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Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant suffered left knee sprain in loss, team says

Basketball

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November 28, 2021

Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant suffered left knee sprain in loss, team says

Preliminary imaging revealed Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant suffered a left knee sprain in the first quarter of Friday night’s 132-100 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Grizzlies said.

Morant was hurt while dribbling the ball toward the paint, although there was no contact that appeared to cause the injury. He began to limp, passed the ball and then hobbled off the floor in the middle of the play.

After briefly being attended to in front of the Grizzlies’ bench, Morant was helped to the locker room, putting no pressure on his left leg. Minutes later, the Grizzlies announced that he was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

“I think seeing the way that he went off the floor kind of sent shockwaves through the team,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “The Hawks played really, really well. We had a lot of looks that didn’t fall. Definitely the mojo was kind of lost.”

Said Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr. said: “It’s just tough when you see stuff like that. It’s just nothing you want to see in the game.”

After the loss, Morant posted a statement on social media that read: “It’s in God’s hands now. All we can do is pray.”

🖤🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/d3W27UOCfQ

— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) November 27, 2021

Morant, 22, has established himself as one of the NBA’s premier young stars. He seemed to be on the path to his first All-Star appearance this season, averaging a career-best 25.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game entering Friday night.

Arsenal brush aside Newcastle as Howe suffers first defeat | The Guardian Nigeria News

Football

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November 28, 2021

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Arsenal brush aside Newcastle as Howe suffers first defeat | The Guardian Nigeria News

Arsenal got back on track with a 2-0 win over Newcastle on Saturday as Eddie Howe suffered his first defeat as manager of the Premier League strugglers.

Bukayo Saka opened the scoring against Newcastle (AFP/Adrian DENNIS)

Mikel Arteta’s side saw their 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions come to a painful end in last weekend’s 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool.

But second half goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli at the Emirates Stadium made it four wins from their last five league games.

Written off after their poor start to the season, Arsenal are fifth, level on points with fourth placed West Ham, as they chase a berth in next season’s Champions League.

Rejoining the race for European places represents significant progress for Arteta, but few opponents will be quite as obliging as woeful Newcastle.

Howe was in charge in person for the first time after missing last weekend’s 3-3 draw against Brentford due to a positive coronavirus test.

Hired by Newcastle’s new owners to replace the much-maligned Steve Bruce, Howe will have been left under no illusions about the size of the task facing him on Tyneside.

It was bleak viewing for Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley, who sat huddled beneath a blanket in the directors box on a bitterly cold afternoon in north London.

While the Saudi-led consortium that bought Newcastle have spoken about emulating the success of Manchester City and Paris Saint German under Middle Eastern ownership, Howe’s only focus is saving the Magpies from relegation.

Former Bournemouth boss Howe will need to drag much-improved performances from his winless team if they are to avoid a catastrophic slide into the Championship.

Already languishing five points from safety, bottom of the table Newcastle face crucial games against fellow strugglers Norwich and Burnley over the coming week.

They were never in the running against Arsenal, who monopolised 80 percent of the possession in the first half.

– Saka shines -Saka went closing to rewarding that dominance when he stabbed just wide from Albert Sambi Lokonga’s lofted long pass.

Martin Odegaard’s free-kick forced a fine save from Martin Dubravka moments later as Arsenal pressed hard for the opener.

Newcastle finally broke out to launch their first incisive raid, a move that ended with Jonjo Shelvey’s 20-yard curler being tipped onto the bar by Aaron Ramsdale.

When Emile Smith Rowe’s close-range header from Saka’s cross was pushed out by Dubravka, it seemed certain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would finally end Newcastle’s resistence.

But the Gabon forward somehow side-footed against the post from two yards in a candidate for miss of the season.

Newcastle had failed to keep a single clean-sheet in the Premier League this season and Saka ensured that grim run extended to a 13th game in the 56th minute.

Running onto Nuno Tavares’s deft pass, Saka timed his surge from the left wing perfectly as he smashed a low finish past Dubravka into the far corner from 10 yards.

That was Saka’s last contribution as the England international limped off injured soon after.

