Crisis? What crisis? Pep Guardiola says no side can keep on winning

Pep Guardiola has rubbished suggestions that Bayern Munich are in crisis after the runaway Bundesliga leaders took just one point from a possible six following the mid-season break. A shock 4-1 defeat to second-placed Wolfsburg was followed by a 1-1 draw with Schalke in midweek. Despite the recent dip in form, Guardiola said: “Crisis? There is no crisis. These things happen in football. “We weren’t good enough in Wolfsburg but I was happy with the Schalke game. “I’ve said it in other press conferences – it’s impossible to just keep winning, winning, winning for 11 months. Not even here. “It is impossible always to win the title with a 25-point advantage over our rivals.” The Spaniard went on to reflect on his behaviour in the draw against Schalke, which saw him sprint to the corner flag and remonstrate with a linesman after a disallowed Robert Lewandowski goal. “I have to stay in my coaching zone. I’m a serious guy, I’m sorry for leaving it. I hope it won’t happen in future,” he added, before discussing Jerome Boateng’s sending-off for in that match. “I’m a Catalan, we’re latino, he said. “We are a bit more emotional. I’m a very emotional guy. “I agree with the fact that there was a foul, a penalty and a red card. However, I think that the three-game suspension [for Boateng] is too much.” Read more at http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/crisis-crisis-pep-guardiola-says-no-side-can-keep-winning-359535#8ckXv1lvAQHv7iaD.99

Read More

Ghana calls for stiff punishment in wake of African Nations riot

Ghana have demanded action against the African Cup of Nations hosts Equatorial Guinea after visiting supporters were attacked by home fans during Thursday’s semi-final between the two countries. “It’s a pity that this dark cloud overshadows our success and we really need to see some stiff action taken by the Confederation of African Football,” said Kwesi Nyantakyi, president of the Ghana Football Association. CAF will meet on Friday to discuss the incident, amid calls for the third-placed match bewteen the hosts and DR Congo to be played behind closed doors. Some 500 Ghanaians had flown in to watch their team and were placed in a section on the side of the stadium, away from the rest of the 15,000-capacity crowd at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo. Trouble flared at half-time with Ghana leading 2-0. Home supporters aimed bottles at Ghana players and supporters. The game was halted again after 82 minutes when spectators spilled on to the pitch, and did not resume for another 40 minutes when the ground was largely empty. With the Ghana fans pinned in one corner by the home supporters, order was eventually restored when a police helicopter swooped above the crowd and managed to disperse the majority of the Equatorial Guinea supporters. “It’s now like a war zone,” the Ghana Football Association (GFA) tweeted, claiming “barbaric acts of vandalism” while its president told the BBC it was lucky no-one was killed. “We are lucky that we haven’t lost any lives, though people have sustained various degrees of injuries arising from objects thrown at them,” Nyantakyi told BBC World Service. The Ghanaians were then held back at the stadium for several hours while home supporters Read more at http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/ghana-calls-stiff-punishment-wake-african-nations-riot-359499#SuAmp2fKUhqkjlUE.99

