Tag: sprint

Verstappen overhauls Piastri for sprint win at Spa

Max Verstappen won a delayed wet sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix while teammate Sergio Perez retired following contact with Lewis Hamilton. Oscar Piastri threatened to ruin Red Bull’s perfect season for a spell as he led after pit stops but had to …

Max Verstappen won a delayed wet sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix while teammate Sergio Perez retired following contact with Lewis Hamilton.

Oscar Piastri threatened to ruin Red Bull’s perfect season for a spell as he led after pit stops but had to settle for second, with Pierre Gasly holding off Hamilton for third on the road even before a penalty was applied to the Mercedes driver.

The sprint had already been pushed back by 35 minutes due to weather-induced delays to the Sprint Shootout, and then race control had to do the same as two heavy showers approached just prior to the sprint start.

The first downpour occurred just when the grid would have begun the formation lap, and then a further delay was announced for a second heavy shower before the field headed off behind the safety car 30 minutes later than originally planned.

After four additional formation laps to reduce spray, the race began with a rolling start and Verstappen stayed out despite most drivers reporting the conditions were good enough for intermediate tires. Piastri and Carlos Sainz came in from second and third respectively, as each team chose to pit one car each immediately.

Aside from the McLaren and Ferrari drivers, Gasly, Hamilton, Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg all got the first stop for their teams, with the remainder all coming in at the end of the first lap.

A rare error from Fernando Alonso brought out the safety car on lap 3 as the Aston Martin driver — bottled up behind Hulkenberg — got onto the exit curb at Pouhon and lost the rear, spinning multiple times as he ended up beached in the gravel. It took two full laps to recover his car, resuming racing at the end of lap 5 with Verstappen having been told Piastri was struggling with his left-side tires.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised, he’s sliding everywhere,” came the reply.

When racing resumed, Verstappen duly cleared Piastri by breezing past in a straight line before Les Combes and pulled away to win comfortably, but his Red Bull team-mate was having a tougher afternoon.

On lap 6, Hamilton tried to overtake Perez at Stavelot and the pair made contact through the following corner, leaving the Mexican’s Red Bull with a hole in its sidepod. Hamilton was forced to slot in behind but then overtook into La Source on the next lap, with Perez dropping through the field and sliding off track at Stavelot a lap later before retiring.

Despite the contact being light as the pair fought in wet conditions, Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision and duly slipped to seventh in the final standings having crossed the line in fourth.

Hamilton had been putting pressure on Gasly but the Frenchman held him off to the tune of a second to secure his first top-three finish for Alpine.

Hamilton’s penalty promoted Sainz and Charles Leclerc after both Ferraris dropped out in the pits, with Lando Norris also benefiting in sixth but unable to find a way past Leclerc ahead.

Daniel Ricciardo had delivered a strong drive but having climbed into eighth place, he saw his chance of a first point since returning with AlphaTauri taken away by George Russell starting the penultimate lap. Ricciardo was also then passed by Esteban Ocon in the final sector to end up 10th, with only the top eight scoring.

 

Verstappen pips Piastri by 0.011s in tight Sprint Shootout

Max Verstappen secured pole position for the sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix in an immensely close wet/dry session that saw the top three covered by 0.025s. With just eight minutes for SQ3 and all drivers on slicks but a damp track, the quickest …

Max Verstappen secured pole position for the sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix in an immensely close wet/dry session that saw the top three covered by 0.025s.

With just eight minutes for SQ3 and all drivers on slicks but a damp track, the quickest approach was to do two timed laps with one cooldown in between, and Red Bull timed it perfectly with Verstappen starting his final attempt with two seconds left on the clock. He made the best of the conditions to deny Oscar Piastri a maiden P1 start, pipping the McLaren rookie by just 0.011s.

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Piastri himself had only edged out Carlos Sainz by 0.025s, with Charles Leclerc close behind his Ferrari team-mate in fourth. Lando Norris will start fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly, as Lewis Hamilton slipped from first after the opening laps to seventh due to having teammate George Russell directly ahead of him on the final run.

Russell gave up his lap to allow Hamilton the inside line into Les Combes, leaving him 10th behind Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

There was a 35-minute delay before proceedings could get underway after a torrential downpour for an hour in the build-up to the session. The rain eased by the time the session was due to start but the circuit needed to improve and was cleared with track blowers before it was allowed to begin.

