SPIELBERG, Austria: Defending six-time champion Lewis Hamilton topped the times ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Formula One roared back at Friday’s opening practice at the belated and surreal season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Three months after the cancelation of the original campaign starter in Australia and six months on from the last race meeting, it was business as usual for the dominant black arrows with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull ahead of McLaren’s Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz.
After a slow start on a damp surface at the Red Bull Ring, following overnight rain, Hamilton, sporting a new Black Lives Matter helmet to match his black race suit, was on the pace immediately in his W11 car of the same color, repainted from silver this year to support equality and diversity.
It was as if the lengthy delay created by the COVID-19 pandemic had no effect on the teams, cars and drivers other than Ferrari whose new SF91 machine was, as forecast, unable to match the pace set at the front by Mercedes.
Ferrari plan to revise their car with updates for the Hungarian race in two weeks’ time following the second event in Austria next week.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who is set to leave the outfit at the end of the year, struggled to 12th, two places behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, in the eerie surroundings of the fan-less circuit in the Styrian Alps where pit-stops were curiously controlled with all the mechanics in masks and protective gear.
In mild weather conditions, with track temperatures measured at 22 degrees Celsius compared to 57 degrees for last year’s race, Mercedes had no cooling problems as Hamilton outpaced Bottas by three-tenths and was six-tenths clear of Verstappen.
Sergio Perez was fifth in Racing Point’s ‘pink Mercedes’ ahead of Lando Norris in the second McLaren, Alex Albon in the other Red Bull and McLaren-bound Daniel Ricciardo of Renault. Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas.
The session saw Verstappen recover from a spin at Turn One and Daniil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri run off at the final corner, causing Williams’ George Russell to take dramatic avoiding action while Romain Grosjean was stuck in the Haas garage with brake problems throughout the session.
Lewis Hamilton on top as Mercedes dominate Formula One opening practice
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Lewis Hamilton on top as Mercedes dominate Formula One opening practice
- Lewis Hamilton tops times ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas at season-opening Austrian Grand Prix
PSG star Hakimi faces trial for alleged rape
- The 27-year-old Moroccan international denies any wrongdoing
- “I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” Hakimi wrote on X
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain footballer Achraf Hakimi, a key player in their Champions League-winning side last season, is to stand trial charged with raping a young woman, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP Tuesday.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in Val-De-Marne southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
The 27-year-old Moroccan international, who played a pivotal role in Morocco becoming the first African and Arab side to reach the World Cup semifinals when they made the last four in 2022, denies any wrongdoing.
“Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”
Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed it.
“A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness,” Colin said.
The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player, a police source said at the time.
She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her.
She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to pick her up.
PSG coach Luis Enrique when asked about it at Tuesday’s press conference, ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.
She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.
But its treatment in general showed “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football,” she added.
Hakimi, born in Spain to a Moroccan mother, trained with Real Madrid making his senior debut for them in 2017.
He was also one of Morocco’s superstars during the Africa Cup of Nations, with the host team making it to the final where they lost in a chaotic climax to the tournament to Senegal.
Hakimi joined PSG in 2021, after stints with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.