Saka’s replacement was Martinelli and the Brazilian made an immediate impact as he doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 66th minute.

Newcastle had appealed in vain for a penalty when Callum Wilson went to ground under Gabriel’s challenge.

Moments later, Takehiro Tomiyasu’s pass looped over the Newcastle defence and Martinelli produced an audacious chipped finish for his first goal since May.

New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson cleared for full team activities; still no return timeline

Basketball

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November 27, 2021

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New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson cleared for full team activities; still no return timeline

6:23 PM ET

Andrew LopezESPN

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been cleared to participate in full team activities, the team announced on Friday evening.

Williamson, who is recovering from a fractured right foot, had his latest set of scans on Wednesday. They were evaluated by Pelicans team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Montgomery and by Dr. Richard Ferkel, a surgeon who has worked on NBA players in the past.

“It’s been a long road to get him to this point,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “Anyone that’s ever dealt with any type of injury like that, it’s hard to come back from. It’s hard mentally. He’s done a great job pushing through. Z has an opportunity now to be a full go in practices, and we’ll have a practice soon. Hopefully that’ll add some juice to our team. He’s a huge part of what we do there.”

The Pelicans said Williamson went through 4-on-4, full-court work on Friday while the team is in Utah for a back-to-back. New Orleans plays Utah on Friday and Saturday before heading to Los Angeles to play the Clippers on Monday. The team will travel back to New Orleans on Tuesday and then play the Dallas Mavericks the following day.

Because of the team’s schedule, it’s likely the Pelicans won’t have a full practice for Williamson to participate in until Thursday.

In a news release, New Orleans said it has yet to determine when Williamson will return to game action.

“It’s more about how he responds to practices,” Green said. “How he responds to the physicality of playing against his teammates. How he responds to getting up and down. Just giving a timeline is tough on that. We want him back as soon as possible. But it’s all predicated on how he feels after workouts, and the medical team will work diligently with him and we’ll go from there.”

Williamson has yet to play in a game this season because of the fractured foot. In his absence, the Pelicans have gotten off to a 4-16 start.

Sabonis powers Pacers past short-handed Raptors

Sport News

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November 27, 2021

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Sabonis powers Pacers past short-handed Raptors

By
Phillip B. Wilson

The Associated Press

Posted November 26, 2021 10:41 pm

Updated November 26, 2021 10:42 pm

INDIANAPOLIS – Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and 18 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers beat the short-handed Toronto Raptors 114-97 on Friday night.

Caris LeVert scored 19 points for the Pacers, who had seven double-digit scorers. Myles Turner had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Kelan Martin scored 15 points and Chris Duarte had 12.

Malcolm Brogdon and Torrey Craig each scored 11 for the Pacers, who led by nine at halftime and were never seriously threatened in the second half.

Tilke: Jeddah will be really, really close between Lewis and Max

F1

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November 27, 2021

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Tilke: Jeddah will be really, really close between Lewis and Max

jeddah-street-circuit-overview

Formula 1’s doubleheader into the unknown continues next weekend at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, if anyone has an inkling of what might happen is Jeddah Corniche Circuit architect Carsten Tilke.

COVID-19 has played havoc with some F1 venues, big races falling off the calendar needing replacement. Last weekend the sport went to Qatar’s Losail International Circuit for the first time, Round 20 of the championship season also at a new venue.

But the track has been around since 2004 hosting MotoGP every year since then and had car racing including GP2 Series during this period.

However the Jeddah project was scratch built this year and word from sources on the ground, it is a race against time they will win, but expect work to carry on 24/7 until F1 cars roll out of the points for FP1 on Friday 3 December.

In an interview with talkSport Tilke first confirmed that the circuit will be ready for action: “It’s of course very close, a very tight project timeline but the track will be ready.

Tilke: What will be interesting is that there are three possible DRS zones

“It was really one of our most ambitious projects with the most time pressure to really make this happen in eight months, but in the end it’s really amazing what’s there now and everyone is excited for the next race.”

