The Times Sport - UK (2020-09-12)

Bottas prefers to

cycle to keep fit

haven’t seen for years. It’s why we

need a mix-up race like last week.”

There are plenty of those in

Sky’s series and for those

thinking Hamilton has it

easy, it is worth going back

to 1956 when Collins was

heading to the world title at

Monza. When Fangio retired,

Collins pulled in and gave

him his car, perhaps sport’s

most amazing gift of

sportsmanship. Collins died at

the Nürburgring in 1958. His

great friend, Hawthorne,

died in a crash on the A3

soon after. In 1955, 84 people

died at the Le Mans disaster.

But you also had Ferrari drivers

such as Alfonso de Portago, an

aristocrat who rode in the

Grand National and flew a

plane under London Bridge for

a bet.

Times change, lap times fall.

Button “grew up on the

winner. He says Lando Norris has
done “some brilliant moves”; that he
admires George Russell’s strategy;
that Daniel Ricciardo has impressed
him more at Renault than Red Bull by
not “disappearing”. Then there is Max
Verstappen. “You can only compare

someone with their team-mate and

he is destroying his, as he did last

year. There is a lot of talent in F1, but

put any of them in a Mercedes and

they would qualify in the top two. It’s

such an advantage. Finishing a second

ahead in qualifying is something we

Sport

the times | Saturday September 12 2020 2GS 21

CHIT

CHAT

Sport provokes debate and

here is some of the interaction

between our readers at

thetimes.co.uk

Novak Djokovic’s

disqualification from the US

Open provoked a lot of

intense debate among our

readers

I was very fortunate to be at the

Wimbledon final last year and

to experience one of the most

thrilling matches in my lifetime.

In many years of playing tennis

at club level and also as a SLTA

coach I have never experienced

such abusive, bad-mannered

behaviour directed by the

crowd against any one player

and in this case it was Djokovic.

Not once in this five-set match

did Djokovic let the crowd get

to him so we have seen him

exercising restraint when he is

being pushed to the limit.

Possibly like many top

athletes just now and again

they can disappoint us with

their antics during competitions

but remember it is the talent

they have which provides the

wonderful entertainment.

William Ritchie

Novak Djokovic is a petulant,

spoilt, conceited and arrogant

cheat. His gamesmanship is

appalling. Compared to [Rafael]

Nadal and [Roger] Federer he is

also a world-class bore. World

No 1 in the ranking in this field.

When he beat Federer at

Wimbledon in their last final I

was embarrassed for him, he

was so outplayed, grinding a

win by being cautious and

afraid to try to make openings

for winning shots. He got what

he deserved.

Thomas Templeton

Federer and Nadal are pygmies

compared with Djokovic. Your

ignorance excludes you from

commenting on anything to do

with tennis ever again.

Zovido

What I do not understand is

why the line judge did not

instinctively put her hands up

to catch the ball, like any British

line judge is likely to have done

if they had ever played cricket

or rounders (or indeed tennis)

in their youth? Admittedly,

Novak would still have been

liable to disqualification, but the

incident would have been less

dramatic.

John Merritt

The incident happened out of

play. Djokovic had lost the

game, not the point. Therefore,

it is reasonable for a line judge

to assume when not in play, it is

statistically highly unlikely they

will be struck by a ball.

In play, the line judge, as you

point out, would indeed be

vigilant of the ball and how it is

struck.

Djokovic, in temper, struck

the ball out of play and

inadvertently at a line judge

between play of games. The

fault here lies squarely and

simply with Djokovic.

Helen Storey

Get rid of lines-people. They are

redundant. Of course Djokovic

could still hit the ball-people or

the umpire!

Saucisson

Williams team” and then drove for

them, but Sir Frank and the family

have now left the sport. “It’s sad to

see them go but they are doing

the right thing,” Button says.

“It’s the only way the team

can grow again and

hopefully get back to the

front.

“The new regs will

improve the racing. The

cost cap is going to help

smaller teams and that’s

why there’s a lot more interest

from investors and owners. The

playing field will be more level,

but it’s not Mercedes’ fault they

are so quick. It’s everyone else’s.”

The class of 2020 may struggle

for stories to match their

predecessors, but if the old days

were good and gold and grisly,

the thrill endures and Button

believes better ones lie ahead.

