20/03/2026

SPORTS FRIDAY | MAR 20, 2026

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‘Enough is enough’ Ferrari boss lashes out at Mercedes protests F ERRARI team principal Fred Vasseur insists “enough is enough” and implored Formula 1 not to further alter the race start procedure at the start of the 2026 season. the drivers at the back to minimise their turbo lag. Russell’s comments followed various drivers struggling to execute a smooth get-away in Australia and, subsequently, the potential for big crashes on the home straight. Yet Vasseur, keen to maintain his team’s advantage, dismissed the notion of further modifications. Ű BY KIERAN JACKSON

FRIDAY | MAR 20, 2026

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“I’m really pleased with how my body responded to that lit tle setback,” he said, adding that he planned to put in some work over the next few weeks before mak ing further trips to Augusta National. McIlroy, as host of the annual Champions Dinner, is crafting a menu that blends ele ments of his personal experi ites: a yellowfin tuna carpaccio on a thin slice of French baguette with foie gras. Appetisers include dates stuffed with goat cheese wrapped in bacon, a recipe from his mother, alongside grilled elk sliders, rock shrimp tempura, and a Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread with hot honey. “I wanted to try to bring a little bit of local ingredients in,” McIlroy said. Main course options are wagyu filet mignon or seared salmon, with sides including tra ditional Irish champ. – Reuters regulations. The change with the five-second blue light sequence didn’t help us at all. But at some stage, enough is enough.” Despite Ferrari’s lightning starts, Mercedes have won the opening two grands prix, with Kimi Antonelli claiming his first-ever F1 win in China after Russell’s season-opening victory in Melbourne. The Silver Arrows clearly have the most crucial advantage in extra power via their engine, most notably seen on the back straight in China in which they made up around half-a second a lap on their rivals. The third round is the Japanese Grand Prix (March 27-29) in Suzuka, before a five-week gap until the Miami Grand Prix after the cancella tion of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. – The Independent been further away from cricket where I was in that week,” he added. While questions were raised over England coach Brendon McCullum’s position following the team’s 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia as well as their World Cup exit, but Buttler backed the leader ship group and T20 captain Harry Brook. “There’s lots happened to him over the last six months – great perform ances, a few off-field things – and he’s dealt with that really well and led very well as a captain in his first ICC tourna ment as captain,” Buttler said of Brook. “I’m obviously hopeful that England cricket can stick with them and move forward.” – Reuters ences with high-end cuisine. The first course comes straight from Le Bernardin, the New York restaurant he and his wife count among their favour

Ferrari’s prowess off the line, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton taking the lead from the second row of the grid in Australia and China respectively, has given the Scuderia a clear advantage over leaders Mercedes at lights out. Mercedes’ championship leader George Russell insisted before the race in Shanghai that Ferrari were being “selfish” for blocking a tweak to the procedure, which has already been modified with a five-second “flashing blue light” to allow time for RORY MCILROY will return to Augusta National next month as reigning Masters champion, still relishing every moment of a title that took him over a decade to win and with a meticulously planned menu for the Champions Dinner. The world No. 2 became the sixth male golfer, and the first European, to complete the career Grand Slam when he beat Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff at Augusta last April, ending an 11-year wait for his fifth major and the Green Jacket that had so long eluded him. “Defending the Masters Tournament is a pretty rare feat,” the 36-year-old Northern Irishman told reporters yesterday, “and it’s something that I would love to do.” He described the morn ing after his victory as unpar alleled in his career. “I woke up and I just had to make sure that it wasn’t a dream, people talk about those pinch-me moments and it really was like, ‘did that really happen?’ “I talk about the morning after get ting the world No. 1 and having this sort of empty feeling, I didn’t have that with this. It just made me feel incredibly grate ful for everything that’s happened in my life,” he added. McIlroy’s preparation for this year’s event was disrupted when a back injury forced him to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month, but the Northern Irishman confirmed the issue was now resolved.

“I think that we already massively changed the rules of the start with the five-second sequence.” Vasseur said. “One year ago, I went to the FIA, raised my hand on the starting pro cedure. I said: ‘Guys, it will be diffi cult.’ “The reply was clear: that you have to design the car to fit with the regulations, not change the regula tions to fit with the car. “We designed the car to fit the

McIlroy crafts menu ahead of Masters defence

Rory McIlroy. – AFPPIC

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Buttler hopeful of England return FORMER England captain Jos Buttler said he still wants to play for the national side after taking a break from cricket in the wake of their semifinal exit from the Twenty20 World Cup. playing some of the best cricket of my (career) in recent years, so hopefully I can get back to playing my best,” he said on his podcast For the Love of Cricket .

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“I certainly have ambitions but no longer being a captain, I’m not a selec tor and whatever, so what will be will be. We will see.” Buttler spent time with his family in France after the tournament and said cricket was the furthest thing from his mind. “Obviously the tournament didn’t go personally how I’d have liked it to go, and I just felt like I needed some space from cricket and not to think about the game, and I could not have

The 35-year-old managed only 87 runs in eight matches at the tourna ment as England were eliminated by India earlier this month, and he has recorded only one half-century across his last four International Cricket Council events. Buttler said he hopes to be part of England’s squad when they host India for a white-ball series in July but knows selection is out of his hands. “Obviously I had a poor tournament, which is disappointing, but I’ve been

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