Tilke’s team have devised an ultra-fast, 6.2 kilometre, seaside layout which Saudi officials aim to overshadow Monaco in terms of glamour, which came with challenges for the architects

“The land for the track is very narrow,” Tilke explained. “A very narrow piece of land next to the Red Sea and there is a lot of interaction between the buildings and the track, everything is tense together,” Tilke explained.

“We had this piece of land directly next to the Red Sea and it has this lagoon inside and they’ll be driving around the lagoon, and the good thing is we were quite flexible in this narrow strip, of course, we were restricted by it but we built most of the streets completely new.

“What will be interesting is that there are three possible DRS zones directly behind each other,” he explained. “So it’s three DRS zones and every time different corners after that, which can be really interesting.

“It’s not just straights, it’s a DRS zone but you have to be really concentrating because there are walls directly next to it, you have to steer.”

It is like no other circuit on the F1 calendar and will favour downforce as well as power

As for where he expected the action to happen, based on simulations and a gut feeling, Tilke predicted: “What I think is very interesting is the passage from T4 to T10, it’s a very fast flowing S combination, this will also be challenging for the drivers to find the right lines, and T13 is also a cool 12 per cent banked corner so there are a lot of different elements.”

As for comparisons with other Grand Prix venues, Tilke said: “It’s difficult to compare it, I really thought about this. You can maybe say this passage here, this passage there, but for me, I can’t compare it.

“It’s really fast, it doesn’t have all the buildings inside like a street circuit when you think of Baku or Monaco or Singapore. This makes it better to make nice corner combinations, and not 90-degree corners, which is normal in a city.”

The first race in Jeddah also happens to be one of the most important in the context of this year’s incredible title battle between challengers Red Bull and their Dutch ace Max Verstappen against serial champions Mercedes and their superstar Lewis Hamilton.

Impossible to predict who will be stronger Red Bull or Mercedes, Hamilton or Verstappen

There are eight points between them after 20 rounds of the title fight, the race in Saudi could see Verstappen crowned champion if Hamilton hits a problem or has a DNF. But with both their teams pulling out the big guns for the final two races, anything can happen in Round 21 on 5th December.

Tilke is more than aware of the importance of the race next Sunday: “It could go either way. On the one hand, it’s very fast, so the engine is important, but on the other hand, it’s a lot of corners. This is also important, so to be honest I’m not sure, we will see.

“At the moment the momentum is with Mercedes again. They are so strong, and it will be difficult to beat them, but you never know what will happen.

“Verstappen is in front and we have a street circuit where you can touch the walls easily, and if something happens Verstappen will be there, it’s really, really close and can go both ways.

“I think it’s impossible [to predict], we don’t know, we will see who will manage to cope with the new track, it will be challenging for them.

“Mercedes are taking the strong engine again which they had in Brazil, and if it’s still this engine with so much power, I think it will be difficult for everyone else.”

The goal is to create a track that offers F1 teams various strategy options for the race

Together with Pirelli, Tilke explained how his team have devised a circuit that will favour the best strategy and tactics from teams: “We try to make different strategies possible, this is something that we aim for. To provide one more element to the race which makes it interesting so not everyone is picking the same strategy.

“So for example to have quite a short pit entry and exit so you’re not losing so much time when you go in, which makes it possible to make one stop, two stop, even three-stop strategies,” predicts Tilke.

“Tilke Engineers & Architects” was established in 1983 by Herman Tilke, and has been F1’s go-to track designers since then, with completed projects in Abu Dhabi, Baku, Istanbul, Mexico City, Sochi, Circuit of the Americas, Red Bull Ring to name a few

Of the Saudi project, they say on their website: “This year in the north of the city centre of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a new, spectacular race track is going to be built. The temporary street circuit runs along the cost of the Red Sea, winding through the lagoon around the famous Floating Mosque.

“With a total length of over six kilometres the Jeddah F1 Street Circuit is the second-longest track on the current Formula 1 racing calendar after Spa-Francorchamps.

“With 27 turns and an average speed of 252 km/h, the track is also one of the most challenging and fastest. Its idyllic location on Jeddah’s waterfront and its extraordinary design promise spectators of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix spectacular races in front of a breathtaking panorama.