6 Race to Perfection starts at

9pm today on Sky

Documentaries and will be

available on demand for Sky and

NOW TV customers.

and minds as drivers remain in top gear

with his girlfriend, Tiffany Cromwell,
the Australian professional cyclist, in
the mountains near their home in
Monaco. The principality is home to a
number of F1 drivers and professional
cyclists, including Chris Froome and
Geraint Thomas, and Lizzie Deignan,
one of Cromwell’s training partners.
“There’s a good cycling community,
people are always going for rides,”
Bottas, 31, said. “It’s a great place for
that, you have the mountains and then
the seaside roads are flatter.”
Can he keep up with his girlfriend on
two wheels? “On nearly all of her
sessions, I can keep up pretty well,” he
said. “On the flat, I’m quite good. But if
we were to race up a mountain, I’d have
no chance.”
After completing the seven-day Tour
de l’Ardèche this week, Cromwell is in
Mugello to support Bottas this week-
end. As he resumes his attempt to reel
in Hamilton in the chase for the drivers’

title, which at times has looked a partic-

ularly steep mountain to climb, he

hopes that his enhanced fitness will

serve him well this weekend. He

began impressively yesterday,

finishing as the quickest car in

both practice sessions.

“This weekend is going to be

pretty physical, especially

after three [back-to-back]

races,” he said. “You feel it in

your neck, your shoul-

ders and traps. Some-

times your ribs get

hammered, too, and

your glutes feel it the

next day. You use a

lot of your core

[muscles] in the

car, but I rarely

get pain in the

core. I took this week easily, to make

sure I was at my peak this weekend.”

The track at Mugello is narrow and

overtaking opportunities are scarce,

and comparisons have been made

with Suzuka, the Japanese circuit

where Bottas was successful

last year.

The drivers are never

likely to drop below

fourth gear and the most

demanding section will be

the high-speed corners

from Turn 6 to

Turn 9, which

could be taken

flat out at about

125mph. “The

G-force going

through our

bodies on that

section is going to be

massive,” Russell said. “Normally when

we hit the brakes hard, you get 5g to 6g

of deceleration, but that’s only for a

split-second. Here, we’re going to get 3g

to 5g of load for a good ten to 15 seconds.

It’s going to be brutal.”

For the first time this season, there

will be spectators in attendance to

watch the drama unfold, with approxi-

mately 2,880 fans spread across three

stands, hoping that the grand prix is as

compelling as last weekend’s race in

Monza, where Pierre Gasly, of Alpha-

Tauri was the surprise winner.

Hamilton, who finished seventh after

being hit with a ten-second penalty, will

hope that normal service is resumed as

he continues his pursuit of a seventh

world title that would equal Michael

Schumacher’s record. Some see that as

a foregone conclusion, but Bottas

remains hopeful. “I’ll keep pushing,” he

said. “In this sport, we’ve seen so many

races and so many seasons when things

can happen. For the moment, every-

thing is still wide open.”

Milestone is

something for

Ferrari to smile

about at last

There has been little to

celebrate for Ferrari this

season, but the grand

prix in Mugello

tomorrow will

commemorate the

Scuderia becoming the

first team to take part in

1,000 Formula One

races (John Westerby

writes).

At a circuit owned by

Ferrari, some 120km

south of their base in

Maranello, the cars

driven by Charles

Leclerc and Sebastian

Vettel this weekend are

a slightly darker shade

of red than usual,

reproducing the livery

used in their first

grand prix appearance

70 years ago.

Both drivers will also

wear commemorative

helmets, Leclerc’s

featuring the cars driven

by Ferrari’s 15 world

champions, including

Michael Schumacher,

John Surtees and Niki

Lauda, while Vettel’s

showcases technical

drawings of the first

Ferrari F1 car from 1950.

It may be too much,

though, to expect either

Leclerc or Vettel —

whose move to Aston

Martin was confirmed

this week — to feature

prominently in the race

tomorrow.

Their cars have

struggled badly this

season, with Leclerc in

seventh place in the title

race and Vettel

languishing in 13th.

Hamilton has benefited from

a team streets ahead of rivals

safer times, is pictured with his son, Hendrix, and has another child on the way

Ferrari are celebrating 1,000 F1 race appearances