F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins French Grand Prix

Mercedes brought their delayed engine upgrade to France, complete with “added goodness” and Lewis Hamilton took full advantage converting pole position into a commanding victory in the returning French Grand Prix as his chief title rival Sebastian Vettel made life hard for himself.

Hamilton was back to his brilliant best in qualifying and proceeded to dominate the race, crossing the line seven seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium. With Vettel finishing down in fifth, Hamilton convincingly reclaimed the lead in the drivers’ standings.

Ricciardo took fourth, well clear of Vettel, while Sainz was set for a brilliant sixth before suffering a power problem with three laps to go. Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Bottas slipped by but Sainz held on to eighth, ahead of Renault team mate Nico Hulkenberg. Charles Leclerc rose as high as sixth at the start and though his challenge faded, he drove brilliantly to take 10th for Sauber – his fourth points finish in five races. Romain Grosjean was the best-placed home driver, finishing just outside the points for Haas in 11th, the Frenchman having picked up a five-second time penalty for contact with compatriot Ocon on the run to Turn 1 at the start.

Force India's Sergio Perez retired with an engine problem, while Williams' Lance Stroll’s front-left tyre failed with a couple of laps remaining, spraying debris across the track and sparking a virtual safety car that ended with just half a lap to go. It was win number three of 2018 for Hamilton, who now leads the championship by 14 points from Vettel, while Mercedes’ advantage over Ferrari in the constructors’ standings swelled by four points to 23 with 13 races still remaining.

Catalan MotoGP 2018: Lorenzo hammers down his opponents

Jorge Lorenzo managed to convert his pole position into a win at the 2018 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix. The Spaniard took his second consecutive of the season after a brilliant victory in Mugello and beat Honda’s Marc Marquez with a lead of 4.79s.

Finishing a brilliant third was Valentino Rossi taking his consecutive podium of the season after starting seventh on the grid. The Catalan GP went down with a massive number of crashes and subsequent retirements that wiped out a good chunk of the competition. The Catalan GP marks Lorenzo's 150th podium finish, which puts in an exclusive of riders comprising Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Dani Pedrosa.

Barring the opening lap that was led by Marquez, Lorenzo dominated every lap of the Catalan GP, cruising his way to victory. Lorenzo had dropped behind Andrea Iannone to third in the opening lap, but managed to pass the Suzuki on Turn 10. The Ducati rider then charged towards Marquez and used the slipstream and outright acceleration to overtake the Honda and into the lead. Lorenzo was expected to break away from the rest of the field soon, but Marquez was on his tail throughout the remaining 23 lap race.

With the Catalan GP, Marquez has once again consolidated his lead in the championship, while Rossi now stands second with 88 points, to 27 points adrift from the Honda rider. Vinales now sits third with a gap of 9 points over his teammate, and is ahead of Johann Zarco who sits in fourth. Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Iannone are tied up on points with 66 each. While the win must be for Ducati this season, the 1-2 finish would've surely pleased Honda as well, in anticipation of what the team can expect next season from Marquez and Lorenzo.

F1 2018: Sebastian Vettel wins Canada Grand Prix

Ferrari hadn’t won in Montreal since 2004, while Lewis Hamilton has made circuit Gilles-Villeneuve his own during his F1 career. But Sebastian Vettel ripped up the form book with a dominant victory in the Canadian Grand Prix to snatch the lead in the 2018 driver standings.

The German was mighty in qualifying on Saturday and didn’t put a foot wrong come race day, crossing the line 5.7 seconds clear of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen completing the podium, followed home by team mate Daniel Ricciardo and the second Mercedes of Hamilton. 

Hamilton attacked Ricciardo until the chequered flag, but he didn’t deal with traffic as well as Ricciardo and ultimately had to settle for fifth. At the other end of the spectrum, Ferrari regained the momentum in the championship battle, with Vettel turning a 14-point deficit to Hamilton into a one-point lead, while Ferrari closed the gap to leaders Mercedes to 17 points heading to the next race in France.

Perez's team mate Esteban Ocon scored points for only the third time this season in ninth, while Charles Leclerc scored the final point – his third points-finish in four races - for Sauber. Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly delivered a strong recovery drive to 11th, having started 19th following a grid penalty for an engine change, with Romain Grosjean 12th, beating his Haas team mate Kevin Magnussen despite starting dead last.

There wasn’t a happy end to Fernando Alonso’s 300th Grand Prix weekend. The double world champion had fought his way into the points after a poor qualifying, but was instructed to retire his McLaren when the team identified an exhaust problem. Team mate Stoffel Vandoorne didn’t fare much better as he ended up 16th. At the other end of the spectrum, Ferrari regained the momentum in the championship battle, with Vettel turning a 14-point deficit to Hamilton into a one-point lead, while Ferrari closed the gap to leaders Mercedes to 17 points heading to the next race in France.

