Section:GDN 1N PaGe:47 Edition Date:190830 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/8/2019 20:57 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Friday 30 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
Sport Sport^47
Formula OneBottas keeps Mercedes seat
despite threat from Ocon
BoxingCampbell confi dent
he can land a huge
Lomachenko upset
Mercedes have re-signed Valtteri
Bottas to partner Lewis Hamilton for
next season. They had been consid-
ering promoting their young reserve
driver Esteban Ocon but chose to
continue with the stability of Bottas.
Soon afterwards, as had been widely
expected, Renault revealed they
had taken on Ocon to replace Nico
Hülkenberg.
Bottas, in his third season driving
for Mercedes, has had his contract
extended for a further year. The
30-year-old opened strongly with two
victories in the opening four F1 races.
However his challenge has faded and
he trails Hamilton by 62 points going
into Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
His teammate has comprehensively
outraced the Finn. Over their 53 races
together Bottas has accrued only fi ve
wins to Hamilton’s 28.
Bottas was aware his position had
been under threat. “In this sport you
know if you are not signed anything
can happen,” he said. “There are many
diff erent things the teams look at and
obviously the situation between me
and Esteban was openly spoken about.
So I had to wait. I had to think about
other options and investigate. I was
making a plan for something else but
then things started to go the right
way. Now I can focus on the job and
I really want to have a strong result at
Giles Richards
Spa
the Belgian Grand Prix and a strong
end to the year.”
Bottas’s failure to continue his
season-opening form led to specu-
lation that Ocon would replace him.
Mercedes were keen to ensure Ocon
had a drive next year and they have
great faith in the 22-year-old French-
man’s abilities.
However Hamilton has been clear
he enjoys a harmonious and respectful
relationship with Bottas. He is also a
proven quantity in the car, returning
points solid enough to all but ensure
Mercedes will equal Ferrari’s record of
six consecutive constructors’ champi-
onships this season.
“Continuity is always a good thing,”
Hamilton said. “We have a great envi-
ronment, a great relationship. I think
it was a smart decision by the team.”
The fi ve-times world champion was
clearly happy, relaxed and refreshed
after the summer break. “Valtteri
makes me look good, as he looks older
than me, even though he is younger,”
he quipped.
Of his relationship with Hamilton
Bottas said: “We have made a good
team and I am sure we will make a
good team in the future”.
Ocon, who completed two full
seasons for Force India in 2017 and
2018 has signed a two-year deal with
Renault, leaving Hü lkenberg as a
potential target for Haas to replace
Romain Grosjean.
F1 has also revealed its calendar for
next year with 22 grands prix making
it the longest season in the history of
the sport.
With a new race in Vietnam and a
return to the Netherlands confi rmed,
Germany will not be hosting a race in- The British Grand Prix is sched-
uled to take place on 19 July, a week
later than this year to avoid a clash with
the Euro 2020 fi nal and Wimbledon.
The calendar is subject to ratifi ca-
tion by the World Motor Sport Council
on 4 October.
Sport
In briefCyclingHerrada takes stage six
of Vuelta a España
Jesus Herrada rode to victory on
stage six of the Vuelta a España as
Dylan Teuns claimed the leader’s
jersey after fi nishing second.
The 199km hilly stage from Mora
de Rubielos to Ares del Maestrat
featured four climbs and culminated
at the summit of the Puerto de Ares
in Castellon, where Herrada strode
away from Teuns with 150 metres
remaining. Riding into red was
not a bad consolation prize for the
Belgian, who started the day four
minutes and 43 seconds down on
the red jersey wearer, Miguel Ángel
L ópez. “I started to realise during
the stage it was possible to get the
jersey,” he said after claiming his fi rst
grand tour leader’s jersey. “It was a
goal for me during this Vuelta and
I was able to do it.” There was a big
crash in the main peloton just past
the halfway mark with riders from
many teams hitting the deck, leading
to several withdrawals. Fifth-placed
Nicolas Roche, a former race leader,
and sixth-placed Rigoberto Uran of
EF Education First both abandoned
after the pileup – as did Uran’s
teammate Hugh Carthy and Victor
de la Parte. ReutersCricket
Somerset decide to let
veteran Trego leavePeter Trego will leave Somerset
at the end of the season after the
decision was taken not to extend
the veteran all-rounder’s contract.
