BARCELONA: Three-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton continued his ominous form on day two of pre-season testing as he set the fastest time and most laps in the new Mercedes W08 on Tuesday morning.
Hamilton bettered his best time from Monday in 1min 20.983sec to set the fastest time at the Circuit de Catalunya since 2013.
Radical new rules for the 2017 season mean F1 cars are wider and more powerful than their predecessors.
Hamilton will give way to new teammate Valtteri Bottas for the afternoon session.
Kimi Raikkonen was second fastest but nearly two seconds off Hamilton’s time in his first outing in the Ferrari SF70.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon was third fastest for Force India.
Meantime, Formula One team Sauber has named Tatiana Calderon of Colombia as a development driver.
The 23-year-old Calderon started racing karts when she was 9 and competed in the GP3 series last season.
Sauber says she will continue to compete in GP3 in addition to acting as a development driver for the F1 team. Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn says: “We have the opportunities and facilities to provide Tatiana a professional platform on which she can further develop her knowledge and skills in racing.”
Sauber’s race drivers this season are Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein.
Antonio Giovinazzi, however, is substituting for Wehrlein as he recovers from a back injury during this week’s preseason testing near Barcelona.
Hamilton goes even faster in new Mercedes
Hamilton goes even faster in new Mercedes
Pakistan sells Multan Sultans for record $8.7 million ahead of PSL 11th edition
- New owner Walee Technologies plans to change franchise’s name to Rawalpindi
- PCB chairman says ‘Multan Sultans still dear to my heart, will think of something’
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday sold Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans for a record Rs2.45 billion ($8.7 million), ahead of the 11th edition of the Twenty20 tournament.
The 11th edition of the tournament will kick off on March 26, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Friday, which will feature eight franchises competing across multiple venues.
The previous owner of Multan Sultans, Ali Tareen, announced in Dec. he was walking away from the ownership of the franchise. The PCB said earlier said it will run the Multan Sultans team for the 11th edition before looking for a potential buyer.
Walee Technologies, which specializes in media, finance and technology, bought the rights for the franchise for $8.7 million at an auction held in Lahore, with local media reporting the new owner planned to change its name to Rawalpindi.
“I cannot ask the person paying Rs2.45bn to keep the name Multan Sultans,” Naqvi told reporters after the auction. “Multan Sultans is still dear to my heart, but we will think of something.”
Walee Technologies was among five bidders that participated in the auction, which came a month after Hyderabad and Sialkot joined the PSL 11th edition.
FKS, an aviation and health care conglomerate based in the US who also run the Chicago Kingsmen team, bought the Hyderabad franchise for a whopping Rs1.75 billion ($6.2 million). The other winner was OZ
Developers, a real estate consortium, which bought the Sialkot franchise for Rs1.85 billion ($6.55 million) at the auction.
The PSL has become a key pillar of the country’s cricket economy, providing financial stability to the PCB and serving as a talent pipeline for the national team.
The league, which features a mix of local and international players, already had six city-based teams, including Karachi Kings, Multan Sultans, Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators.
