With six laps to go before the checkered flag, with the flat bottom of the Aston Martin broken by a pothole, Fernando Alonso said enough at the Circuit of the Americas. He had started from the pit-lane, only behind the Haas, but he climbed thanks to the notable improvement of the AMR-23, which was able to ride at the pace of the favorites. When he was already settled in ninth place, also stalking Pierre Gasly, misfortune fell on Alonso, in the form of his first retirement of the year. A lackluster closing for a Sunday where Max Verstappen won his fiftieth victory in F1, after a nice duel against Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. Just over four seconds from the podium, Carlos Sainz had to resign.

The closest victory in 2023 for the three-time world champion, a victim of overheating in the brakes and tire degradation, should not detract from Hamilton's excellent driving, who feels at home in Texas. Nor should we overlook the bravery of Norris, engaged in several battles despite his notorious mechanical inferiority.. And in similar terms we must refer to Alonso's performance.

In principle, he had nothing to lose on a Sunday conceived more as a testing ground for the four remaining events than as a race itself.. Therefore, Aston Martin broke the parc fermé regulations to change the aerodynamic settings of the AMR-23. More than reaching the points, the realistic objective, with 56 laps ahead, was to preserve the mechanics. Especially those hot brakes that had been getting on Lance Stroll's nerves.

Two tenths over Russell and Pérez

However, Alonso soon realized that things were going much better than expected.. At the beginning, he got rid of Nico Hulkenberg, with hard tires, and took advantage of the other Haas entering the pits.. AlphaTauri and Alpine, who had beaten him since Friday, now looked like sheep on their way to the slaughterhouse. And after the first pit-stop, with his second set of mediums, the two-time champion began to nail the times around 1:41.6, almost identical to those who were fighting in the lead.. “I was just about to tell you. “You are two tenths faster than the two in front,” they detailed to the Asturian over the radio, in reference to George Russell and Sergio Pérez..

He pushed so hard that he received a couple of warnings for exceeding the track limits. Even the unfortunate Stroll wanted to cheer himself up with an exciting final stretch, even lowering the leader's times.. The fact is that when Yuki Tsunoda mounted his first soft drink tires, he couldn't get close to Alonso either, who was closing the gap on Pierre Gasly with a terrifying voracity.. With 13 laps to go, Aston Martin stopped him for the last time and when he rejoined the track, tenth, he still had the AlphaTauri and the Alpine within range..

Hamilton, with plenty of weapons to attack Sergio Pérez's runner-up position, suffered his share when arriving at the first corner, where he lost position to Sainz. A small miracle from the Madrid native, because the pace of his SF-23 had nothing to do with that of Mercedes. In five laps, the seven-time champion regained his place and a couple of minutes later he got rid of Charles Leclerc, in search of the lead.

Norris, in the lead, polished his deficit on the straights on the linked curves, where his top speed was almost 14 km/h lower than Red Bull.. He commanded with some slack, while Oscar Piastri, his teammate at McLaren, ruined Esteban Ocon's Sunday with a beastly attack on the Alpine's left sidepod.. The damage, logically, also triggered the abandonment of the Australian.

The blow to Norris

On asphalt at 40ºC, tire management to avoid the feared degradation had to be a priority. The one who seemed to take it most seriously was Verstappen, who after gaining two positions at the start, did not even want to unfurl his sails until reaching the equator.. It's not that he took it with patience, but rather with presumption. His maneuver to conquer the lead, on the inside of turn 12, after going for a knife with the DRS, made things very clear to Norris.

Leclerc, pole-sitter, worked hard to maintain Ferrari's podium hopes, based on his one-stop plan. And the Monegasque was enraged when after 11 laps they proposed a change. As his word is law in the red box, he ended up squeezing the Pirelli targets until 33 laps, which left him sixth at the finish line.

Up front, Mad Max had to hold on firmly to the helm, at the insistence of Hamilton and Norris, who already sensed his red-hot brakes up close. Crossing the checkered flag with just two seconds is already news for Red Bull in 2023. Although there are still Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi to tackle new records.

James Harden here and James Harden there. There is no controversy or entanglement in the NBA without the Beard being involved. The start of the 2023 season was not going to be any less. Neither the Wembanyama phenomenon nor some forceful movements in the market such as the arrival of Chris Paul to the Warriors, that of Damian Lillard to the Bucks or that of Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics. All expectation is in suspense due to the whims of the Angeleno point guard who, for the umpteenth time, intends to change his scene.