Read More

Raikkonen puts Ferrari back on top as Jerez test ends

Kimi Raikkonen ensured Ferrari ended the first pre-season test of 2015 on top by going fastest on the fourth and final day at Jerez. The Scuderia's new SF15-T had already topped the first and second days in the hands of Sebastian Vettel, and Raikkonen carried on that momentum by setting the best time of the test on Wednesday, dipping down to 1m 20.841s to finish comfortably clear of the chasing pack. "Over the winter, we have made a good step forward and this car is definitely an improvement over the 2014 one," Raikkonen reflected. "It's the whole package that has progressed, but there is still a lot of work to do. "We are not comparing ourselves to the others, we just got on with our own job, without looking at what they were doing. Times are of relatively little importance; what matters is that we have put together a good number of laps without having any real problems. We now have a good basis from which to start the development work." Behind him, Marcus Ericsson continued Sauber's encouraging start to the new season by finishing second fastest, after new team mate Felipe Nasr had put the team top of the timesheets on day three. The Swede also broke into triple figures in the lap charts, although Mercedes once again led the way in terms of total mileage as Lewis Hamilton clocked up 117 laps en route to setting the third fastest time of the day. Ericsson said Sauber's development over the four days had been particularly encouraging, adding: "It's been a great first week of testing for the whole team - we collected a lot of good information. It was interesting for me because I drove the car on days one and four, and it was obvious that we were able to make some progress in between." Max Verstappen worked his way up to fourth for Toro Rosso, as the team continued to clock up far more mileage than parent team Red Bull, with Daniil Kvyat restricted to 64 laps of running in the new RB11. "Our focus has been entirely on reliability, while allowing the drivers to experience every aspect of the job," Toro Rosso technical director James Key said. "We haven't done any work on performance so far and we will not do that until the end of the month, therefore we are not looking at our lap times for now. A good start and we must continue like this in the next tests." Kvyat's tally was still more than McLaren managed, as Jenson Button was disrupted by engine problems in the morning and then a fuel pump fault in the afternoon. However, in between issues the Englishman managed to help the Woking team to their most productive day of the test, completing 35 laps and setting a best time of 1m 27.660s. McLaren engineering director Matt Morris said despite some niggles the team leave the first test feeling positive. "Our prime objective coming away from this test was to ascertain that the main car architecture worked, and we’ve done that," he explained. “Today, we had a couple of stoppages, but we were still able to get on with our aero programme - obtaining correlation data for the guys back at the factory, just so we can check that everything’s working as we expected. “Additionally, Jenson’s been able to give Honda some really good feedback - he’s been constantly providing analysis after every run. That’s to be expected: it’s a new power unit, so there’s a lot of information that being sent back to Japan, and Honda are constantly upgrading the car. “We head to Barcelona hopeful of further refining and developing the package.” Button ended the day eighth overall, behind Verstappen, Williams' Felipe Massa, Lotus's Romain Grosjean and Kvyat in the Red Bull. "A slightly frustrating morning for us, with an ERS problem," said Red Bull head of race engineering Guillaume Rocquelin. "It cost us a few hours, but to be honest we probably didn't lose too much meaningful running. This week has all been about establishing reliability and while we've had a few niggles the car is pretty much where we want it to be." Three red flags punctuated the day - Kvyat brought the first out after that ERS issue after just eight laps, while Hamilton spun at the chicane at midday and then Ericsson stopped out on track ten minutes from the chequered flag. The teams now have two weeks before testing resumes at Barcelona on February 19-22. Force India are expected to join the fray, although their new car is not likely to appear until the third and final test, also at Barcelona, on February 26-March 1.

Read More

New Force India unlikely to make second test

Force India have confirmed that it is unlikely their 2015 Formula One car will be ready in time for the second pre-season test in Spain on February 19-22. "Although everybody is working towards getting the VJM08 to the next test session in Barcelona, it's more likely the new car will appear at the final Barcelona test," the team said in a statement. "So, that would mean running the 2014 car at the first Barcelona test." Force India announced last month that they would not run the new car in this week's opening Jerez test, but had planned to run their 2014 machine instead until making a late call to skip the session entirely because 'learning opportunities would have been limited'.