“Temporary grandstands will form three arenas positioned at the northernmost point, in the centre near the start-finish-straight and at the southernmost point of the track. This will give the spectators a marvellous view on racing action.

“A “Royal Overlook” will be available for VVIP guests with a view into the start-finish-straight and the turns in the centre of the track.

“We look forward to an exciting first race weekend on 3rd to 5th December 2021!”

Tilke can't compare the circuit to anything he's seen before, and it's easy to understand why when you look at the unique design

After just 8 months, the #JeddahCornicheCircuit is READY FOR ACTION!✅
Who’s excited to see best drivers in the world go racing at the #F1 stc #SaudiArabianGP?! 🏎🇸🇦🤩#OvertakeTheFuture #نسابق_المستقبل pic.twitter.com/OhQXy0qs23

— F1 stc Saudi Arabian GP (@SaudiArabianGP) November 21, 2021

Chelsea’s Chilwell could return in six weeks after knee injury: Tuchel | The Guardian Nigeria News

Football

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November 27, 2021

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Chelsea’s Chilwell could return in six weeks after knee injury: Tuchel | The Guardian Nigeria News

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says Ben Chilwell could return to action in just six weeks after the England defender suffered a worrying knee injury that prompted fears he could miss the rest of the season.

The left-back limped out of Tuesday’s 4-0 Champions League win against Juventus following a challenge from France international Adrien Rabiot.

But Tuchel said on Friday that the 24-year-old may be able to avoid surgery, allowing him to play again sooner than expected, which would be a huge boost for the Premier League leaders.

“Ben has a partial injury of his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and the decision is to treat it conservatively,” Tuchel said.

“And the next six weeks will tell the story actually if he makes it and if he will be fully available after the six weeks, or if he needs surgery after that.

“Right now I only care about the six weeks — we are very positive because the first reaction of his body is very positive.”

Marcos Alonso is likely to deputise for Chilwell during the hectic December schedule, starting with Manchester United’s visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chilwell had won back his place from Alonso after largely being consigned to the bench at the start of the season following a frustrating lack of playing time with England at the postponed Euro 2020.

He has returned to his best recently, scoring four times in five games for Chelsea and England in October.

Although surgery remains a possibility depending on Chilwell’s recovery pathway, Tuchel said the defender remained upbeat.

“We need to talk about it again in six weeks, maybe we don’t need to talk about it because everything is fine,” Tuchel said.

“This is the best case. It does not help if we start now speaking about worst cases, because there is also a best-case scenario.”

Chelsea are also likely to be without France midfielder N’Golo Kante against United due to a minor knee issue.

Brooks Koepka bests rival Bryson DeChambeau 4 and 3 in ‘The Match’

Golf

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November 27, 2021

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Brooks Koepka bests rival Bryson DeChambeau 4 and 3 in ‘The Match’

The match between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka turned into a rout on Friday, as Koepka throttled his rival in a 4-and-3 victory in a 12-hole match at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas.

Koepka, a four-time major winner, had four birdies in the match for charity, while DeChambeau didn’t have any.

“Not going to lie, I just wanted to spank you,” Koepka told DeChambeau, shortly before winning the match.

The result was a bit surprising, as Koepka hadn’t played particularly well since helping the U.S. team win the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in September. He battled knee and wrist injuries this past season, then missed the cut in each of his last two starts and fell to No. 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

DeChambeau hasn’t made a start on tour since the Ryder Cup, and spent much of his time preparing for a long-driving contest.

“I haven’t played in two months,” DeChambeau told TNT. “No excuses, though. I should have done better.”

Koepka had birdies on Holes 2, 5, 6 and 8 to go 4 up with four holes to play. DeChambeau conceded the match after missing a birdie putt on the ninth hole. It was the fifth version of “The Match,” a made-for-TV series that began with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing winner-take-all against each other. It eventually expanded to include NFL quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, NBA star Steph Curry and basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.