This time the mess comes from his breakup with someone who was one of his greatest supporters in the NBA, the executive with whom he became a legend in the Rockets; Daryl Morey, the guru of advanced statistics. Now, “a liar” with whom he can never be part of the same organization. «It can't be fixed. Not just in one thing like that, it's in everything in life. It's what happens when you stop trusting someone. It's like a marriage…. you lose confidence…. and you know what happens. It is simple”.

Those forceful statements for which the NBA fined him $100,000 dynamited the preseason of the Sixers, a franchise to which he arrived in February 2022 from the Nets, also due to the demands of his confused script.. Things with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, a big-three that seemed unstoppable, did not work out in Brooklyn – they barely played 18 games together – and, as he had done to get there from Houston a year before, Harden blew everything up for the airs to force his exit (and reunite with Moreyball). Then he joined the team late, violated health protocols after attending a party in Las Vegas. And when he returned to training he was visibly overweight.. A roadmap that repeats now.

The Clippers

La Barba did appear a few days ago at the Sixers training camp, with whom he had shortly before executed the option to renew for 35.6 million, again apparently overweight, but he eventually left citing personal matters.. His new coach, Nick Nurse, does not count on him for the start of the course. In this tug-of-war, he has the Philadelphia franchise reeling, in which he intended to mark an era with Joel Embiid. He wants to join the Clippers, but the Sixers (who only reached the conference semifinals) have already told him that they are not going to trade him for crumbs.

While Harden paves the way for another controversial departure from a franchise, his ineffable legend continues to grow. Despite the undoubted talent that has made him one of the most destabilizing players of the last decade in the NBA (2018 MVP, 10-time All Star, six times included in the best quintet in the league, three top scorers of the course and two top assistant…), has never achieved collective success: he only played in the Finals when he was sixth man in the Thunder (2011-2012).

And the troubles do not stop surrounding him, from his desire to go for the free throws that he achieved (he was not the only one pointed out) to the NBA changing the regulations to pursue the “unnatural” movements of the attackers (in the 2019-2020 season it was almost 12 times per game to the personal line) to his well-known love for strip clubs.

Vinicius Júnior has exploded again against a case of racism experienced in a Spanish football stadium. Yesterday he had to suffer it at the Sánchez Pizjuán, where a fan was expelled and reported to the police authorities by Sevilla after having carried out “xenophobic and racist behavior”. “In addition, the internal disciplinary regulations will be strictly applied to him and he will be expelled as a member imminently,” announced the Seville club..

In the image, the fan gestures imitating a monkey addressing Vinicius, who at that moment was the protagonist of a small brawl on the grass. The crowd focused their protests on him, but they only had to regret the racist behavior of one individual and a small child, pointed out by the footballer himself on his networks.

The Brazilian denounced the gesture and criticized that “it is the 19th episode” that he has suffered in Spanish football.. “Unfortunately I had access to a video of another racist act in this Saturday's game, this time starring a child. I am very sorry that there is no one to educate you,” declared the striker, who recalled his work in Brazil “to train citizens with attitudes different from these.”. “I invest, and I invest a lot, in education in Brazil,” he stated, after congratulating Sevilla: “Congratulations to Sevilla for their quick positioning and punishment in another sad episode for Spanish football.”

Vinicius asked the Spanish authorities to “change the legislation once and for all”. “I hope they do their part. The face of today's racist is reflected on websites as on many other occasions. “These people must also be criminally punished,” he added.

The Brazilian also remembered the celebration of the 2030 World Cup, which will be held that year in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. “It would be a great first step in preparing for the 2030 World Cup.”. I am available to help. Sorry for seeming repetitive, but this is isolated episode number 19. And counting…”, he concluded.

The situation will also be reported by LALIGA, whose Integrity team recorded and identified the individual, and the images will be sent to the authorities.

With two laps to go in the sprint race in Austin, Lance Stroll sent a terse message over Aston Martin's radio: “I need to pit.. “No brakes”. Just a minute earlier, the Canadian had given up position to Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso, given that he had also failed to keep his medium tire. “He's letting you pass, because his tires are dead,” they warned the Asturian, who as soon as he crossed the finish line, in thirteenth position, asked about the order of finish and the situation of his teammate.. Once again, Stroll was leaving empty-handed.

Aston Martin's decline in the second half of the World Championship has made Stroll even more evident, eliminated in Q1, without exception, during the last seven races. Not even this Saturday, when Alonso lost three positions in the first lap, could Lance finish ahead of the two-time champion. Without grip, struggling to keep the AMR-23 on the track, the Aston Martin drivers experienced a new ordeal. Its performance, even below AlphaTauri, spoke very poorly of the package of aerodynamic improvements that they have debuted in Texas. As if that were not enough, Stroll signed his signature for the only abandonment of the sprint race.

