Monday 31 October 2016

Lewis Hamilton Wins Mexico Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton took another seven points out of Nico Rosberg’s championship lead with a superb win over his Mercedes team mate in the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico 2016. Hamilton, who now trails by 19 points with two rounds remaining, was 8.3s clear at the chequered flag, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel completing the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez podium, despite finishing fourth on the road.
Vettel was eventually given third place after Verstappen was penalized post-race for an incident on the 68th lap when the Dutchman ran wide in Turn 1 and then over the grass in Turn 2 to stay ahead of the Ferrari - a move Hamilton had already performed there on his own while leading on the opening lap, thanks to a glazed brake. Verstappen was told by Red Bull to give up the place but chose not to, and his intransigence enabled Ricciardo to close on to Vettel’s tail.

Verstappen had always been in podium contention, but it was Vettel who took over the lead after Rosberg pitted to switch from softs to mediums on the 14th lap and Hamilton did likewise on the 17th. The Ferrari then ran another remarkable 15 laps before the former champion finally pitted for mediums on the 32nd. Verstappen himself had had an opportunistic go at Rosberg on the 49th lap when the German had lost time going over a kerb, and as the Red Bull got out of shape at the apex Rosberg got the place back, and the incident enabled a lapped Jenson Button in the McLaren to make his own opportunistic pass on Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso.

Renault’s Kevin Magnussen, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Gutierrez, Haas’s Romain Grosjean and Manor’s Esteban Ocon completed the finishers. Both Toro Rosso drivers were given five-second penalties, Sainz for easing Alonso off track on lap one, Kvyat for going off-track to gain advantage over Grosjean. Hamilton’s 51st career victory thus saw him tie Alain Prost for second in the all-time stakes, but with two races left Rosberg’s 19-point standings lead means he is still on target for the crown even if he finishes second to his team mate in both of them.

Sunday 30 October 2016

MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of Malaysia

Ducati Rider Andrea Dovizioso took victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix to become the ninth different race winner in MotoGP this season. Dovizioso, 30, started from pole after the race in Sepang had been delayed by rain, but dropped to third early on. He overhauled fellow Italian Valentino Rossi for the lead with five laps left after Rossi ran wide and pushed home his advantage. It was only his second MotoGP victory in 159 races.
Rossi finished second ahead of Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo to secure runners-up spot in the championship, while Spanish world champion Marc Marquez, who had been hampered by illness over the past few days, crashed out of fourth place during the race and eventually finished 11th. Dovizioso made his charge with six laps remaining, surging into the lead as Rossi faded with a worn front tyre. He left the nine-time world champion in his wake, Dovizioso extending his advantage with each and every lap.

Easing off on the final tour, Dovizioso crossed the line 3.1 seconds ahead to secure both his second career MotoGP race win — his first since 2009 and first for Ducati — and Ducati’s first multi-win season since 2010. Jorge Lorenzo came home third after a steady race, leading the early corners before slipping into a steady rhythm that kept him upright to the finish — a story many of those ahead of him were unable to tell at race’s end.

Jack Miller led the second group in the early laps before sliding back to eighth at the finish — the first Honda home — with Pol Espargaro and Danilo Petrucci rounding out the top 10. Marquez was next from Eugene Laverty; Aleix Espargaro 13th after an off-track excursion took him out of the lead group in the early laps, with Bradley Smith and Scott Redding rounding out the point scorers in 14th and 15th. Hiroshi Aoyama, Stefan Bradl and Tito Rabat were the only other finishers.


Monday 24 October 2016

Lewis Hamilton wins United States Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton stylishly won his fifth United States Grand Prix, as he comfortably headed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg all the way through and led him home by 4.5s. It was also the 50th victory of Hamilton F1 career, putting him one behind Alain Prost for second place in all-time list, and wiped seven points off Rosberg 33-point title lead with three races to go.
Daniel Ricciardo took the final podium place for Red Bull, with team mate Max Verstappen having retired mid-race with suspected transmission issues. Sebastian Vettel finished fourth for Ferrari, whose second car also failed to make the flag as Kimi Raikkonen was the victim of a botched pit stop. Fernando Alonso was a fighting fifth for McLaren, ahead of Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz and Williams’ Felipe Massa. Force India’s Sergio Perez, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Haas’s Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.

