The Sport Review: “Carlo Ancelotti insists he won’t consider quitting Chelsea” plus 5 more |  |
- Carlo Ancelotti insists he won’t consider quitting Chelsea
- Nico Rosberg quickest on day three of Barcelona F1 test
- Bernie Ecclestone expects Bahrain decision on Tuesday
- Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel sets pace again at Barcelona test
- Cricket World Cup: New Zealand hammer sorry Kenya
- Journalist vows to run against Sepp Blatter in Fifa election
| Carlo Ancelotti insists he won’t consider quitting Chelsea Posted: 20 Feb 2011 04:36 PM PST
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti insists he will not quit Stamford Bridge and is refusing to consider the possibility of crashing out of the Champions League to FC Copenhagen.Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to Everton has piled further pressure on the Italian, who has watched his side all but surrender the Premier League title to leave their Champions League qualification hopes hanging in the balance. With the European competition their only remaining hope of silverware this season, Ancelotti is refusing to contemplate defeat in their last-16 tie against FC Copenhagen ahead of the first leg on Tuesday. “Chelsea will not go out against Copenhagen,” he said. “Maybe this game will be a good moment to get a result and, obviously, keep our season alive. “Playing this game gives us the right kind of pressure. We have 180 minutes coming up to win this tie. We have to maintain our levels, stay together and work hard together. “We are out of the FA Cup, and we haven’t done well in the Premier League: to win the Champions League will not be easy, but it brings great motivation for all of us.” When asked if he would ever consider resigning, Ancelotti added: “No, not me. I don’t have to consider my position. It is the owner that has to consider my position, not myself. “I just have to work, have to try my best. This is football, you have to be able to manage at this moment. But I have never quit, never resigned, never walked out. Quitting is not for me.” |
| Nico Rosberg quickest on day three of Barcelona F1 test Posted: 20 Feb 2011 03:54 PM PST
Nico Rosberg was quickest for Mercedes on day three of the Formula 1 pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya.On a rain-hit day in Barcelona, the German was able to gain experience of Pirelli's intermediate tyres in the morning, before switching to slicks as the team worked through a number of set-up comparisons. His quickest time of 1:23.168 came during a series of qualifying simulations late in the afternoon, which included use of KERS and the adjustable rear wing. Vitaly Petrov was second for Renault, with his quickest time just three tenths slower than Rosberg. The Russian was able to complete over 90 laps running through a set-up programme, and changes to front and rear suspension, before making tyre comparisons. Lewis Hamilton was almost seven tenths slower than Rosberg with a 1:23.858 as McLaren looked to overcome recent reliability issues, but the 2008 world champion had to abandon several runs in the morning. With the problems fixed, Hamilton was able to set quick times towards the end of the morning session, before going third in the dry conditions in the afternoon during qualifying simulations. He eventually completed 93 laps as McLaren slowed the pace and worked on aero-mapping. Pastor Maldonado endured a frustrating day, spinning his car in the early wet conditions, while an alternator problem on the FW33 later in the morning also limited running. Red Bull’s Mark Webber went further than any other driver with 139 laps in the RB7. His quickest time, a 1:24.995, came on the first lap following a tyre change, while in the middle of a race simulation. Jarno Trulli was hampered by a lack of spare parts for the T128 as Team Lotus experienced further problems with a water leak from a cracked pipe. The team were however able to give the Italian a decent run in dry conditions in the afternoon with his quickest time of 1:25.454 coming on lap 45 of 48. Trulli also got his first experience of Pirelli's wet and intermediate tyres in the morning. Sergio Pérez completed 115 laps for Sauber, like most teams exploring options with the wet and intermediate tyres, before running a race simulation in the afternoon on the hard and medium compounds to lap within a tenth of Trulli before a rear wing problem ended his day. Adrian Sutil covered over 100 laps as he continued work on set-up programmes and the adjustable rear wing on the VJM04, setting a quickest lap of 1:25.720 as Force India improved the car's balance. Toro Rosso opted to split their day with reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo taking the morning session—his last opportunity before the first race practice session of the season—before Sébastien Buemi took over in the afternoon. The Swiss driver completed just 32 laps with limited runs on two sets of slicks, leaving him with more options for the final day of testing on Monday as he finished four tenths slower than Sutil. Felipe Massa had an eventful day in the Ferrari F150th Italia, twice causing a red flag in the morning when running on intermediate tyres, while his afternoon consisted of a full race simulation with a view to making the tyres last as long as possible