Read More

Vettel keeps Ferrari on top on rain-hit second day

Sebastian Vettel maintained his and Ferrari’s encouraging start to pre-season testing by going fastest on the second day of running at Jerez on Monday. The four-time world champion, also quickest on the opening day, set a new overall benchmark of 1m 20.984s to finish almost one second clear of the chasing pack, despite a rain storm bringing a slightly early close to proceedings. “It’s too soon to give a verdict on the true level of this car, especially as we can’t make a comparison with the other teams, who can be running different programmes," said Vettel. "However, I’d say we have a good basis to work from. "We did a lot of running, even in the rain, when we tried the new intermediate tyres, which worked well, getting up to temperature despite the cold: that’s a definite step forward. The applause in the garage at the end of the session? Well, everyone was happy we’d even managed to run in the wet with nothing bad happening. The boys have got enough to do in the garage as it is…”. Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen - both entering their first season in Formula One racing - were among the others who ventured out in the wet conditions. It was Nasr who ultimately got closest to Vettel, putting Sauber second with a 1m 21.867s. That left him half a second clear of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and the Mercedes of 2014 world champion Lewis Hamilton. "It was a great day," Nasr reflected. "I was able to complete a lot of laps, and I was happy with everything I saw. I was getting used to the systems, the procedures and the characteristics of the car. Now we can start working on the details." Hamilton was able to clock up 91 laps, the most of any driver, as Mercedes once again demonstrated impressive reliability - although a water leak from a failed component brought his day to a slightly premature finish. "That was a satisfying day," said the reigning champion. "We did a lot of laps and I got a feel for the car quite quickly. We're in the first days of testing so it never feels that great as the car is at the worst it will be all season. But it feels the same as it did last year which is a good thing. A little more downforce maybe but otherwise it handles exactly the same. "The balance obviously wasn't perfect as we're not working on set-up yet, so it could be a lot better. But the priority right now is to put in the laps, not set fast times, and there were lots of positives today. We got good mileage and hopefully we'll get even more in the next two days." Verstappen was fifth fastest, 1.5s down on Hamilton, while Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado and McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded out the top seven. "In the morning we had some difficulties in warming up the brakes, but we fixed that very quickly," Verstappen said. "After that, we managed to do some long runs that helped me to learn about the new car straight away. In the afternoon it rained a bit, but it was useful for me to experience the intermediate tyres. It feels good to finally start working for the upcoming season." Lotus had initially played down their chances of running before the third day of the test as they finalised the build programme of their E23 Hybrid. They were able to join the fray early in the morning, however, with Maldonado eventually racking up 41 laps. “It was fantastic to get behind the wheel for the first ever lap of this exciting new car," said Maldonado. "Even though it’s early days we achieved a lot today. It was already exciting to feel the potential of the car and I can’t wait to get back in the car tomorrow. The car certainly looks fantastic and I know we have a lot of potential for the season ahead.” McLaren’s progress with their new Honda-powered car was more limited, as a recurring problem confined Button to the garage for much of the day. The team did emerge in the final minutes, but only for a sedate out-lap. Button therefore ended the day with six laps - matching what 2015 team mate Fernando Alonso managed on day one - and an unrepresentative best time of 1m 54.655s, more than 30s down on Vettel. “Today was another tricky day, but we feel like we’ve overcome the main issue that affected our running during the first two days of the test," said Yasuhisa Arai, Honda's chief motorsport officer. “For tomorrow, we’re hopeful that we’ve moved on, and that we can get some more laps completed.” Daniil Kvyat was the eighth and final runner for Red Bull, although the Russian did not set a time on his first day in the RB11 after damaging the front wing in an early spin. With no replacement, Kvyat had the unusual task of completing several installation runs with no front wing. "Sometimes mistakes happen and there's nothing you can do about them," Kvyat said. "After that we tried to maximise our day, not having spare parts to replace the wing. We still maximised our running with what we had and hopefully we can recover from that." The only team absent from the timesheet were Force India, who have opted to skip the first test completely whilst they develop their new car.

Read More

Udo Lattek dies

Udo Lattek, the legendary former coach of Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Barcelona, has died at the age of 80. Lattek won the German Bundesliga championship eight times and collected 14 major honors over his coaching career which spanned more than three decades. Lattek suffered two strokes and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013. After an undistinguished playing career with VfL Osnabrück, Lattek was released from his contract to join the German football association DFB and at the age of 30, became one of the assistants to national team head coach Helmut Schön at the 1996 World Cup. In March 1970, Lattek, without any experience coaching in club football, but on the recommendation of Franz Beckenbauer, was appointed by Bayern Munich as successor of the Croatian Branko Zebec. Lattek presided over the great Bayern team of the 1970’s culminating in the 1974 European Cup win over Atletico Madrid – first triumph for a German team in this competition. Bayern would go on to win the trophy for three successive seasons, but by then Lattek had moved on to Borussia Monchengladbach where he was an instrumental figure in the club’s most successful period in their history. The club won two league titles, a UEFA Cup and were runners-up in the European Cup final of 1977, under Lattek before he left for Barcelona. In Spain, he won the European Cup Winners Cup, but after failing to win the domestic title, he returned to Bayern Munich where he won another five major honors. Towards the end of his career, he became the sporting director at Cologne with short-term spells at Schalke and finally Borussia Dortmund. Read more at http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/udo-lattek-dies-359465#bpu65fFhsiJxTikp.99

