Category Sports News

Grand Prix Emilia-Romagna

Imola Date: May 18 Start time for the race: Sunday at 14:00 BST

Lando Norris said he was “just not good enough” after qualifying fourth for the Grand Prix Emilia-Romagna with his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri on pole.

On an Imola track where overtaking is infamously difficult, Norris was 0. 292 seconds slower than Piastri.

After the first six races of the season, Briton Norris is 16 points adrift in the championship.

In my final lap of “quali,” Norris declared, “Never good enough.” “Everyone moves more quickly, and I always move more slowly.”

Norris’ depressing assessment of his own performance was consistent with his difficulties in qualifying for this year.

In 2024, the Briton was only defeated four times by his team-mate, who had previously dominated Piastri.

Piastri has turned the tables when combined with what team principal Andrea Stella refers to as a “relatively numb” front axle, which is not providing Norris with the “cues” he needs to drive at the limit.

His third pole in seven races was his, a total that was equal to Norris’, which was Max Verstappen’s total in Imola. Norris has won just one of the six grand prix thus far, compared to Pirassic.

Norris remarked, “I’m not going to just put the car on the brakes.” Not me, that’s. The entire weekend, I felt good. In both Q1 and Q2, I felt well. There was some melancholy there.

However, it just doesn’t go when I attempt to do lap time. Evidently, a lot has changed since last year.

Qualifying has been my biggest strength throughout my entire career. It’s just not coming my way this year.

However, Stella pointed out that Piastri finished third in the previous race in Miami before winning.

Our car, which is a very competitive car, is not the easiest to drive in qualifying conditions when you have to go for the last millisecond, according to Stella, who has been speaking since the start of the season.

“Imola, and there is now a focus on Lando’s P4, but let’s go one race back and ask the winner of the Miami race.

Oscar was actually Oscar, but I don’t think we talked much about his race winning status.

Norris said he needed to rely on strategy to find a way to win the race because it would be “tough” for him.

The Spaniard’s performance was his team’s best performance so far in what has been a difficult year, and it is the result of a significant improvement that has, at least partially, been influenced by their new managing technical partner, Adrian Newey, the design legend who came in March.

Lance Stroll, Alonso’s teammate, placed eighth in the standings.

Alonso said, “To be with both cars in Q3 really lifts a little bit of pressure from the shoulders of everyone in the team.”

You never know until you reach qualifying, according to the package we introduced yesterday, which had some positive results.

We must maintain the foot on the ground, and perhaps the track characteristics, which aid the Aston, so we must watch Monaco and Barcelona closely during the upcoming races. But so far, we’re pleased with the improvement.

The 43-year-old, however, emphasized that while being “happy to be fifth,” his or the team’s goals were far away.

Alonso stated, “I want to win the race when I’m in Australia (at the start of the season) next year.

“It’s going to be a tactical race,” he declared. It’s challenging to overtake in Imola, as always. Everyone is able to make fewer stops, which would prevent overtaking.

Let’s see the pace, and I anticipate a good start and good strategy. I’m prepared to lose a few positions, at least not too many, because I don’t believe it to be as good as P5.

Piastri praised his will to keep the lead at all times.

He said, “As long as I can get a good start, then I’m confident,” It’s challenging to overtake on the track. Our pace was quick. Yesterday’s long-run pace appeared very encouraging. So, yes, as long as I can start well and do a good first lap, that would be good.

Verstappen said: “I’ll just try to do a good start and see where I’m at with the pace because yesterday wasn’t particularly good in the long run also. He claimed his car was better balanced than it was on Friday.

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (4) 34

Tries: Mourgue 5, Lewis, May, Tanginoa, and Burgess 2, respectively.

With a comfortable win over Huddersfield Giants, Hull KR resurrected their position at the top of the Super League.

The Robins did what was required after Wigan Warriors defeated Leigh Leopards on Friday to overtake them.

Joe Burgess scored the only goal of the first half before Mikey Lewis, Tyrone May, Kalepi Tanginoa, Jack Brown, and Burgess once more crossed.

The atmosphere at Sewell Group Craven Park was lively and Burgess walked over in the corner as the Challenge Cup final was about to come to an end at Wembley on June 7th.

Lewis’ second try was cut short as a result of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ sin-binned attempt on Matty English was lost.

When these teams met in March, they were hiding at John Smith’s Stadium until just before the hour mark, and they held on until the halfway point.

Before half-back partner May followed him on the scoresheet moments later as a dummy and with too much determination, Lewis, the Man of Steel of the previous season, brought things to life with his second try.

Tanginoa and Brown went over before Burgess, who had some more Lewis magic, scored the game’s best try.

Willie Peters, the head coach of Hull KR, told BBC Radio Humberside:

“The outcome is good to me. Because they have essentially put their squad back together, we knew Huddersfield would turn up today.

We faced off against a team that was ready to play after a busy few weeks.

Interchanges: Leyland, Brown, Tanginoa, Luckley

Sin-bin: Waerea-Hargreaves (25)

Huddersfield: Flanagan, Swift, Milne, Halsall, Gagai, Rush, Clune, Wilson, Woolford, Greenwood, Hewitt, Bibby, Cudjoe, and others

Exchanges: Rushton, King, English, Golding,

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (4) 34

Tries: Mourgue 5, Lewis, May, Tanginoa, and Burgess 2, respectively.