The 12-minute first segment led to Haas making a strategic error as Nico Hulkenberg — without a time to his name — failed to start his final attempt before the checkered flag. Missing out by under two seconds, Hulkenberg was eliminated in 20th place. He was joined by teammate Kevin Magnussen in 18th — Zhou Guanyu between them — and the other Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was how close Russell came to dropping out at this point, squeezing through in 15th place by under 0.1s after locking up and going off at Les Combes, with Yuki Tsunoda the unlucky driver in P16 who failed to advance.

SQ2 put drivers in a tough position as the sunshine was ensuring the track would dry out, but not quite quickly enough. In the end the only driver to gamble on slick tires was Lance Stroll, who was on mediums and complained to his team that it was too early to do so on his out lap, but with no time left he still attempted a lap.

The first sector was good and Stroll was committed through Eau Rouge and Raidillon but when he reached the middle sector there was no dry line and Stroll slid off the road at Turn 9 and into the barrier to bring out the red flag. The right-front corner of the car was heavily damaged and will need the 4.5 hours before the sprint to repair, while the incident also stopped teammate Fernando Alonso setting a lap time and eliminated him in 15th behind Stroll.

The other three left to rue Stroll’s incident — as it ended the session prematurely — were Daniel Ricciardo in 11th ahead of the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. Ricciardo was the last of the drivers to actually set a time, with Albon leaving his one run late and Sargeant spinning on his first attempt.

The delayed start has also pushed the start time of the sprint back to 5:05pm local time (11:05am ET).

Verstappen resists early Perez challenge to win Austria sprint

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after a fraught dice with teammate Sergio Perez on the first lap. Perez got the better start from second on the grid and used his position on the inside of the first turn to snatch the lead. But the …

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after a fraught dice with teammate Sergio Perez on the first lap.

Perez got the better start from second on the grid and used his position on the inside of the first turn to snatch the lead. But the Mexican ran slightly deep and onto the wet exit curb, which cost him momentum. Verstappen cut underneath him on the run to the Turn 3, to which Perez responded by crowding him to the edge of the track, forcing him to dip his right wheels onto the grass.

Verstappen retaliated by braking very late down Perez’s inside into the uphill Turn 3. He only just made the corner, which had the useful side-effect of guiding Perez into the run-off zone, switching their positions.

Perez attempted to fight back by taking the racing line into Turn 4, but Verstappen again got his elbows out, holding him high in the corner to disrupt his momentum.

It was super-effective, allowing Nico Hulkenberg, who had started fourth, to slip through into second place and form a useful buffer between the warring teammates.

In the wet conditions the Haas’s presence was enough to give Verstappen a chance to make a break. By the time Perez found his way past on lap 12 Verstappen was already almost 10 seconds up the road. His victory was secure, and he crossed the line a thumping 21 seconds ahead of the pack.

But the incident with Perez hadn’t left his mind once he took the flag, and he radioed his displeasure on the cool-down lap.

“The exit of Turn 1 — that was not really nice,” he said. “That could’ve been a really big shunt, so we need to have a chat about that. That was not OK.”

He sought out his teammate in parc ferme, and the two were spotted debating their battle before the podium interviews.

“I think Max was angry that I went [to the edge of the track] into Turn 2, but I didn’t see him there. I just had a very bad Turn 1, so I tried to protect. Once I realized he was there, I opened up the door. It’s all fine. We just spoke about it.”

Perez eventually got past Hulkenberg courtesy of a better exit from Turn 4 that carried him around the outside of the German at Turn 5 and through into second at Turn 6.

Hulkenberg couldn’t cling to the podium places despite his fast start, with the Haas car’s chronic tire consumption problems hobbling his rear intermediates.

Sainz made easy work of him on lap 13 through Turn 4 and 5 to deprive him of third place, though the Ferrari driver couldn’t move any further up the order from there.

“I wish I could stay close to Checo, but the Red Bulls were just a bit too quick for us today,” he said.

Aston Martin teammates Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso dueled in the final laps of the sprint for fourth, with the Canadian scoring a rare victory over the Spaniard in the damp.

Hulkenberg secured sixth after a gutsy switch to medium tires on lap 17 of 24, following the lead of George Russell, who had stopped for slicks two laps earlier. It dropped him to 12th, but the dry tires were significantly faster than the wets once up to temperature, and he scythed his way back up into the points to make good on the strategy gamble.

Esteban Ocon remained on inters and was overwhelmed late by Hulkenberg and came close to being dropped to eighth by Russell, but a drag out of the last corner secured seventh by just 0.009s ahead of the Briton.