Read More

Were Real Madrid behind Neymar fraud charge?

Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has hinted that Real Madrid could be behind the ongoing investigation into the signing of Neymar. Controversy has surrounded Barcelona’s signing of the Brazil international who joined in 2013. Barcelona initially claimed they had spent €57.1 million on him, only to later concede that their total spend had reached €86.2m. Bartomeu and the club have been accused of fraud and the latest evidence convinced judge Pablo Ruiz to press charges against the current president as well as former chief Sandro Rosell. Bartomeu has insisted Barcelona have done nothing worng and has even suggested there may have been some foul play at work. “The big question here is what’s going on? Neymar had two offers, one from Madrid and one from Barca,” Bartomeu told 8TV. “Neymar was playing well a year ago and all of a sudden there was a complaint we had misappropriated funds in the deal. Maybe somebody didn’t like it that he was doing well… “Now he’s playing great again and there’s another judicial action… I will not say Real Madrid are behind all this, but Neymar had two offers… “A year ago we provided the Camp Nou for the ‘Concert per la Llibertat’ (Concert for Freedom), we play in the Senyera [the Catalan flag]… maybe that hasn’t gone down well in the capital. “I see a break, both sporting and political but we’re going to keep working to get to the bottom of the matter. My duty is to get to the bottom of the matter. “Barcelona have not committed any crimes and we would do it all exactly the same again.”

Read More

Franklin ends New Zealand career with Middlesex move

New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin effectively ended his international career after it was announced Friday the 34-year-old all-rounder had signed a two-year contract with English county Middlesex. The left-hander is set to play as a non-overseas player with the county, subject to clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board, on account of his Irish ancestry. Such a classification would render Franklin ineligible to continue to represent New Zealand, for whom he has featured in 31 Tests, 110 one-day internationals and 38 Twenty20 matches, although the last of these appearances was in 2013. The left-hander, a big-hitting batsman and medium-pace bowler, intends to remain with Wellington until the end of the current New Zealand domestic season in early April before heading to London. "Whilst I'm very honoured to be joining Middlesex for the next few years, I want to first take my cap off to Wellington for whom I've had a hugely enjoyable and memorable career in New Zealand," said Franklin in a Middlesex statement. "It's been an absolute privilege to play for Wellington for over 15 years. "And although this decision closes the chapter on playing for New Zealand again I know I've been incredibly fortunate to have spent over a decade being involved playing international cricket, and have had some of my greatest memories and experiences in cricket playing with the Silver Fern on my cap. "My family and I will relocate to London in April and we're all very excited about what the future holds," added Franklin, who has previously played county cricket for Gloucestershire, Essex, Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire.