And in the first lap he had shown striking aggressiveness against Alonso, whom he challenged at the turn 11 hairpin.. After a kilometer of straight, the man from Oviedo was pushed by his teammate towards the asphalt escape at turn 12.. The situation would remain stable until the aforementioned lap 17, when Stroll launched his distress call.. A repeat of what he experienced during the only free session of the weekend, when he only lasted five laps due to his front brakes overheating.

Based on monosyllables

A very precarious situation that extremely compromises the chances of reaching the checkered flag today.. At this point it seems more than evident that Aston Martin has not got the settings of its cars right, so in the next few hours they could change them, breaking the regulatory seals of the Parc Fermé.. If cooling is privileged, the performance of the AMR-23 would decline even more. “I've been thinking about it since yesterday. It is better to learn something about the car with a new set-up than to do 56 laps just to do them,” said Alonso, who today starts seventeenth.. The explanations of Stroll, penultimate on the grid, were much more confusing. “We will regroup tonight – with the advantage of having ridden a little more – and we will prepare to go out again tomorrow,” he said.. At least this time he did get out of monosyllables.

Because during Friday's press conference, the question was asked with as much assertiveness as it was polite.. “Obviously, the last race was quite frustrating for you, because the FIA told you off.. I was wondering if you've patched things up with the person you pushed in the back of the garage in Qatar, because we saw the footage on TV.. I was just wondering: Have you fixed that relationship? Are you still enjoying F1?” In the press room at the Circuit of the Americas, lounging to the left of Carlos Sainz, with the same apathy of the last two months, Stroll responded in the most concise way possible: “Yes and yes.” .

The person The Sun journalist was referring to was Henry Howe, Stroll's personal trainer, whom he angrily got rid of just after another frustrating day.. The Canadian, who had already thrown his steering wheel in front of the cameras, must have still felt lucky due to the benevolence of the FIA, which limited itself to giving him a written warning.. Five years ago, during a similar episode against Esteban Ocon at Interlagos, Max Verstappen was punished with two days of community service.

In any case, what happened on the asphalt two weeks ago in Losail, when his time was 1.1 seconds behind Alonso, has been reissued at the Circuit of the Americas. Since that rainy Saturday in Spa, at the end of July, his accumulation of misfortunes is only comparable to that of Logan Sargeant, the worst driver in the World Championship.. At Monza, where he was replaced on Friday by Felipe Drugovich, Stroll set the slowest time and started last; In Singapore he suffered a serious accident at the end of Q1 that would not even allow him to start; At Suzuka, a couple of tenths left him out of Q2, before another problem with the wing forced his retirement when he had only completed 20 laps.. And today he will start second to last in Austin, only ahead of Sargeant, whose future at Williams has been hopelessly twisted.

Stroll's situation at the Silverstone team, however, seems different. At least, as long as his father Lawrence maintains his intrepid adventure as owner. “At the beginning of the season, Lance did a heroic job to recover from his two broken wrists and since then he has had a lot of bad luck,” said the magnate, whose fortune is around 3 billion euros, before traveling to Texas.. That bicycle accident was obviously going to make it difficult for Lance to adapt to the AMR-23, with which he has only scored 47 points in 17 races (146 less than Alonso). “He had nine retirements due to engine failures,” added the father, completely unaware of the official data, which records a single breakage in the power unit, back in March, at the Saudi Arabia GP.

At the beginning of September, Mike Krack, Aston Martin's main team, also had to come forward when they insisted on Stroll's inability to keep up with Alonso: “There is not a big difference in performance, but in points”. That analysis collides with the forcefulness of the statistics, since Stroll accumulates a deficit of 56 hundredths against the Asturian in the qualifying sessions.. And in the 13 races that both finished, their average was 4.7 positions behind at the finish line. Two weeks ago, on one of the rare occasions in which he left the monosyllables, he himself had to admit it: “Fernando has a special style of driving.”. Now, the car has many limitations and he can overcome them better.”

Vinicius Júnior has exploded again against a case of racism experienced in a Spanish football stadium. Yesterday he had to suffer it at the Sánchez Pizjuán, where a fan was expelled and reported to the police authorities by Sevilla after having carried out “xenophobic and racist behavior”. “In addition, the internal disciplinary regulations will be strictly applied to him and he will be expelled as a member imminently,” announced the Seville club..

In the image, the fan gestures imitating a monkey addressing Vinicius, who at that moment was the protagonist of a small brawl on the grass. The crowd focused their protests on him, but they only had to regret the racist behavior of one individual and a small child, pointed out by the footballer himself on his networks.