Lando Norris was unlucky to end up ninth, down from third on the grid, after getting balked by the battling Red Bull Racing drivers at Turn 3, dropping him to 10th.

Lewis Hamilton finished a racy 10th, up from 18th on the grid, after a sizzling first lap and well-timed stop for slicks, beating Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

Alex Albon had been running comfortably in the points but stopped late for slicks, on lap 18, which was too late to make the most of the fresh rubber. He finished a distant 13th ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries.

Logan Sargeant finished 18th, and Alfa Romeo teammates Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas propped up the table in 19th and 20th.

Leclerc gets sprint grid penalty for impeding Piastri

Charles Leclerc has been given a three-place grid penalty for the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix after impeding Oscar Piastri in the sprint shootout. The Ferrari driver was on the apex at Turn 9 as Piastri approached on a flying lap, with the …

Charles Leclerc has been given a three-place grid penalty for the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix after impeding Oscar Piastri in the sprint shootout.

The Ferrari driver was on the apex at Turn 9 as Piastri approached on a flying lap, with the McLaren driver having to slow to avoid contact and being eliminated in Q1 of the Saturday morning qualifying session for the sprint. Although a substantial proportion of the blame was attributed to Ferrari for a lack of communication with Leclerc, a grid penalty was handed out that applies only to sprint events.

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“The driver of Car 81 stated that as he approached Turn 9 he saw that Car 16 was traveling slowly and had to brake, reducing his speed by approximately 45 km/h over the previous push lap,” the stewards’ decision read. “This was verified by the stewards referencing the telemetry of Car 81. It was confirmed Car 81 lost approximately 0.5 of a second in that mini- sector (5.3s v 4.8s).

“The driver of Car 16 stated that the last call he had from his team was when he was approaching Turn 4 (‘Piastri six seconds’) and that he saw Car 81 in his mirrors as he was in Turn 8 and Car 81 was in Turn 7.

“The Team Representative of Car 16 stated that the team ‘could have done better’ in communicating the rapid approach of Car 81 and its driver stated that, ‘If I had been warned I could have done something earlier.’

“Accordingly we determine that although this was not entirely the fault of the driver, and that the team’s lack of communication was the major contributing factor, a grid position penalty must be imposed as Car 81 was ‘unnecessarily impeded,’ because there is no doubt that the situation could have been avoided.”

Leclerc is demoted from sixth on the sprint grid to ninth place, promoting Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon. In the unlikely event that Leclerc doesn’t take part in the sprint, the penalty will only carry over to the next sprint event and not Sunday’s grand prix itself.

Verstappen tops Austria sprint qualifying as rivals falter

Max Verstappen lead a Red Bull front-row lockout ahead of Sergio Perez in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after the team’s chief rivals fumbled their way through the damp session. Verstappen was in commanding form on the still-drying …

Max Verstappen lead a Red Bull front-row lockout ahead of Sergio Perez in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after the team’s chief rivals fumbled their way through the damp session.

Verstappen was in commanding form on the still-drying track following morning rain to beat Perez by 0.493s despite a wobble through Turn 3 that the team guessed cost him as much as 0.15s.

“The car was in a good window, good balance,” he said. “Very happy of course to be first.”

Perez put in a much-improved performance to back up the title leader on the front row, albeit almost half a second adrift.

He was aided by the absence of Ferrari and Mercedes in the fight for pole, however.

Ferrari mystifyingly lacked the pole-challenging pace it enjoyed in warmer conditions on Friday. Both drivers flirted with the knockout zone in both qualifying segments, with Sainz almost eliminated from SQ1 due to a brake-by-wire system failure that required rapid repairs.

The Spaniard ended up fifth on the grid but almost 0.7s off the pace, while teammate Charles Leclerc wallowed to sixth and 0.8s adrift.

But Mercedes fared even worse, losing Lewis Hamilton in 18th and George Russell to 15th.

Hamilton was a victim of track limits in a frenetic SQ1 segment on a drying circuit. The Briton had set a time that would’ve comfortably seen him through to SQ2 but was judged to have overrun the track boundary at Turn 9.

He had time to go again, but he was poorly placed on the circuit and caught traffic as the clock counted down. Unable to improve, he returned to pit lane to accept 18th on the sprint grid.

Russell compounded matters by radioing that he had suffered a hydraulic failure on his way back to the pits. The team worked frantically to repair the car, but hope was abandoned when it became clear a steering rack change would be required, leaving him without a time in SQ2 and eliminated in 15th.

