SAKHIR, Bahrain: Lewis Hamilton produced another stunning demonstration of his supreme racing talent on Sunday to resist a charging Max Verstappen and win a thrilling season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The defending seven-time champion defended with supreme skill over the closing laps in his Mercedes to hold off the Red Bull driver and claim a record-stretching 96th Formula One victory.
Hamilton came home seven-tenths of a second ahead of the Dutchman, who was forced to hand back the race lead in the closing laps after passing the champion with a move that had taken him off the track and beyond the limits.
As expected, Hamilton and his heir apparent delivered an exhilarating exhibition of racing as they stormed to the flag — the pair leaving third placed Valtteri Bottas, in the second Mercedes, to finish adrift by 37 seconds.
It was Hamilton’s first season-opening triumph since 2015 and surprised many observers after Red Bull had dominated pre-season testing and two days of practice and qualifying ahead of the race.
“Firstly, can I just say it’s the first time I’ve seen fans in a long time,” said a delighted Hamilton.
“What a difficult race that was — stopping early we knew it was going to be tough, but we had to cover Max and it was always going to take something pretty special to do it.”
A disappointed Verstappen said: “Of course, it’s a shame, but you also have to see the positives. We’re putting the fight on to them so it’s great to start the year like that“
Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren ahead of Sergio Perez, who had started from the pit lane in the second Red Bull, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo, of McLaren.
Carlos Sainz was eighth for Ferrari ahead Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Hamilton wins thrilling season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix
https://arab.news/b8hwu
Hamilton wins thrilling season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix
- Defending seven-time champion used supreme skill to hold off Red Bull's Max Verstappen in closing laps
Rampant Sabalenka sweeps past Jovic into Australian Open semifinals
MELBOURNE: Relentless top seed Aryna Sabalenka muscled past American teenager Iva Jovic and into the Australian Open semifinals Tuesday to accelerate her bid for a third Melbourne title.
The Belarusian powered home 6-3, 6-0 in blazing heat to set up a clash with either third seed Coco Gauff or 12th seed Elina Svitolina.
It booked the 27-year-old a 14th career Grand Slam semifinal and fourth in a row at the season-opening major.
Sabalenka has won twice in Melbourne, in 2023 and 2024, and seemed destined for another crown last year but was upset in the final by Madison Keys.
Keys’ title defense is over, beaten in the fourth round by Jessica Pegula.
“These teenagers have been testing me in the last couple of rounds,” said Sabalenka, who is on a 10-match win streak after victory at the lead-up Brisbane International.
“It was a tough match. Don’t look at the score, it wasn’t easy at all. She played incredible tennis. Pushed me to to one step better level. And I’m super happy with the win.”
The match was played under an open roof on Rod Laver Arena with the tournament Heat Stress Scale yet to reach the level where it could be closed.
Temperatures are forecast to hit a blistering 45C with a peak of 38C reached during the match.
Defeat brought an end to a breakthrough tournament for 18-year-old Jovic, the youngest player in the women’s top 100 and seeded 29.
She stunned seventh seed and two-time Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini and blitzed past experienced Yulia Putintseva for the loss of just one game to announce herself to the world.
But Sabalenka was a bridge too far.
The world number one safely held serve to lay down a marker, blasting an ace to set up game point and an unreturnable serve to win it.
Jovic made some early errors and sent the ball long on break point to surrender her serve and fall 2-0 behind.
Sabalenka held to pile on the pressure before Jovic fended off a break point on her next serve to get on the scoreboard.
But despite some long rallies as she got into the match and three break points as Sabalenka served for the set, the top seed’s brute force proved too much.
Sabalenka then broke her immediately to assert control of set two and Jovic was spent, with another break for 3-0 then a double fault to slump 5-0 down, signalling the end.
