The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Hamilton plans greatest comeback in front of home fans at Silverstone
- Bored Villeneuve turns his back on Formula One again
- Djokovic’s win has inspired Murray to break his Grand Slam duck
| Hamilton plans greatest comeback in front of home fans at Silverstone Posted: 05 Jul 2011 05:35 PM PDT LONDON: Lewis Hamilton plans on launching the greatest comeback in F1 history in front of his home fans this weekend. The former champ knows he has to win Sunday's British Grand Prix to have any hope of regaining the drivers' crown. Hamilton's title dream will not be formally over even if he sees runaway leader Sebastian Vettel scorch to a seventh win this season. But the McLaren driver knows he will be all but dead in the water with his Red Bull rival already leading him by an incredible 89 points. Hamilton, 26, insisted: "We are only halfway through the season, there is still a long way to go. Somehow I still have this hope inside me that we find something and we win every bloody race after that and we can still win the world championship. "If we get to the next grand prix and don't win, you think of the next and the next – and then you run out of opportunities. "But the opportunity is still there now. This is the third year in a row we have not really had the best car to win titles with. "When I had the best car in 2007 and one just as good the next year you could bang it out again and again. "But it is on Red Bull's foot now and Vettel might get two or three world titles." James Hunt produced the greatest comeback in history when he overturned a 35-point deficit to snatch the title from Austria's Niki Lauda in 1976. That equates to a 97-point disadvantage using the new system – eight more than Hamilton trails Vettel with 11 races left. But Hunt only caught Lauda after the Austrian missed two races following his near-fatal crash in Germany. Hamilton cannot be ruled out as he bids to spearhead a one-two with Jenson Button in front of 100,000 fans at the former WWII airfield. He added: "The dream for us would be to have a one-two at Silverstone. "That would be the best weekend I could ever imagine in Formula One. That would be incredible. "The dream would be to see what effect that would have on everyone." But Hamilton's future at the team is again in doubt amid fears he is looking to join Red Bull for 2013 – or maybe even next year. Hamilton's £75mil contract runs out at the end of 2012. The team have refused to deny Hamilton has a break-out clause that would enable him to leave next year – if he can find a team that could guarantee him a winning car. But team chief Martin Whitmarsh is hopeful Hamilton will agree a new deal with the Woking outfit that could earn him £150mil. — The Sun, London Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Bored Villeneuve turns his back on Formula One again Posted: 05 Jul 2011 05:35 PM PDT GROVE (England): Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve (pic) is done with Formula One, not just as a driver but now seemingly as a spectator as well. The 40-year-old Canadian who last drove for BMW-Sauber in 2006 but has been linked to several possible comeback drives since then, said on Monday that he now had eyes only for NASCAR. This weekend, when British fans will flock to Silverstone for their home Grand Prix and the hope of seeing McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button challenging for victory, Villeneuve will focus on something else. "I don't watch the races any more. I'm done, for the first time ever," he said at the Williams factory, where his former employers trumpeted a new engine deal with Renault – the company that powered the Canadian to his 1997 title triumph. "I just can't be bothered. Halfway through the race I'm yawning and its really tough ... and I just get upset," he added. "When I see these guys not even being able to defend, like Michael (Schumacher) – he should have been on the podium in Montreal." Former Indy 500 winner Villeneuve has been competing most recently in the NASCAR nationwide series with Penske Racing and he enthused about the experience. "It's so much fun. It reminds me of why I got into racing in the first place," he said. "You get in the car and you are there to do your race and nothing will get in the way of that, not regulations, nothing. "It's amazing. It's human against human, beast against beast. It's great. You can muscle your way through, you can work around problems, I love it." The big problem with Formula One, the bespectacled Canadian said, was overtaking. Not the lack of it but too much thanks to the DRS (drag reduction system or adjustable rear wing) which has introduced a new element this season. Villeneuve said DRS should never have been allowed. "I prefer to see Lewis going for it and sometimes it ends in tears but at least it's fun. All the other overtaking with the DRS, I'm just falling asleep ... useless, boring, it's not even racing." Villeneuve was defensive of Hamilton, who has repeatedly fallen foul of stewards this season after controversial collisions. "F1 is giving penalties for people making mistakes instead of for people driving dirty," he said, his comments perhaps reflecting a lack of recent viewing. "And that is wrong. Mistakes happen. You run into each other, that's life, that's racing and too bad. "Then you see a lot of weaving and nasty stuff happening and there's no penalties for that. That's where it's wrong." — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Djokovic’s win has inspired Murray to break his Grand Slam duck Posted: 05 Jul 2011 05:34 PM PDT LONDON: Britain's Andy Murray is taking heart from the performance of newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic as he bids to break his Grand Slam duck. Djokovic won his second major title of the year, and the third of his career, when he beat defending champion Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final on Sunday. Murray has reached three finals and four semi-finals but is still searching for his first major – something no British man has achieved since Fred Perry won the last of his eight titles in 1936. The 24-year-old Murray won the first set of his Wimbledon semi-final against Nadal last week, only to end the match well beaten. But the Scot still believes one of the four majors – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – is within his grasp. "I know it's possible, just look at Novak Djokovic," Murray wrote in his BBC website column on Monday. "I remember watching Novak lose in the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year against Tomas Berdych and then a tough match against Rafa in the US Open final. "He's obviously improved a lot since then. That's something I need to look at and try to replicate. "I'm 24. Right now, this age is pretty much the time I'm going to be at my peak in terms of fitness and strength, so I need to sit down with my team and get the priorities sorted in terms of my game and my training." Murray will compete for Britain in a Davis Cup tie against Luxembourg in Glasgow later this week. He will then travel to his training base in Miami ahead of the hard-court season and lead-up to the US Open, which begins in New York on August 29. — AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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