without ever really looking to set a quick time, leaving him tenth quickest with a time of 1:26.508. Timo Glock added mileage to the MVR-02 for Virgin Racing on his way to 11th quickest with a time of 1:26.598 as he also experienced the full range of Pirelli compounds, first in the morning with wet and inters, and then slicks in the afternoon. Giorgio Mondini enjoyed his first run-out for Hispania as another driver under evaluation by the Spanish team, after Tonio Liuzzi had a similar test on Saturday. The Swiss driver, who was Midland's third driver for part of the 2006 season, was a credible 12th quickest, 2.5s ahead of Hispania's only confirmed driver for 2011, and only 1.6s slower than Glock. Daniel Ricciardo's quickest time was 1:28.329 on slicks on the drying track towards the end of the morning, only finishing some five seconds off Rosberg's quickest time set in the afternoon. His lowly position is a result of no running in dry conditions, but the decision to make an early switch of tyres will help Toro Rosso with vital data on the crossover period between compounds. Like Ricciardo, Narain Karthikeyan also drove in the morning session, and could manage a time of just 1:30.722 as he completed 32 laps as the times tumbled in the afternoon's dry running. |
| Bernie Ecclestone expects Bahrain decision on Tuesday Posted: 20 Feb 2011 06:45 AM PST
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed the Bahrain Grand Prix could be postponed until later in the Formula 1 season or be cancelled altogether if unrest continues in the country.Despite having a say on whether the race goes ahead, Ecclestone says he will support the advice of the country’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. When asked when a decision on the race's future would be made, Ecclestone told the BBC: "Probably Tuesday. I haven't spoken to the Crown Prince this morning so I don't know what's happened there. If anybody's going to sort it out, he's the guy to do it. "He would decide whether or not it's safe for us to be there. Let's wait until Tuesday and see if this one's going to take place before we decide what to do. Maybe we could postpone Bahrain or run it later in the year." If the race at the Bahrain International Circuit cannot go ahead on 13 March, Ecclestone insists a replacement venue will not be sought. "Well they're probably not ready, just to pop these things on just like that," he said. "Let's hope it will be all right as it's already scheduled." The Foreign Office advised Brits against "non-essential" travel to Bahrain earlier in the week and despite the violence appearing to subside over the last 24 hours, many would not be insured as a result of the warning if they opt to go. The FIA has yet to comment further since Jean Todt voiced concerns about safety last week before the violence escalated. |
| Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel sets pace again at Barcelona test Posted: 20 Feb 2011 06:35 AM PST
Sebastian Vettel stormed to the top of the time sheets for the second day running at the third Formula 1 pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.The reigning world champion set a quickest time of 1:23.315, over a second quicker than the fastest time on Friday, as the team opted to simulate a race weekend in a single day, giving an insight into the RB7's potential pace ahead of the 2011 season as Vettel easily established himself at the top of the time sheets. Toro Rosso also continued their good pre-season form as Jaime Alguersuari was second quickest in the STR6, just two tenths slower than Vettel's time courtesy of a three-lap run late in the day after the Spaniard worked through a programme of short stints before a longer run in the middle of the day. Ferrari suffered their first reliability problem of the year as an electrical problem left Fernando Alonso stranded on track. But while that was speedily resolved, additional mechanical problems hampered their progress before Alonso was able to do some decent long runs, with his quickest time of 1:23.978 coming in the final half hour of the day to secure third quickest. Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a trouble-free day to complete 118 laps in the FW33, with 1:24.008 enough for fourth quickest. Nick Heidfeld got a solid run out in the R31 in the afternoon to complete 41 laps to record the fifth quickest lap time, a 1:24.242, with a late surge as Renault evaluated suspension programmes as well as new and scrubbed sets of tyres. Kamui Kobayashi began the day with a series of long runs in Sauber's C30, before a short five-lap run in the afternoon elevated him to sixth place with a time of 1:24.243 for sixth quickest on his way to 125 laps as the team worked through tyre programmes. Nico Rosberg appeared to be off the pace as the Mercedes W02 completed over 600kms with a quickest time of 1:24.730 for seventh, focussing on their KERS system, set-ups and aerodynamic evaluations in the morning, before running a second full race simulation, with five pit-stops in the afternoon. McLaren again lost a lot of time as a hydraulic failure kept Jenson Button off track in the morning, and again in the afternoon session as the problem returned, while a lack of spare parts again hampered efforts to get the car up to speed. Despite being behind their rivals