With a comfortable win over Huddersfield Giants, Hull KR resurrected their position at the top of the Super League.

The Robins did what was required after Wigan Warriors defeated Leigh Leopards on Friday to overtake them.

Joe Burgess scored the only goal of the first half before Mikey Lewis, Tyrone May, Kalepi Tanginoa, Jack Brown, and Burgess once more crossed.

The atmosphere at Sewell Group Craven Park was lively and Burgess walked over in the corner as the Challenge Cup final was about to come to an end at Wembley on June 7th.

Lewis’ second try was cut short as a result of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ sin-binned attempt on Matty English was lost.

When these teams met in March, they were hiding at John Smith’s Stadium until just before the hour mark, and they held on until the halfway point.

Before half-back partner May followed him on the scoresheet moments later as a dummy and with too much determination, Lewis, the Man of Steel of the previous season, brought things to life with his second try.

Tanginoa and Brown went over before Burgess, who had some more Lewis magic, scored the game’s best try.

Willie Peters, the head coach of Hull KR, told BBC Radio Humberside:

“The outcome is good to me. Because they have essentially put their squad back together, we knew Huddersfield would turn up today.

We faced off against a team that was ready to play after a busy few weeks.

Interchanges: Leyland, Brown, Tanginoa, Luckley

Sin-bin: Waerea-Hargreaves (25)

Huddersfield: Flanagan, Swift, Milne, Halsall, Gagai, Rush, Clune, Wilson, Woolford, Greenwood, Hewitt, Bibby, Cudjoe, and others

Exchanges: Rushton, King, English, Golding,

After his side’s Scottish Premiership defeat at Dundee United, Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie was struck by one of his own fans and left bloody after being thrown by a seat.

After their side denied Aberdeen fourth place, United supporters invaded the playing surface with unused substitute MacKenzie.

And he was slashed by the plastic object that was hurled from the Fair Play Stand, where a traveling support was only allowed to travel when Jim Goodwin was last at Tannadice’s last meeting.

In a statement, Aberdeen claimed MacKenzie had “a serious facial injury.”

The club added that the incident caused them to be “dismayed and outraged” and that they are “certain” that the chair thrown came from the area where the fans’ homes were located.

Police Scotland confirmed that MacKenzie had received medical attention at the scene, and that she will require further medical evaluation.

Additionally, they have pleaded for information and urged anyone who witnessed or has footage to contact them.

Superintendent Ray Birnie, the match’s commander, stated: “This was a mindless act that seriously injured the player, which required medical care.

I’d like to ask all fans to help us find the person responsible, saying, “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”

“Please do the right thing and come forward if you witnessed what happened at the Fair Play Stand.” Anyone who has captured any kind of video on a mobile device should check it out and let us know if there is anything we should know about.

Goodwin described the scenes as “disgraceful,” calling them “disgraceful.” He has previously had similar incidents with him managing United against former club Aberdeen.

Because we’ve previously had previous encounters with Aberdeen supporters, he said, “I deliberately took myself off the pitch as quickly as I could.”

“I’m very disappointed to learn that Jack’s supporters have thrown an object at him.” It’s a total disgrace that he is currently receiving stitches inside.

The authorities should probably step in and take action to find these idiots who let down a really good club, according to the statement.

United has not yet made a comment on the incident, but the SPFL criticized the “moronic behavior.”

One of the most exciting games of the season has been ruined by such foolish behavior, a statement read. “It’s incredibly disappointing and frustrating.”

Grand Prix Emilia-Romagna

Imola Date: May 18 Start time for the race: Sunday at 14:00 BST

Ferrari are in “P-nowhere”, according to Charles Leclerc, after he and Lewis Hamilton qualified 11th and 12th for their home Grand Prix Emilia-Romagna.

Leclerc was a second slower than Oscar Piastri’s pole-setting McLaren in front of the team’s adoring “tifosi.”

About 50 miles south of the Ferrari factory in Maranello are the Italian tracks.

It hurts to be so disappointed, especially at home, where the team won such a special grand prix. Whatever track it would have hurt, Leclerc said, “but this hurts even more.”

“Our performance today is beyond me to describe. We can’t say enough about how disappointed we were by this performance at home. We simply aren’t good enough right now.

He said, “I feel gutted, I suppose.” “Because the car generally felt really good,”

“To be honest, I thought the setup and car were perfect. Everything was kind of in place, the brakes were in motion. And we simply can’t move more quickly.

We simply can’t match Max (Verstappen’s Red Bull),” he said. There was no additional grip when we put that new soft (tyre) on at the end because it just didn’t come alive for some reason.

Ferrari’s only podium of the season so far is Hamilton’s, which was won in China in March.

Hamilton leads McLaren in the constructors’ standings, with Leclerc currently fifth and Hamilton seventh, with the team currently fourth overall, 152 points behind.

Ferrari’s season was about to end, but Hamilton said he thought his first year with the team would be “foundation-building year” despite the fact that he had already done so.

Hamilton said, “We have to start adding performance to this car, obviously.” We’re not at par with you, “says. Look at Max’s rear, it just won’t move, to be honest. We can’t match him because he’s turning in Turn Two about 6 to 10 times faster than we do.

Similar to the McLarens, indeed. So we simply need to apply pressure and push forward. I think the guys can put on some acting.

Making necessary adjustments as needed to help the team navigate success over the long term is a foundation-building year.