The DeChambeau-Koepka matchup was one of the more highly anticipated ones because of the golfers’ supposed dislike for each other. Their feud escalated at May’s PGA Championship, when a leaked video showed Koepka rolling his eyes after DeChambeau walked past him while talking and interrupted an interview.

“Obviously, watching him up close and personal is pretty neat, pretty special to watch him hit the ball,” Koepka said. “Like I said, there is respect there, but at the same time it was fun to come out here and settle this.”

“Did we just become best friends?” reporter Amanda Balionis asked afterward.

“No,” Koepka said.

On the tee box of the ninth hole, DeChambeau seemed frustrated with how well Koepka was playing against him.

“Where is this on the PGA Tour, man?” DeChambeau asked Koepka. “[You’re playing] so good right now.”

“It’s kind of like my major right now, right?” Koepka said.

“I guess it is,” DeChambeau said.

Brian Anderson, who was doing play-by-play of the match on TNT, asked Koepka if he wanted to play with DeChambeau more.

“Nah, I’m good,” Koepka said.

Djokovic, GB’s captain face off over multi-city staging of Davis Cup Finals — Sport — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

Tennis

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November 27, 2021

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Djokovic, GB’s captain face off over multi-city staging of Davis Cup Finals — Sport — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

World No 1, Novak Djokovic said, yesterday, that he supports the multi-city staging of the Davis Cup finals, but Britain’s captain, Leon Smith, has called for dialogue over the format going forward.

After a two-year hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Davis Cup returned, yesterday, with group stages holding in Madrid, Turin and Innsbruck.

Following a lucrative but hugely controversial takeover of the competition by Gerard Pique’s Kosmos Group in 2018, the Davis Cup switched from home and away ties to a World Cup-style finals event.

The inaugural tournament in Madrid in 2019 attracted a very low crowd, a packed schedule, and late-night finishes (because of TV times), which needed a rethink. This has resulted in the group stages being played across three cities over a longer time frame before the climax of the event in Madrid next weekend.

“The Davis Cup should be experienced by more people. So, I’m in favour of this year’s format and that there are more countries that can host group ties. I didn’t think the format worked very well two years ago,” Djokovic said.

However, Britain’s captain, whose side will play their Group C ties in Innsbruck, said he wanted more dialogue with the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and Kosmos Tennis, about the format going forward.

Smith and his team, which is led by British No 1, Cameron Norrie, arrived in Innsbruck last weekend ahead of matches against France tomorrow and the Czech Republic on Sunday. He went on to add that playing in front of an empty stadium could have a real impact in a competition that is based on partisan support but despite this drawback, they were determined to do their best.

Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson participates in first full practice since ACL and Achilles injuries

Basketball

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November 26, 2021

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Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson participates in first full practice since ACL and Achilles injuries

SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors swingman Klay Thompson participated in a full team practice on Tuesday for the first time since tearing his left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals and his right Achilles in November 2020.

“It’s so exciting,” Thompson said. “Just to be running up and down the court and playing basketball, it’s truly a blessing and it makes coming to work so easy. The boring stuff’s behind me, and now it’s just getting back in game shape — I got to stay patient because I can be an overeager person to get out there and play, but I’m just incredibly grateful to be out there. The work the training staff and I have done over the last two years is really paying off, and it’s hard to put into words how grateful I am to be playing basketball again.”

Thompson, who was cleared for 5-on-5 work with members of the Warriors’ support staff last week, has been in great spirits as his return to game action inches closer. While the Warriors have been hopeful that Thompson could return around Christmas, coach Steve Kerr reiterated Tuesday that no return date has been set and they want Thompson to continue to build up his strength and stamina after being off the floor for so long.

“We don’t have a target date,” Kerr said. “What we have is a number of weeks ahead of us for certain where we’re going to play it out, keep letting him scrimmage as often as possible so that he’ll build that endurance. And I would think within a few weeks we’ll be able to finally sort of get a target date, but we don’t have one right now.”

For his part, Thompson seems content to continue putting in the rehab work and let his body tell him, in consultation with the Warriors’ medical staff, when he’ll be ready to play in games again.