Read More

Match-fixers almost like paedophiles: ICC ACSU head

Ronnie Flanagan, the head of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, has drawn parallels between match-fixers and paedophiles in a scathing attack in Sydney ahead of the 2015 ICC World Cup on Friday. Flanagan also defended the ICC's decision last month to end Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir's ban seven months before the scheduled date (September 2), paving the way for the 22-year-old bowler's return to domestic cricket with immediate effect. Amir was handed a five-year ban in February 2011 after he was found guilty of spot-fixing in a Test series against England in 2010. His team-mates Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were banned for 10 years (with five years suspended) and seven years respectively. "In our line of work we too often meet and know there are rotten people out there, criminal people who will do all in their power to corrupt players and others with influence within the game," Flanagan told reporters. "They'll trick them, they'll coerce them, they'll try and attract them. They're almost like paedophiles in how they attempt to groom people into ultimately attempting to do what suits their nefarious intentions in terms of illegal betting and other elements of criminality. "We have gone to great lengths to ensure that they don't get their way and to ensure that they don't ever get their way in this tournament. I would like to assure you and the paying public that they will be coming to a tournament where all of those involved will ensure it will be free from corruption or threat of corruption." Flanagan shed light on why he gave his consent to Amir's remission. "As the person who exercised his discretion to bring a reduction period into place I'd better be comfortable with it," the 65-year-old said. "Quite recently the ICC board decided that people in such circumstances where they have fully admitted their part, where they certainly had shown true remorse, where they had acted to help us in all our anti-corruption efforts and where the home federation and the ICC gave their prior approval, I as chairman of the anti-corruption unit then had the ability to exercise discretion. "So I looked at all these things very carefully and interviewed Amir several times and Im certainly very satisfied that he met all those sorts of conditions." Many have criticised the ICC's decision, saying it was a sign of weakness. On that, Flaganan said: "Some people have said to me if you have zero tolerance how can this come about? An analogy I draw is one from criminal law. That deals with assaults which range right from a common assault right through to causing actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, manslaughter or murder. I think you can have absolute zero tolerance of all of that behaviour but it doesn't mean that the same punishments should apply to each incident. "So the consideration that I gave in relation to Amir, and it's my discretion so I stand by it and take responsibility for it, was after a very rigorous examination of the entire case, very thorough consideration of his personal reaction did he plead guilty? Did he admit his guilt? Was he truly remorseful for all that he'd done? I was determined in coming to my conclusion not to set any precedent that others may somehow take advantage of. "The timeliness of that admission of guilt and the showing of that genuine remorse is important as well so that it can't be someone who for some quick relief or benefit retrospectively comes to that decision. "So I fully respect the views of those who say that shouldn't have happened. Personally I'm content that it was right, that it should have happened in the very limited way it has."

Read More

McLaren unveil evolutionary MP4-30

McLaren have officially unveiled the car that Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button will race in 2015, the Honda-powered MP4-30. According to the Woking-based team, the new machine, which also features a revised red, black and silver colour scheme, is a ‘thoroughly refined evolution’ of their 2014 car with some ‘exciting new technical DNA’. The MP4-30 has been extensively developed over the winter, with McLaren saying that their engineering department - which was boosted by the arrival of renowned aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou from Red Bull last September - had gained the conviction to embark on a number of changes of direction. The result, according to McLaren, is a solid base package which will offer up a number of new development paths for their engineers, aerodynamicists and drivers to pursue during the season. Images of the new machine show a refined nose-box section (to comply with new regulations on nose height and shape), slim rear-end packaging (particularly around the gearbox) and tightly contoured bodywork under which Honda’s brand-new RA615H Hybrid power unit is installed. Although admitting that their partnership with Honda is still ‘a work in progress’, McLaren are confident that the Japanese manufacturer, with whom they won eight world titles and 44 Grands Prix between 1988 and 1992, has ‘the know-how, expertise and the muscle’ to make rapid progress and keep pushing development all season long. Speaking about McLaren’s first Honda-powered car in 23 years, Ron Dennis, the McLaren Group’s chairman and CEO, commented: “Although our renewed alliance (with Honda) began again many months ago, the launch of the McLaren-Honda MP4-30 marks the start of a lengthy journey. “We’ve come a long way already and, although there’s a lot of work to do before we can expect to repeat the level of success we enjoyed together 25-or-so years ago, it’s already clear that there’s enormous synergy and potential in our partnership, and I’m positive that, together, we’ll get to where we want to be: winning Grands Prix and eventually World Championships as McLaren-Honda.” Yasuhisa Arai, Honda’s senior managing officer, shared Dennis’ enthusiasm about both the new car and the reforged partnership. “As you can see with the new MP4-30, we’ve dedicated ourselves as one team with McLaren to creating a new car that compromises on nothing - either power or aerodynamics. “Yet, in the midst of the excitement, both myself and our engineers are 100 per cent focused in both Sakura and Milton Keynes to prepare for Jerez and beyond. We’re confident that the technology is there, and I’m looking forward to see how it will perform. “We’re about to commence a long season, with numerous challenges, but Honda is determined to face them head-on. After all, we’re here to drive Formula One’s technology forward and give our fans a thrilling ride.” The MP4-30 is expected to make its track debut at the start of pre-season testing in Spain this Sunday.