in terms of distance covered, Button was able to put in a time of 1:24.923 for eighth quickest as he completed 54 laps. Paul di Resta completed 80 laps over a variety of lengths and set-ups and impressed again on his way to the ninth quickest time of 1:25.194 with only a limited period of downtime to hamper the team's programme after Friday's problems. Heikki Kovalainen led Team Lotus' testing programme as the team had to overcome minor problems with a water leak and fuel pressure, but was unable to complete a race simulation programme with his quickest time of 1:26.420 coming on lap 17. The afternoon session saw Kovalainen complete runs of between five and eight laps as the team evaluated different tyre compounds. Vitaly Petrov got the chance to get some miles in after mechanical problems sidelined Renault on Friday. The Russian completed 41 laps in the morning, with a time of 1:26.884 eventually placing him 11th quickest, over two seconds slower than Heidfeld. Vitantonio Liuzzi got his first chance to drive Hispania Racing's 2010 car and set a quickest lap of 1:27.044. The Italian is in the running to partner Narain Karthikeyan at the Spanish team, and his programme aimed to get him used to the car, the team, and Pirelli's tyres. Timo Glock focused on a number of short runs in the morning to try out different gearbox settings, and run pit-stop practices in the morning session before switching to set-up runs in the afternoon with Virgin Racing's MVR-02 on new and used tyres. Ricardo Teixeira got an opportunity to test the T128 for the first time after lunch before Kovalainen took over, completing 26 laps with a quickest time of 1:31.584 on lap 22. The 26-year-old, who helped the team in Valencia with filming made no mistakes and consistently improved on the medium compound tyre. |
| Cricket World Cup: New Zealand hammer sorry Kenya Posted: 20 Feb 2011 06:22 AM PST
Hamish Bennett took 4-16 as New Zealand thumped Kenya by 10 wickets in their opening World Cup match in Chennai.Man of the match Bennett removed four of the top five with Tim Southee (3-13) and Jacob Oram (3-2) also doing damage to remove Kenya for just 69. Only three Kenyan batsmen made it into double figures as the Black Caps produced a master class after being asked to field. Martin Guptill (39) and Brendan McCullum (26) knocked off the total inside eight overs to complete the rout. The New Zealand attack were accurate throughout and constantly threatened the Kenyan line up. After Southee trapped Alex Obanda the wickets began to tumble as Bennett was introduced. Veteran talisman Steve Tikolo was then comprehensively bowled by a Bennett delivery to leave Kenya reeling. Southee's pace then blew away the tail as did Oram's accuracy as the minnows capitulated. Guptill set off the fireworks immediately in the New Zealand reply before McCullum finished the job with three boundaries in an over to complete the crushing win. New Zealand Daniel Vettori saluted his fast bowlers after the emphatic victory. He said: “It was good to start like this. The victory will stand us in good stead for the match against Australia on Friday. “The wicket had a bit of variable bounce, which our seamers exploited. It was a great performance from the bowlers.” Meanwhile, Kenya captain Jimmy Kamande admitted nerves affected his side’s performance. “Most of our batsmen played across the line, we didn’t play straight,” he said. “We were a bit nervous. But the first game is out of the way.” |
| Journalist vows to run against Sepp Blatter in Fifa election Posted: 20 Feb 2011 05:31 AM PST
An American journalist is plotting to end Sepp Blatter’s reign by vowing to run for the post of Fifa president in June.Grant Wahl, 37, says he intents to stand as a “people’s choice” against 74-year-old Blatter, who has held the post since 1998 and is up for re-election on 1 June. Blatter’s bid to win a fourth four-year term at Fifa comes in the wake of the corruption allegations that marred the bidding and votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups last December. Wahl, who requires one nomination from a Fifa member before 1 April in order to stand, said: “Wherever I go, I encounter lots of dissatisfaction with Fifa. “People aren’t happy with the way it has been run but up until now there has been no way for anyone to register their feelings,” stated Wahl. He added: “Fifa needs a Wikileaks-type clean out of documents to show what has gone on.” Wahl, who has a degree in politics from Princeton University, is the author of ‘The David Beckham experiment’, a US best-seller about the England midfielder's attempts to conquer America. The Sports Illustrated magazine journalist insists he is serious about replacing Blatter as the ninth president of Fifa, and hopes he can help “shake up” the governing body’s administration. “If people can take some humour from it then I’m happy, but I’m totally serious in hoping that this can lead to something that might bring about some real change,” he continued. “I know I’m a long shot. I don’t have the money to fly around the continents to garner support like Blatter, but I think there has to be a federation willing to support a candidate wanting to shake-up the system.” Fifa presidents1) Robert Guérin (1904-1906) – France |
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