Ricciardo kept Hamilton honest in the early laps on his softer tyres, but stopped as early as the eighth lap for softs. Curiously Mercedes brought their drivers in on their softs on the 10th (Rosberg) and 11th (Hamilton) laps. That momentarily put Vettel supersoft-shod Ferrari into the lead as he ran the longest of all of the top runners on the red-banded rubber, but when he pitted for softs on the 14th lap he fell to sixth behind Hamilton, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Verstappen and Raikkonen.

Three-stopping Kevin Magnussen had a strong battle with two-stopping Renault team mate Jolyon Palmer and eventually finished 11th on the road for Renault, ahead of Kvyat. However, that became 12th - behind Kvyat - once stewards had decided post-race that the Dane had gained an advantage in running off track when passing the Toro Rosso and handed him a 5-second time penalty. Behind 13th placed Palmer, Marcus Ericsson raised Sauber hopes of a point as he ran 11th at one stage before his final pit stop but had to settle for 14th ahead of team mate Felipe Nasr who had a pass and repass fight with Bottas at the end. Behind them, Pascal Wehrlein led home Manor team mate Esteban Ocon.

Sunday 23 October 2016

MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of Australia

Cal Crutchlow secured a second MotoGP win for LCR Honda, after early leader Marc Marquez crashed out of a comfortable lead, 10 laps in. Crutchlow was untouchable once Marquez crashed out. The Brit cruised to a second career Grand Prix win by more than four seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales.
On Lap 10, Marquez handed a gift-wrapped lead to the LCR Honda rider. The Spaniard dropped the front of his Honda at Turn 4, the bike digging into the gravel and flying through the air. Just like that, Marquez was resigned to his first DNF of the season, and Crutchlow was suddenly leading the race by just under two seconds.

Rossi, meanwhile, had carved his way through the field, leaving the likes of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaro, and Andrea Dovizioso behind as he charged into the podium spots. He timed his run past Aleix Espargaro just as Marquez went down, which meant the Italian had come from his worst qualifying spot in half a decade to second place in just 10 laps.

Dovizioso came home fourth, while Pol Espargaro finished fifth, and Jorge Lorenzo a lonely sixth after never looking in the game and certainly never having the pace of his flying teammate with whom he remains locked in battle for second in the championship. Scott Redding and Bradley Smith finished seventh and eighth respectively, after Hector Barbera crashed out of the same battle pack with three laps to go. That moved Danilo Petrucci into ninth, with local hero Jack Miller rounding out the Top 10 after predictably dropping back through the field in the dry conditions.

Saturday 22 October 2016

India won Kabaddi World Cup 2016

A brilliant second half performance saw India stage a memorable comeback as they beat Iran 38-29 in the title clash to lift the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. In a match contested between two titans of the sport, India beat a resolute Iran side to become the world champions. Riding on a terrific performance by Ajay Thakur's 12 points, India produced a strong comeback in the second half at the TransStadia Arena to send the packed crowd into raptures.

The final was like a boxing bout as both teams traded punches and gave it as good as they got. India struck the early blows as Sandeep Narwal and Thakur scored raid points to lead 2-0 in the third minute. Meraj Sheykh scored Iran's first point as they leveled the game at 2-2 in the fourth minute. Iran's defence was up for it as they contained Pardeep Narwal effectively and then sent Thakur to the bench to lead 5-4 in the eighth minute.
The match lived up to its expectations as both teams fought hard and refused to give an inch. Skipper Anup Kumar scored his trademark bonus point to level the scores at 6-6 in the 10th minute. Meraj Sheykh scored with an excellent raid and reduced India to just three men as Iran led 9-7 in the 13th minute. India's defence had a below par first 15 minutes as they scored just one tackle point.

Iran made India commit errors as Meraj Sheykh forced Manjeet Chhillar off the court during a raid to lead 19-13 in the 23rd minute. Thakur scored two points in the 25th minute as India cut the lead to three points and sent Fazel Atrachali and Meraj Sheykh to the bench. The tide turned for India when Ajay Thakur scored his ninth point in the 29th minute to level the game at 20-20. India inflicted their first all out the match in the 30th minute to lead 24-21 as they took their biggest lead of the match.

Kenya were named the emerging team of the tournament as they won a lot of hearts and almost made it to the semifinals. Jang Kun Lee who had a superb tournament was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Cup. The best referee of the tournament award was given to SMA Mannan from Bangladesh.

Sunday 16 October 2016

MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of Japan

Honda rider Marc Marquez secured his third MotoGP championship in four years by winning the Japanese Grand Prix after his nearest rivals Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo both crashed out. The 23 year old Spaniard had only an outside chance to seal the title but his win at Motegi gave him an unassailable 77 point lead over Italian Rossi, who started on pole but slid into the gravel early.
Already the youngest rider to win a MotoGP race and the title in his maiden season in 2013, Marquez triumph in Japan made him the youngest to seal three championships. He finished nearly three seconds ahead of Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso, with Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales third.

With Rossi, the seven-time premier class champion, quickly out of contention, Lorenzo needed to finish fourth or better keeping his title defence alive. The Spaniard, who suffered a terrifying crash in practice on Saturday but returned to the track to qualify third on the grid, battled to keep within touch of Marquez.

But Lorenzo came under pressure from a hard-charging Dovizioso and his race ended in the gravel with five laps to go after a front end skid. Marc Marquez from Honda team is the champion now with 273 points followed by Valentino Rossi from Yamaha team with 196 points. Third place is hold by Jorge Lorenzo from Yamaha team with 182 points. The championship, now a victory procession for Marquez, heads to Phillip Island, Australia next week. 

Sunday 9 October 2016

Nico Rosberg wins Japanese Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 33 points with victory in 2016 Formula 1 Emirates Japanese Grand Prix, as Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton recovered from a nightmare start to finish third, just behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The result gives Mercedes an unassailable lead in the constructor’s championship effectively securing them a third straight crown. Sebastian Vettel was Ferrari lead runner on a frustrating afternoon for the Scuderia, the German taking fourth place ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Also disappointed was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in sixth, the Australian having started the race in front of both the Scarlet cars.

The Force India of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth, beating rivals Williams, who saw Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, complete the top ten, as all 22 drivers finished the race. Polesitter Nico Rosberg effectively had things won the moment Hamilton made a mistake and lagged so badly at the start that he plunged from second to eighth place.

Rosberg now has 313 points to his team mate’s 280, meaning he needs only three seconds and a third to clinch his first title over the remaining four races, even if Hamilton wins all of them. The final points went to the battling Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas who were separated by 0.5s at the flag and were only 0.9s ahead of Romain Grosjean Haas.

Monday 3 October 2016

Daniel Ricciardo wins Malaysia Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo held off hard charging team mate Max Verstappen to win an incident filled 2016 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix, after long time leader Lewis Hamilton retired following a fiery Mercedes engine failure. In the second Mercedes Nico Rosberg came through the pack after early drama to finish third and extend his championship lead over Hamilton to 23 points.
That was despite Rosberg picking up a 10-second time penalty for a mid-race clash with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fourth. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas took fifth ahead of the Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, split by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who came from the back row to take seventh. Team mate Jenson Button was ninth in his 300th Grand Prix, as fellow Briton Jolyon Palmer took his first F1 point with 10th for Renault.

Ricciardo finally got his payback for his Monaco loss earlier in the year, as he came through a brutal battle with Verstappen which became one for victory after Hamilton’s Mercedes had blown up when well ahead on the 41st lap. It was the fourth win of his F1 career. Bottas executed a fine one-stop strategy for Williams in a race in which his team mate Felipe Massa started from the pit lane and finished 13th after his car stalled at the start of the formation lap.

Carlos Sainz was 11th for Toro Rosso ahead of Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, Massa, brake-troubled Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso, and the battling Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon, the latter having picked up not one, but two five-second time penalties for speeding in the pit lane. Romain Grosjean spun into the gravel and retirement on Lap 9 after a suspected brake failure on his Haas coming into the final turn, and team mate Esteban Gutierrez looked to have similar issues when the left-front wheel flew from the Mexican’s car at speed on lap 42. Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr were the other non-finishers.