The 38-year-old signed a white-ball
only deal for this year, forgoing
the County Championship, and he
helped his hometown county go all
the way in the Royal London One-
Day Cup. PA MediaThey call Vasyl Lomachenko “the
Matrix” because of his preternatural
ability to control space, timing and
distance in the ring. And he is such
a blisteringly hot favourite to defeat
Luke Campbell at the O 2 Arena tomor-
row that a £1,000 bet on the Ukrainian
would net only £60 in profi t if he walks
away with the WBA, WBC and WBO
lightweight belts wrapped around his
waist.
Yet Campbell, a 2012 Olympic gold
medallist who has a 20-2 record as a
professional, is singularly convinced
he has the tools to short-circuit his
opponent and spring one of the biggest
upsets in British boxing history – up
there with Randolph Turpin stunning
Sugar Ray Robinson and Lloyd Honey-
ghan defenestrating Donald Curry. “I
love a challenge,” he said. “ To be the
best I have to beat the best and this
is certainly one of those challenges.
I’m ready.”
The 31-year-old looks calm and
ready and is also prepared to put his
bank balance where his mouth is. He
could have made more money fi ght-
ing Lomachenko in the US but wanted
the fi ght staged in Britain to give him a
better shot of unlikely glory.
He and his trainer, Shane McGuigan,
are convinced he has learned from a
narrow defeat in his fi rst world title
bout against Jorge Linares two years
ago and can use his three-inch reachand fi ve-inch height advantage to keep
Lomachenko off balance.
“Luke is huge at the weight, punch-
ing extremely hard and I believe he is at
the peak of his career,” said McGuigan,
who points out Campbell has sparred
more than 100 rounds with the light-
welterweight champion, Josh Taylor.
“He has improved and learned from his
losses. I’ve never seen Luke out of his
comfort zone. No matter who he is put
in with he rises to their ability. It’s going
to be always hard to prepare for a guy
as unique as Lomachenko. But I believe
this is Lomachenko’s hardest fi ght.”
That was not, it must be said, awidely held view among those at yes-
terday’s press conference. Bob Arum
was busy telling anyone who would
listen that Lomachenko was the great-
est technical fi ghter he had seen since
Muhammad Ali and the sense from
fi ghters like Andre Ward and Paulie
Malignaggi was that the Ukrainian
would be operating on a vastly higher
pla ne come tomorrow night.
As for Lomachenko , he did not say
much. Then again, a record of 410
victories in 412 fi ghts, amateur and
professional, including two Olympic
gold medals and several world titles ,
largely speaks for itself.
“Maybe, maybe, it will be a hard
fi ght for me,” he said. “Luke is a tough
fi ghter. He’s a smart fi ghter. He is tech-
nical fi ghter. So it will be a technical
fi ght. I can’t wait to come to the ring
and show my boxing skills for British
fans and for fans around the world.”
There was a blunt warning for
Campbell from Lomachenko’s last
opponent Anthony Crolla , who was
fl attened in four rounds when the pair
fought in April.
“A few minutes into the fi ght it
dawns on you,” he said. “You start
realising how well he is judging the
distance and how every slight mistake
is getting punished. I prepared the best
I possibly could. I’d watched him for
years but I couldn’t seem to get near
him. He was so hard to hit – that was
the main thing – but he also hit a little
harder than I expected.
“We know how good his footwork
is. It is unbelievable. There were
punches I didn’t see and the shot you
don’t see is the one that puts you over.
And that was the case with me. I knew
I was face down but there was nothing
I could do about it.”
Crolla believes Campbell’s best
chance is to use physical advantages to
keep his opponent at range but he does
not expect him to hold off the world’s
best fi ghter for 12 rounds.
“It is a huge task. Luke has the tools
to cause some problems but I believe
Lomachenko will fi nd the answers.
He is chasing greatness. I don’t think
anyone beats him in the lightweight
division.”
That is something even Campbell’s
biggest fans would fi nd it hard to dis-
agree with.The British lightweight faces
one of the toughest tests in
the sport in world title fi ghtSean Ingle▼ Luke Campbell during a public
workout at York Hall in Bethnal Green
ANDREW COULDRIDGE/ACTION IMAGES VIA REUTERS▲ Valtteri Bottas has been handed
another deal by Mercedes
bbVasyl Lomachenko
will defend his titlesRELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws