6 FINAL^ Š Sunday 1 September 2019 The Sunday TelegraphHamilton leads tributes to race crash victim Rowles and Whiteley
By Philip Duncan
in Spa-FrancorchampsA dark cloud will hover over today’s
Belgian Grand Prix after young French
driver Anthoine Hubert was killed in a
devastating 160mph Formula Two
crash at Spa-Francorchamps.
Hubert, 22, raced for British team
Arden – run by Garry Horner, the
father of Red Bull boss Christian
Horner – in the championship which
acts as a feeder series to Formula One.
Hubert lost control of his car on the
exit of the notorious uphill Eau Rouge
corner before slamming into a barrier.
The Frenchman flew off the tyre wall
and slid helplessly across the circuit,
before he was collected head on by the
unsuspecting American Juan-Manuel
Correa. The force of the impact tore
Hubert’s car in two, and ripped off the
front of Correa’s machine – the Ameri-
can was launched airborne before
landing upside down. The severity of
the incident was instantly obvious.
Debris littered the tarmac. The official
TV feed cut away from the scene. There
were no replays of the accident. Emer-
gency crews rushed to one of motor-
sport’s most recognisable corners, but
one hour and 28 minutes after the sec-By Rachel Quarrell in Linz
Britain’s rowers took two golds, two
bronzes and three more Olympic quali-
fication spots on the penultimate day of
the World Championships here in Aus-
tria, and the sole disappointment was
the men’s pair not qualifying for Tokyo
for the first time on an otherwise highly
successful day.
Lauren Rowles and Laurence White-
ley had never won a world title before:
they were still learning their trade in
2015 and have had injuries the past two
years. But they steamed inexorably
past Dutch reigning champions Annika
van der Meer and Corne de Koning to
triumph, the sheer speed taking both
crews half a minute away from the rest
of the field.
“For the last hundred metres I could
barely see. Honest, I’ve never pulled so
hard in my entire life,” said Rowles.
“That’s the best performance Laurence
and I have ever put out, and you can’t
believe how much training and how
much sacrifice went into that.”
The world’s best para-four easily
won Britain’s 11th straight title in this
event, a reign of dominance unmatched
by any other British boat class. “Our
aim is to go at least 10 seconds quickerond-lap accident, Hubert was pro-
nounced dead at the on-track medical
centre. He becomes the first driver
since Ayrton Senna died at the 1994 San
Marino Grand Prix to be killed while
driving in an FIA-accredited race dur-
ing a Formula One weekend.
Jules Bianchi, another young French
driver, died in July 2015, nine months
on from the brain injuries he sustained[by Tokyo] than we did the other day,”
said James Fox. “If we take 10 seconds
off our time then everyone’s going to
have a very hard time keeping up with
us. That’s the plan.”
Bronze medals came courtesy of
sprints and photo-finishes from the
lightweight women’s double and men’s
four. Emily Craig and Imogen Grant
won their photo-finish for third against
Romania by a third of a second, but Ro-
mania’s men took revenge two races
later, beating the British four to silver
by the same amount.
“I told Imogen there’d be at least one
race in this regatta where we’d cross the
line and not know where we’d come,
and we saved it for the final,” said Craig.
“I could hear in Emily’s voice that
she was excited, so I was tunnel vision
and just pull as hard as I could,” added a
breathless Grant. “I looked across and
saw boats, but had no idea if they were
ahead or behind. If that’s what we can
do on just six weeks of training, wow.”
The women’s four kept themselves
in the hunt until halfway and then
launched an all-out assault on leaders
China and Canada, eventually bursting
through to win and confirm qualifica-
tion for Tokyo in an event newly re-
vived since its sole appearance in 1992.
“After the semi-final we said we were
just going to channel serial-killer
mode, complete focus, and we did it,”in qualifying for today’s race. Hamil-
ton, who crashed out of final practice at
140mph at the Fagnes chicane yester-
day morning, is due to line up from
third on the grid. In an emotional post
to social media, the five-time world
champion highlighted the dangers of
the sport.
“This is devastating,” the 34-year-old
wrote. “God rest your soul, Anthoine.
My prayers and thoughts are with you
and your family today. If a single one of
you watching and enjoying this sport
think for a second what we do is safe
you are hugely mistaken.
“All these drivers put their lives on
the line when they hit the track and
people need to appreciate that in a seri-
ous way because it is not appreciated
enough. Not from the fans, nor some of
the people actually working in the
sport. Anthoine is a hero as far as I’m
concerned for taking the risk he did to
chase his dreams.”
A moment’s silence is set to take
place ahead of today’s race to honour a
driver highly regarded in the motor
racing world. Hubert was the reigning
GP3 champion, and had already won
twice in F2 this season. He was a mem-
ber of the Renault driver academy.
Charles Leclerc, a former F2 cham-
pion, secured pole position for today’s
grand prix. Sebastian Vettel starts from
second in an all-Ferrari front row.after he crashed into a crane at the rain-
hit race in Japan. Correa was airlifted to
Liege Hospital, 40 miles north west of
the circuit here in the Ardennes. It is
understood that the American, 20, has
broken his legs and was sedated at the
scene. The sport’s governing body, the
FIA, has launched an investigation.
The crash occurred less than an hour
after Lewis Hamilton had participated5
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20Max Verstappen
Daniel Ricciardo
Nico Hulkenberg
Kimi Raikkonen
Sergio Perez
Kevin Magnussen
Romain Grosjean
Lando Norris
Lance Stroll
Alexander Albon
Antonio Giovinazzi
Pierre Gasly
Carlos Sainz
Daniil Kvyat
George Russell
Robert KubicaRed Bull
Renault
Renault
Alfa Romeo
Racing Point
Haas
Haas
McLaren
Racing Point
Red Bull
Alfa Romeo
Toro Rosso
McLaren
Toro Rosso
Williams
Williams1:43.690
1:44.257
1:44.542
1:44.557
1:44.706
1:45.086
1:44.797
1:44.847
1:45.047
1:45.799
1:45.637
1:46.435
1:46.507
1:46.518
1:47.548
DNFLewis
Hamilton
Mercedes
1:43.282Valtteri
Bottas
Mercedes
1:43.415Charles
Leclerc
Ferrari
1:42.519Sebastian
Vettel
Ferrari
1:43.267Pochettino vows Tottenham are building
Sport
‘L
ook at the difference,”
says Mauricio
Pochettino. The
Tottenham Hotspur
manager is making a
point about change,
about the evolution of football teams
over the years, and he draws a
comparison between his side and
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to illustrate
his point.
“If you do an exercise to see
Liverpool, when Klopp arrived inW
hat is Arsenal’s “identity”
under Unai Emery? It is both
a question that is frequently
asked of the Spaniard and the basis for
much of the criticism he has received
during his time in north London.
There is a simple answer, though, and
a single match that perfectly
encapsulates what Emery is trying to
do at the Emirates: last season’s 4-2
victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
Anyone wondering what
“Emeryball” looks like should find thefootage of that derby and settle down
in front of their screen. They will note
the ferocity of Arsenal’s players, the
intensity of their attacking play and
the flexibility of their system.
They will see how Lucas Torreira
careered into tackles like a
turbocharged dodgem, how
substitutes Matteo Guendouzi and
Stephan Lichtsteiner triggered a
touchline brawl and how Emery
screamed at his team for more,
pumping his fists towards the sky,
after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had
scored a second-half equaliser.
Privately, Emery believes the match
to be the finest performance of his first
season in England. Statistically, it is
hard to argue. By almost every
relevant measure, Arsenal excelledthat day, winning considerably more
tackles and creating more chances
than in other matches. On that crisp
December afternoon, they reached a
level of performance that they have
struggled to replicate since.
Against Tottenham at the Emirates,
Arsenal had more shots (22) than in
any other Premier League game last
season. They regained possession in
the final third of the pitch, a key
measure of Emery’s pressing
obsession, twice as many times as their
season average. They won 16 tackles,
compared to a season average of nine.
They won 59 duels, compared to a
season average of 50. It goes on: their
“expected goals” measure in that
fixture was almost twice as high as it
was for the rest of the campaign.For many observers, Emery’s
constant changing of his team’s shape
is a sign of him struggling to nail down
a defined approach. He was criticised
again, in the wake of last weekend’s
defeat by Liverpool, for using a
midfield diamond in an attempt to shut
down Jurgen Klopp’s attack.