The Brazilian denounced the gesture and criticized that “it is the 19th episode” that he has suffered in Spanish football.. “Unfortunately I had access to a video of another racist act in this Saturday's game, this time starring a child. I am very sorry that there is no one to educate you,” declared the striker, who recalled his work in Brazil “to train citizens with attitudes different from these.”. “I invest, and I invest a lot, in education in Brazil,” he stated, after congratulating Sevilla: “Congratulations to Sevilla for their quick positioning and punishment in another sad episode for Spanish football.”

Vinicius asked the Spanish authorities to “change the legislation once and for all”. “I hope they do their part. The face of today's racist is reflected on websites as on many other occasions. “These people must also be criminally punished,” he added.

The Brazilian also remembered the celebration of the 2030 World Cup, which will be held that year in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. “It would be a great first step in preparing for the 2030 World Cup.”. I am available to help. Sorry for seeming repetitive, but this is isolated episode number 19. And counting…”, he concluded.

The situation will also be reported by LALIGA, whose Integrity team recorded and identified the individual, and the images will be sent to the authorities.

The World Cup final will reissue the duel between the two giants from the south. England has grown during the tournament, this Saturday they have executed their plan of not making mistakes with surgical precision, but it has not been enough to prevail against the abrasive rugby of South Africa. They may win or lose games, but when push comes to shove, like New Zealand, the Springboks are always there, even if tonight they were close to elimination..

From the sky to the ground, from almost vertical kicks to the fight for the ball at grass level. This is how England has started, faster in almost everything. The game with the foot, his score during the championship, has already given him two punishing blows in the first minutes of the semifinal converted by Farrell (6-0, min. 8). Very well planted on the field, the XV de la Rosa bothered the touches and successfully defended the maul next to their try line. He won an undisguised war of nerves. The blur, a protest from Farrell that gave oxygen to the Springboks (6-3, min. twenty-one).

Unreserved percussion and tackling raised the tension in a match with more prospect prose than poetry. Do not commit indiscipline, do not concede counterattacks, keep the ball safe. The British felt at ease. Owners of the initiative, they stepped on the rival 22 and scored points (9-3, min. 24). The mistake in the throw-ins hampered the South Africans, with less ball and quite a few problems in almost all facets.

The South African selectors must have seen the game badly when after half an hour they changed their opening midfielder for tactical reasons. Pollard, who entered the squad replacing the injured heeler Marx, took responsibility. At the same time, the green and gold team grew, enclosed the British and, with a blow to the opponent's 22, preferred to tie the shot with sticks (9-6, min. 35). To the woodwork, of course, England responded (12-6 at halftime).

The first half ended without rehearsals. Nothing surprising between two teams that know each other well. 13 of the 23 called up per side had participated in the 2019 final that was reissued this Saturday. Two teams facing each other in a physical challenge that is difficult to sustain as the minutes pass.

Since becoming champions, South Africa has expanded its squad. However, pressured by the score, at the beginning of the second half – as she did against France – she turned to the veterans. He has also resorted, with the ball wet, to a game similar to the English one. Ball up and hunting without concessions. A bombardment in which the confidence of the British defender Steward has shone.

Battleship South Africa turns each encounter into an abrasive combat. In the 50th minute, her scrum dragged the Englishwoman and her three-quarters around the mark. He immediately received the same medicine in a ruck and one more dose. A drop by Farrell from 40 meters already gave an appreciable margin to XV de la Rosa (15-6, min. 53), which increased its pressure, forcing unexpected errors in a rival with so much experience.

England has respected two principles from start to finish: not making mistakes and adding at every opportunity. With twenty minutes left, the green and gold forward was already clearly victorious in the scrums, but still without a prize. South Africa finally took advantage of its strength in the 69th minute with one of its favorite sequences: a shot in favor, a touch five meters from the line, and charges for the giant Snyman to pose (15-13). They were where they wanted.

The excitement was palpable, time was slipping away in the formation of the scrums. From one of them, it was sung, the Springboks got the reward. A penalty hit near the center of the field for the striker Pollard. 100% correct since arriving at the tournament. His leg didn't shake. He gave the victory to South Africa (15-16), relegating a convincing England to the cruelest defeat, the same one that Ireland and France suffered a week ago.

The tournament of tournaments is heading towards its outcome, leaving behind a handful of great matches. The exciting weekend of the quarterfinals, with all four matches resolved by less than a try, was perhaps the zenith. In this second semi-final we have seen another match on the edge. Less showy, more closed, coffee for very coffee lovers, but just as vibrant.

Next Saturday, with three titles won by each team, the All Blacks will play their fifth final in ten appearances and the Springboks, their fourth in eight. The weight of two winning stories. At stake, primacy in the present.