstappen catches eye

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during the F1 pre season testing at Bahrain International Circuit yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

SHORTS

minute when Athletic’s defence was caught try ing to play out from the back. Carlos Soler’s interception for Sociedad set up Goncalo Guedes, whose chip over the advancing Padilla fell invitingly for Turrientes to dispatch the ball into the empty net. “We’re happy, but there’s still the second leg to play. It’s a good result, but we should have scored more,”Turrientes told Movistar Plus . Lazio edge holders Bologna in shootout LAZIO ended Bologna’s Italian Cup title defence yesterday, winning 4-1 on penalties after their quarterfinal finished level at 1-1. Bologna led through Santiago Castro’s first half goal but Lazio replied with a goal from Tijjani Noslin early in the second period. Lazio converted all four of their attempts in the shootout as Bologna captain Lewis Ferguson

had his kick saved and Riccardo Orsolini drove his effort wide. Bologna lifted the cup last season to end a 51 year wait for a major trophy, beating AC Milan in the final. Lazio go on to play Atalanta in the two-legged semifinals, while Inter Milan face Como. The first legs are scheduled for early March with the return fixtures due to take place in late April. Kane helps Bayern past Leipzig HARRY KANE scored a penalty and Luis Diaz struck again as Bayern Munich beat RB Leipzig 2-0 yesterday to reach the German Cup semifinals for the first time since 2020. Already on the wrong side of two Bayern thumpings this season, Leipzig were much improved but the hosts grabbed hold of the match with two goals in four second half minutes.

Bayern join holders Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg in the last four of this season’s competition. Kane’s penalty was his 39th goal in all compe titions for Bayern this season, while Diaz’s goal was his fifth in his past three matches. “I don’t know if he was born like that, but he has talent and he worked hard to improve it. And we’re enjoying these moments with Harry,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said of Kane. Winners of this competition a record 20 times, 14 more than any other club, Bayern had failed to make it past the quarterfinals since 2020. “When you want to win here you need a bit of the luck of the game and maybe a decision or two from the referee, but that luck wasn’t on our side today,” Leipzig captain David Raum told ARD . “We conceded two dumb goals – I think there was more in it for us.”

Sociedad edge Athletic in Copa del Rey

REAL SOCIEDAD took control of their Copa del Rey semifinal tie with a 1-0 first-leg win at Athletic Bilbao as Benat Turrientes struck in the second half in the Basque derby yesterday. The clash between the long-time rivals was finely balanced in the first half, but the visitors were the more composed of the two sides and are well-placed ahead of the return leg at San Sebastian’s Anoeta on March 4. La Real , unbeaten in 10 matches since Pellegrino Matarazzo took charge in mid December, were sharper in a lively first half at San Mames but found Athletic’s second-choice goal keeper Alex Padilla, deputising for Unai Simon in the Cup, in fine form. The breakthrough finally came in the 62nd