With those big hitters out of the way, Lando Norris could improve on his fourth on the grand prix grid to put himself third for the sprint, 0.57s off the pace. He pipped a sensational Nico Hulkenberg, who put his Haas fourth.

Sainz and Leclerc followed ahead of the similarly wayward Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in seventh and eighth, while Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10.

Alex Albon will start the sprint 11th ahead of Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries and the stricken Russell, who didn’t set a time due to his hydraulic issues.

Zhou Guanyu missed out on SQ2 by just 0.001s, that tiny fraction allowing Leclerc to progress through to the top 10.

Oscar Piastri will start the sprint ahead of the knocked-out Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant.

WATCH: Seahawks WR DK Metcalf run 100-meter dash at USATF Golden Games

Watch as Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf runs the 100-meter dash at USATF Golden Games. He finishes last in his heat.

It’s widely known that Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf is one of the quickest players in the National Football League and he finally got his shot to compete against some of the fastest runners in the world.

On Sunday afternoon, Metcalf took to the track at the USATF Golden Games to compete in the 100-meter dash. He finished the sprint in 10.36 seconds, ninth place in his heat. He needed a 10.05 or better to qualify for the Olympic Trials next month.

“To test my speed up against world-class athletes like this . . . just having the opportunity to run against these guys was just a blessing,” Metcalf said after the race.

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WATCH: DK Metcalf’s sprint for the touchdown to give Seahawks lead

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf sprints in for the touchdown to close out the first quarter, Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers.

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf just keeps getting better and better.

Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers, Metcalf turned on the speed once again for the Seahawks’ first score of the day.

The point-after attempt was no good, so Seattle closed out the first quarter with a 6-0 lead over the 49ers.

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Who’s faster? Marquise Goodwin challenges Tyreek Hill to foot race

Wide receivers Marquise Goodwin and Tyreek Hill are willing to compete in the 40-yard dash to determine who’s the fastest player in the NFL.

Former Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin has plenty of confidence in his speed. Continue reading “Who’s faster? Marquise Goodwin challenges Tyreek Hill to foot race”

Great white shark remarkably fast in 50-yard dash

Great white sharks are not speedsters, so for Matt Lemond it was surprising to see a young white shark sprint across the surface at 20 mph.

Great white sharks are not known for their speed, so for Matt Larmand it was surprising to watch a young white shark sprint across the surface at perhaps 20 mph.

“He was going at least 20 mph,” Larmand told For The Win Outdoors. “I was going full throttle on the drone trying to catch up to him.”

Larmand, an licensed drone pilot for Dana Wharf Whale Watching, captured the accompanying footage Thursday from his home on Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, Ca.

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Capo Beach, as the community is referred to by locals, sometimes attracts juvenile white sharks in late spring and summer.

The sharks, often spotted just beyond the surf zone, prey on stingrays and other bottom fishes until they become large enough – 12-plus feet – to move offshore to feed on seals and sea lions.

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Larmand launched his drone after receiving reports of recent sightings. It was his first sighting of the season and he estimated the shark to measure 8 to 10 feet.

“I’m not sure what triggered him to burst into speed like that; I’ve never seen one do that,” he said, adding that the sprint covered about 50 yards.

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Chris Lowe, Director of the Shark Lab at California State University – Long Beach, told For The Win Outdoors that he the shark appears to have been spooked by the drone’s shadow.

“Those neonates are pretty skittish,” Lowe said. “Seeing the drone shadow gave it a pretty good scare.”

Lowe added:

“I think it brings about the point of one of our hypotheses as to why young white sharks use beach habitats.  We aren’t sure where white sharks give birth, we know they do not exhibit parental care, so babies are completely on their own.  They probably hang out in shallow water near beaches because that is a safer place with very few large predators, lots of easy to capture prey (stingrays), and the water’s warmer.

“This response to the shadow of the drone supports one reason why they hang out in shallow waters. They don’t know what is a threat and the safest behavior is to flee when they experience something unknown.

“What’s also interesting is that babies will exhibit this rapid flight in one direction, while older sharks will do a loop around when scared.  This doubling back on a potential threat is a typical predator behavior to prevent a rear attack.”

Larmand spotted the same shark later Thursday, “cruising up and down the coast” at normal speed (see second video).

Mako sharks are the fastest sharks, capable of bursts in excess of 40 mph as they chase prey such as tuna, mackerel, and swordfish.

Great white sharks, which can measure to about 20 feet, become much bulkier as adults and rely on ambush to catch their prey.