Read More

Lotus reveal first images of Mercedes-powered 2015 car

Lotus have released pictures of their new Mercedes-powered E23 Hybrid car, which they are confident will prove 'far, far better' than its 2014 predecessor. While the team will retain last year's line-up of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, they believe the switch from Renault to Mercedes power, and the implementation of lessons learned from last year's struggles, will thrust them back to the sharp end of the Formula One grid. "Improvements within our Design, Aero and Simulation departments have all contributed to the development of a car which is a huge step forward," Lotus F1 Team CEO Matthew Carter said. "As a team we are confident that the new car, coupled with additions to the race team, will enable a huge leap forward and we are full of optimism going into the new season. It is time to put the disappointment of last season behind us and benefit from 12 months of hard work; we are ready to return to our rightful place at the pinnacle of the sport." Lotus were race winners in both the 2012 and '13 seasons, but struggled to even break into the points last year and slumped to eighth in the constructors' championship - a decline technical director Nick Chester hopes can be reversed in 2015. "The E23 Hybrid represents a massive step forward for us. It's no secret that we struggled with last year's car so we've targeted every area that caused us an issue," Chester said. "We've made strong progress in the wind tunnel as well as in areas such as packaging and cooling. We expect the E23 to perform far, far better than its predecessor. In terms of what's new, obviously a massive change for us is a new Power Unit supplier. We made this change as it looked and looks to be the one area of the car which could bring us the greatest performance gain. "It's not just performance, but reliability and driveability as well as packaging and cooling too. The E22 did deliver good figures in the wind tunnel, even if it was difficult to unlock its potential, so we've paid more attention to making the characteristics of the car more adaptable. "In terms of the suspension, we were delivered something of a blow last year when the front-rear interconnected suspension was outlawed mid-season. The E23's suspension design is specific to the updated regulations so we're not trying to update a system originally intended to work a different way. "We learnt a lot in many areas of the car over the course of 2014 so there are many lessons which have been applied. We know we've made a big step. We won't know how our car will fare in relative terms until we're out in action at a Grand Prix, but we certainly expect to be much more competitive than last year." The new car is set to make its public debut at the first pre-season test of the year in Jerez, Spain on February 1-4.

Read More

Ferrari reveal name of new car

Ferrari’s 2015 Formula One car will be designated the SF15-T, the team announced on Monday. The new car, to be piloted by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen this season, will be unveiled online on Friday (January 30), two days ahead of its track debut at Jerez on February 1. Ferrari are hopeful that their new machine, whose name incorporates an ‘S’ for ‘Scuderia’ as well as a 'T' for turbo, will be significantly more competitive than last year’s disappointing F14 T, which became the first Ferrari car since 1993 not to win a race.

Read More

Milan unveil plans for new stadium

Milan have produced plans for a new 48,000-seat stadium which they hope to build in time for the start of the 2018-19 season. The project, which is estimated to cost between €300m and €350m, would involve the club leaving the city-run 80,000-seat San Siro its longstanding home, which it shares with city rivals Inter. Unlike the council owned San Siro, the new ground will be run by the club. The architect, Emilio Faroldi, told Gazzetta dello Sport: “We were inspired by the Emirates Stadium in London and the stadiums of Basel, Bilbao and Neuchatel. “We approached the project developing the basic themes of this work: we are talking about environmental sustainability, the concept of a smart urban arena that is easily reached by public transport, and it is low impact. A stadium, also, that identifies itself more like a building, like a piece of the city, and not as a business machine to be activated exclusively for a sporting event once a week. “Scientific research, through a series of studies, tells us clearly that the role of the arenas in Europe and in the world is gradually changing. The stadiums are no longer meant only as a place for sporting events, although open all week, but as a useful piece to reorder the urban outlook of a city, a neighbourhood.”

Read More

lewis hamilton wins japan gp

Lewis Hamilton won a heavily rain-hit Japanese GP but the Suzuka race was stopped nine laps early following a serious accident involving Marussia's Jules Bianchi. Hamilton had built up a comfortable lead ahead of team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg after passing the German earlier in the race when the Safety Car was called for the second time of day on lap 44.

Click to open

A recovery truck was already attending to Adrian Sutil's Sauber after the German had crashed into the barriers at Turn Eight when Bianchi lost control of his Marussia and went off at the same point of the track, the Frenchman travelling across the run off area and hitting the tractor. The FIA has confirmed that Bianchi was unconscious after the accident and transported to a local hospital by road ambulance. He has since undergone surgery for 'serious' head injuries. After the operation the 25-year-old will be moved into intensive care and monitored by doctors at the Mie General Hospital. “Obviously it’s a real anti-climax to hear that one of the drivers is seriously injured,” a sombre Hamilton told Sky Sports News HQ afterwards. “I was going through that sector and I could see there was a tractor lifting away one car, it was until when it was red-flagged that I could see there was another car in the mix there. I’m just hoping for him and hoping he will be okay.” For the record, the Briton’s first career victory at the sixth attempt at Suzuka increases his advantage over Rosberg in the championship fight by ten points with four rounds remaining. Rosberg finished second with Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel third for Red Bull on countback, the German promoted to the final podium position ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo having pitted under the Safety Car for fresh tyres. With his future in the sport under threat amid the prospect of Fernando Alonso arriving at Ferrari for 2015, Jenson Button claimed a fine – and timely – fifth place, although the McLaren driver could have finished on the podium had a slow second pitstop not intervened. The gamble paid off handsomely as the Briton vaulted into third place but a problematic second pitstop, when McLaren had to change the steering wheel on his MP4-29, dropped him back behind Vettel and he was then overtaken by Ricciardo at the hairpin as the Red Bulls revelled on intermediate tyres. Having locked out the second row of the grid in the dry, Williams again struggled for grip in the wet and Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa slipped to sixth and seventh by the truncated end of the race. Force India pair Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez sandwiched Jean-Eric Vergne at the foot of the points positions on a day embattled Ferrari’s season hit a new low as their record run of 81 points-scoring races – which stretched all the way back to the 2010 German GP – ended with a 12th place and a retirement. While a slow pitstop dropped Kimi Raikkonen out of points contention, Fernando Alonso didn’t even make it that far as an electronics problem halted his F14 T even before the racing action had started for real.

Read More

Paine ruled out, Hurricanes bat

Xavier Doherty reported at the toss with bad news that the Hobart Hurricanes captain Tim Paine was ruled out after having had a dodgy prawn two days ago, but Doherty did win the toss and decided to bat first on a hard and flat surface. Dom Michael, the big-hitting left-hand batsman, came in in Paine's place. That was the only change Hurricanes made.

read more

Hurricanes' opponent, Kolkata Knight Riders, would have bowled first anyway. They were on an unbeaten streak of 13 matches, which is mainly built around their spinners, followed by solid chases. Their captain Gambhir said there was no reason to change the ploy, or the winning combination, which includes three frontline spinners in Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla.

Hobart Hurricanes 1 Ben Dunk (wk), 2 Dom Michael, 3 Aiden Blizzard, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Travis Birt, 6 Jonathan Wells, 7 Evan Gulbis, 8 Ben Hilfenhaus, 9 Xavier Doherty (capt.), 10 Ben Laughlin, 11 Doug Bollinger

Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Robin Uthappa (wk), 2 Gautam Gambhir (capt.), 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Ryan ten Doeschate, 7 Suryakumar Yadav, 8 Andre Russell, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Sunil Narine, 11 Kuldeep Yadav

Read More