Emery, however, does not see it like
that. If his first priority is intensity, a
close second is versatility. Famously,
Arsenal always adopted the same style
under Arsene Wenger. Emery wants
his team to be more fluid or, as he
describes it, more “tactically rich”.
The Arsenal boss likes to be able to
flit from a three-man defence to a
four-man defence, from a single
striker to a forward duo. He did all this
against Tottenham last season,October 2015, more than one year after
me, when we played here not one in
the starting XI of players is in their
starting XI today. And the substitutes
are not there. If you compare with us,
we have eight or nine players still in
the starting XI. Look at the difference.”
The match Pochettino is referring to
was Klopp’s first game as Liverpool
manager, a 0-0 draw at White Hart
Lane in October 2015. Of Liverpool’s
18-man squad that day, only Divock
Origi, Adam Lallana and James Milner
remain involved in the team now.
On the other hand, the Tottenham
side featured 10 players who are still
crucial members of the first team. Four
years on, the key men from then —
Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweireld,
Christian Eriksen, Danny Rose, DeleAlli, Harry Kane et al — remain the key
men today.
To be clear, Pochettino is not
complaining, merely highlighting
what he describes as “the
circumstances of the club” in response
to questions about the need to refresh
his team. There is a growing chain of
thought that Tottenham are becoming
stale, having relied on too many of the
same players for too long.
Sir Alex Ferguson, for example,
always believed the natural cycle of a
successful team was four years. After
that, there had to be change among the
players to keep things fresh.
Tottenham have begun that process
this summer, signing Tanguy
Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and
Giovani Lo Celso, but the surprisingFORMULA ONE ROWINGDerby victory last
term the blueprint
for Emery’s style
Manager wants intensity
of come-from-behind winover Tottenham every
week, writes Sam Dean
As fans fret, Sam Dean
finds the manager willing
to accept short-term pain
for long-term gain
Kick-off 4.30pm TV Sky SportsArsenal
Tottenham HotspurGame zones
lack of departures means Pochettino’s
team remains largely unchanged
ahead of today’s north London derby.
“You need to listen to people like
Ferguson, but you need to analyse the
circumstances of the club,” says
Pochettino. “The circumstances at
Manchester United and Tottenham
today are completely different.
“You only need to listen to Daniel
[Levy, the chairman]. You know very
well the debt of the club is
£600 million with the banks [for the
new stadium]. When you have a
project, delivering a project like
Tottenham delivered in the last five
years, or the last 20 years, you cannot
compare it with another club.”
The point is that, due to the
financial “restrictions” (Pochettino’sword) on the club, it has not been
realistic or possible for Tottenham to
refresh their squad in the same way as
their “big six” rivals.
Pochettino notes that even Arsenal,
who are suffering from their own
financial limitations because of their
absence from the Champions League,
have been more able – and willing – to
overhaul the playing squad.
“Arsenal in the last two years signed
[Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, the
best striker in Germany, [Alexandre]
Lacazette, the best striker in France,
and one year after, [Nicolas] Pepe. If
you see us in five years we didn’t sign
one striker and now our main striker is
Harry Kane, but our second striker is
17 years old, Troy Parrott. That is the
difference in the projects.”Adaptable Arsenal’s masterclass in the 4-2 win over Spurs last year
By Sam DeanIncisive
attacksAll three of
Arsenal’s
second-half
goals came from
direct, fast
attacks through
the heart of
Tottenham’s
defence. They
played with a
speed and
intensity that
the visitors
could not
match.Fast start
Arsenal started
the match in a
3-4-3 formation,
with Hector
Bellerin and
Sead Kolasinac
operating as
wing-backs and
Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang
(right) playing
centrally. They
took the lead
after 10
minutes.Kick-off 2pm TV Sky SportsEverton
WolvesDecisive
substitutionsWith Arsenal
trailing 2-1 at
the break, Unai
Emery threw
Alexandre
Lacazette and
Aaron Ramsey
into the action
as half-time
substitutes.
Ramsey assisted
their second
goal before
Lacazette
scored the third
(right).Belgian GP Starting grid
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