Rafael Nadal wins 11th French Open Title

Rafael Nadal’s incredible domination continued with his 11th French Open win. The 32 year old defeated Austria Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-3 6-2 to add yet another Grand Slam title to his resume.

It was Nadal's seventh win in 10 matches against the 24-year-old Thiem, who has been the only player to beat Nadal on clay over the past few years. Nadal was impressive in the title round and managed to keep his flawless French final mark. The top-ranked Nadal only lost one set in his latest title at Roland Garros, making this one of his most dominant and impressive victories yet.

Nadal's incredible record in Paris now reads 86 wins and two defeats. He has won every final he has reached, and in those 11 finals he has dropped just six sets. Rosewall, Laver and Federer are the only other players to have won three or more slams past the age of 30. History rushes to embrace Nadal with every passing triumph.

No-one can catch Nadal now. Not on clay. Victory confirmed his world No 1 ranking and he heads for Wimbledon next month restored to near his best form on his favourite surface. He moves alongside Margaret Court for the most titles at the same slam, 11. His total of 17 majors edges him closer to the 20 owned by 36-year-old Roger Federer, who will be favourite to add to that at the All England Club, where he has been champion eight times.

NBA 2018: Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland Cavaliers to win title

The Golden State Warriors earned their NBA Title in four seasons after completing a comprehensive 4-0 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach Steve Kerr described the triumph as “the hardest so far” but his Warriors side routed the Cavs 108-84 to prevail in the fourth consecutive finals meeting between the teams.

Stephen Curry scored 37 points for the Warriors, while LeBron James claimed 23 in what could be his final Cavs game. The 33-year-old American, playing in his eighth consecutive finals, said he had "no idea at this point" about his future and would consider the decision with his family.

The win added to the Golden State Warriors' victories in 2015 and 2017 and was the first finals clean sweep since the Cavs were demolished by San Antonio Spurs in 2007. It was the second time the Warriors have secured the championship in Cleveland during Kerr's four-year tenure. A James slam dunk had Cleveland ahead 39-38 halfway through the second quarter, but Golden State responded to lead 61-52 at half-time and eased to victory from there.

Curry top scored but it was Kevin Durant who was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row, adding 20 points, 12 rebounds and a post-season career high of 10 assists. It was the 28th consecutive play-off game in which he has scored at least 20 points. While Golden State are building one of the great basketball dynasties, Cleveland's future is clouded by uncertainty.

James, widely regarded as the greatest player of his generation, is expected to leave for a second time, having returned to the franchise in 2014 after departing for Miami four years earlier. The three-time champion revealed he had played the last three matches with a broken right hand, sustained after he scored his best play-off points haul of 51 in the opener.

Italian MotoGP 2018: Jorge Lorenzo wins 1st race of Season

Jorge Lorenzo secured his first MotoGP victory since he joined Ducati in dominant style in the Italian Grand Prix, while Marc Marquez points lead took a hit as he crashed. From second on the grid, Lorenzo surged into an early lead at Mugello ahead of home polesitter Valentino Rossi, with Marquez moving up to third place on the opening lap from sixth with a robust pass on Danilo Petrucci's Pramac Ducati at Turn 2.

Honda rider Marquez then picked off Rossi's Yamaha at the start of the third of 23 laps at the first corner, San Donato, before putting pressure on leader Lorenzo. But on the fifth lap, Marquez lost the front end coming into the Scarperia right-hander, sliding into the gravel trap before remounting.

That left Lorenzo leading Rossi and the second works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, who then moved into the runner-up spot on lap 7 at the Casanova-Savelli switchback. At this point, Lorenzo held a slender advantage of 0.7 seconds, but as the race progressed, the Spaniard was able to maintain his pace, pulling out a lead of 1.5s by the 13th lap. The three-time MotoGP champion was able to reel off the remaining 10 laps and ultimately secure his first win since Valencia 2016 and the 45th of his premier class career by a margin of 6.3s.

Dovizioso looked safe for second until his pace slumped dramatically in the closing laps, but he was able to hold off third-placed Rossi by just 0.259s and complete a Ducati 1-2. Rossi's third place came the hard way, as the 39-year-old was forced to overcome Suzuki pair Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins as well as Petrucci. Rins was fifth ahead of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), who moved ahead of Petrucci with three laps to go. Front row starter Maverick Vinales came eighth on the second works Yamaha, resisting a challenge from Nieto Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista, while Johann Zarco was an anonymous 10th on the Tech 3 Yamaha. Completing the points scorers were Pol Espargaro (KTM), Hafizh Syahrin (Tech 3), Tito Rabat (Avintia), Bradley Smith (KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda). Marquez ended up 16th of 17 lead lap finishers, 12 seconds behind Morbidelli.