25/02/2026

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | FEB 25, 2026 28 Stella mind games Mclaren F1 boss backs Ferrari, Mercedes to be ‘step ahead’ at start of 2026 season M CLAREN team principal Andrea Stella believes Ferrari and Mercedes are “a step ahead” of the field heading into the first F1 race of the season. Stella insists they are not frontrunners heading into Australia on March 8. Asked about the pecking order, Stella replied: “There is a race simula tion that was, I think, on Thursday (between) Oscar (Piastri) and (Max) Verstappen. It happened at a similar time of the day, and it was a similar pace. “Often, the race simulation is actu very similar. Ferrari and Mercedes are a step ahead.” Despite this, the street circuit at Albert Park in Melbourne has a host of different characteristics to the Bahrain International Circuit, where the last six days of testing took place. Stella added: “I Ű BY KIERAN JACKSON

SHORTS Draper back to doing what he loves JACK DRAPER returned to ATP Tour after almost six months away with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 win over Quentin Halys in the first round of the 500 event in Dubai yesterday. Last August, the Briton withdrew ahead of the second round of the US Open. His only match since then was a straight-sets victory over Norwegian Viktor Durasovic in the Davis Cup on Feb 2. “It feels so good to be out here competing in front of people,“ said Draper, who had climbed to No. 4 in the world rankings last June and is now at No. 12. “It could have been a little cleaner from my side, but I hadn’t played on the Tour for a long time,“ he said. “I’ve been craving the feeling of competing for a very long time. It just felt normal. It felt like I was com ing back to doing what I love.” Earlier, top seed Felix Auger Aliassime needed six match points before despatching Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). “I stopped counting at some point, it was getting too frustrating,“ said the Canadian. “Having match points is the posi tion you want to be in as a player, but it’s weird how the mind plays a trick on you. How much further I am from losing than he is, he should be the one that’s tight.” Mitchell hopes NZ can ride wave of support NEW ZEALAND will embrace their status as Indian cricket fans’“second favourite team” as they look to navi gate a tough Super Eight group and reach the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup, all-rounder Daryl Mitchell said. The 2021 finalists, who were knocked out in the group stage at the last edition, find themselves fac ing two must-win matches against former champions Sri Lanka and England after Saturday’s washout against Pakistan. “We think of ourselves as India’s second favourite team and the sup port that we get in the country is really cool,“ Mitchell told Reuters. “Hopefully we could turn the sea of blue that we’re used to when we play against India into some black shirts as well.” New Zealand must first negoti ate the turning tracks of Colombo when face Sri Lanka today and England two days later, with Mitchell hopeful that his team’s experience can come into play. “We all grew up in New Zealand on fast, bouncy, grassy wickets,“ he added. “I guess the experience that our group has got from playing in these parts of the world over a num ber of years has helped in how we want to go about it.”

that basically you do all the harvest ing braking. “You don’t need to do anything special in terms of lifting off, for instance, in order to add the time at which you harvest your power unit. “Now we go to Australia. In Australia, we go back to one circuit in which it will be a bit more difficult. So in Australia it will be a little bit more difficult. “I think we will see the drivers will be busier in terms of their driving style to make sure that the power unit is exploited in terms of harvesting energy and deployment of energy in a way that is efficient. And when we say efficient, it means efficient for a long time.” Norris won last year’s season opener in Australia and will race

Pre-season testing for the new campaign concluded last Friday in Bahrain, with Ferrari impressing with their rapid race starts and unique rear-wing design. Mercedes, whose engines McLaren will once again use this sea son, have long been heralded as the early frontrunners this year and test ing validated that assertion, with both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli showing strong pace throughout. McLaren look right in contention but, despite having won the last two constructors’ championships and last year’s drivers’ title with Lando Norris, SHIMRON HETMYER scored a 19 ball half-century as his scorching knock of 85 led West Indies to a dominant 107-run win over Zimbabwe in their first Super Eights match at the Twenty20 World Cup, continuing the two-time champi ons’ winning run. Hetmyer scored the fastest fifty by a West Indian at a T20 World Cup as the two-time champions posted a mammoth total of 254-6 in Mumbai, the second-highest total in the tournament’s history after Sri Lanka’s 260-6 against Kenya in 2007. Zimbabwe were all out for 147 as Gudakesh Motie took four wickets, sending two-time champions West Indies to the top of the Group One table thanks to a better net run rate than South Africa, who had beaten India on Sunday. Zimbabwe’s decision to bowl first initially paid off with opener Brandon King falling in the third over. Blessing Muzarabani almost got Hetmyer out in the next over, but Tashinga Musekiwa dropped a flat pull shot at long on. Player-of-the-match Hetmyer hit five sixes in the last six deliveries he faced before completing his half century in the eighth over, with West Indies looking strong at 92-2. Musekiwa dropped Hetmyer again at the same position in the 12th over, when the 29-year-old had scored 70 runs. Rovman Powell (59 off 35 balls) stood by Hetmyer to add 122 runs

ally where you can more accurately see what the genuine performance of cars is. The reason why I think we have to be careful is that depending on the time of the day, then the race simulation may be quite a lot faster. “Like now (on the last day) Lando, he was performing pretty strongly in a race simulation, but at the same time, probably the end of day three was the fastest time the track has been across the six days. “So, difficult (to say). I think McLaren and Red Bull are probably

think in 2026 we will have to look at the characteristics of the circuits, including this feature related to how easy it is as a circuit for the power unit requirement. “So Barcelona was actu ally relatively demanding in terms of balance between deployment and harvesting. In Bahrain, it was relatively easier because you spend enough time in braking

this year with the No 1 on his car after his inaugural title tri umph. – The Independent

Hetmyer runs rampage as Windies crush Zimbabwe

for the third wicket, until Hetmyer finally fell in the 15th over, having hit seven fours and seven sixes to score 85 off 34 balls, his personal best in T20 internationals. Sherfane Rutherford piled further misery on Zimbabwe, scoring an unbeaten 31 from 13 balls as West Indies added 46 runs in their last three overs. Needing to chase a tour nament-record 255, Zimbabwe lost three bat ters within five deliveries when Akeal Hosein took two wickets in a maiden over to leave the African side at 20-3 after three overs. Dion Myers (28 off 15 balls) put up a fight, but was bowled by a flighted ball from spinner Motie (4-28), with Zimbabwe 52-4 in the seventh over. Motie also bowled Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza (27) and Musekiwa in back-to-back deliveries, before getting Tony

Munyonga (14) caught at deep midwicket, demol ishing the middle order. – Reuters

West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer (right) plays a shot as Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Tadiwanashe Marumani looks on during the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in Mumbai yesterday. – AFPPIC

India battle for survival after ‘messing up on grand scale’ DEFENDING T20 World Cup champions India need “two big performances” to reach the semifi nals after Sunday’s huge defeat to South Africa, said their assistant coach. India collapsed to 111 all out in 18.5 overs in response to South Africa’s 187-7 as their 12-match win streak in the T20 World Cup came to a crash ing end.

need at least four points to get through now, and it’s going to need two big performances and a big bounce back from everyone,“ said Ten Doeschate. India’s media tore into the team on Monday morning. The night the cloak came off , blazed a headline in the Indian Express newspaper. “Sloppy India reach point of no return,“ said the Hindustan Times . “It’s certainly not panic stations,“ said Ten Doeschate, who hinted there could be discus sions about India’s batting line-up. – AFP

“When you set out to win a World Cup, don’t expect someone to come and deliver it to you halfway through,“ the assistant coach added. “We’ve messed up on a grand scale and now the onus is on this group of guys to turn it around and put in two solid performances.” India are grouped with South Africa, the West Indies and Zimbabwe in Super Eights, with the top two advancing to the semifinals. The co-host next face Zimbabwe while South Africa play the West Indies tomorrow “Obviously with the way the group goes, you

The magnitude of the defeat has left India with a desperate net run-rate of -3.8 and likely needing to win their last two Super Eight matches convinc ingly to make it to the semifinals. Anything less and India will need to rely on a combination of other results going their way. “Very disappointed in the performance,“ said Ryan ten Doeschate.

India came into the T20 World Cup as hot favourites on home soil but were thrashed by 76 runs in the Super Eights as 80,000 fans at the mas sive Narendra Modi stadium were stunned into silence. In their first chase of the tournament, India’s batting came up woefully short in the face of some disciplined South Africa bowling.