“I don’t want to come back and be a shell of myself,” Thompson said. “I want to come back like I was the last time I was playing and I was one of the best players in the world.”

Teammate Kevon Looney noted how much “joy” Thompson’s first full practice in over two years brought the team.

“Klay looked good,” Looney said. “Especially for someone who had been out that long. You can still tell that he’s got work to do, and he’s been working hard, he looks good, he looks like an NBA player, he looks like a top-notch athlete already. So I’m excited to see him get back on the court. He gets better every day, every week, so I’m excited to see the next step he takes.”

Thompson knows he’ll be on a minutes restriction whenever he does return, but he also understands that he’ll be joining a team that has exceeded early expectations and is riding a league-best 15-2 record into Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. He didn’t hesitate when asked whether he felt the Warriors could win a title this season.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “We’re 15-2. That’s a great indicator of [championship readiness], and our defense, I think it’s top three in the league as well as our offense — and I’m not even out there yet. Think about that. Really think about that. I’m more motivated than ever as well. I want a championship so bad. More than anything.”

Kerr continues to preach patience as Thompson starts to ramp up what he can do on the floor.

“The biggest thing is he hasn’t played in 2½ years,” Kerr said. “So while the Achilles is structurally sound, there’s been no ill effects; it’s just a matter of building strength and endurance, especially the endurance part, it just takes time. It takes a while. So even though he’s playing full bore, and he practiced full bore just now, he needs to keep doing this over and over and over again every day, really blow it out. Get his conditioning back, his endurance back. So we’re going to be very patient with Klay, too.”

Thompson, who said he doesn’t “fear getting hurt again” because of the “freak” nature of his past two injuries, said he has been motivated by critics who are doubting whether he and the Warriors can get back to the top.

“I wanted to be on that top [75 list]. I wanted some recognition. I didn’t get it, and that’s fine. You know how you get recognition? You go win. I just want to go win again. I want to win a fourth ring,” he said. “Not being able to compete for the last two years, I feel like I have a lot of pent up energy to prove — not to anybody else, but to myself, I’m still one of the best.”

In a side note to Thompson’s return to practice, Kerr said second-year center James Wiseman still hasn’t been cleared to participate fully in practice as he continues to recover from a meniscus tear in his right knee.

“The injury, the meniscus tear, is an injury where it’s not really like a linear improvement, like an ACL or an Achilles. You kind of know, you can kind of map it out,” Kerr said. “Meniscus tear, you can’t really map it out as easily because there’s more possibility for a variance in how long it’s going to take to recover. So James is doing fine. There’s no structural issue and we’re just being very, very cautious. He’s doing one-on-one stuff, 2-on-2 stuff, drill work, but [the medical staff] is not yet comfortable allowing him to scrimmage. So we’re just trying to stay patient and do the best thing we can for James — he’s such a young guy. We just want to be very cautious with the injury.”

Todt: Max is like Kimi, very different to Lewis

F1

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November 26, 2021

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Todt: Max is like Kimi, very different to Lewis

With the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship delicately poised, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by eight points with two to go, FIA President Jean Todt is not picking sides as he admits a deep admiration for both contenders.

F1 is enjoying a battle for the ages as the Young Guns take on the Old Guard. The new generation represented by 24-year-old Max Verstappen and his ‘start-up’ Red Bull team that began life at the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, having morphed from the original Stewart team before it became Jaguar.

On the other hand, Mercedes with 36-year-old Hamilton batting for his fast-disappearing generation of drivers in the top flight with a team whose legacy dates back to the 1954 French Grand Prix.

Today they are the top teams in F1 by a margin, with Red Bull powered by Honda really challenging the might of Mercedes, who have dominated the sport for most of the last decade.

This year has been gruelling, albeit enthralling, 20 rounds of the championship thus far with decisive races remaining in the unknown of Jeddah next Sunday and the more familiar floodlights of Abu Dhabi, which promises to host a humdinger of a finale.

Red Bull challenging Mercedes in the final year of the current F1 rules was expected

That Red Bull have been able to seriously challenge Mercedes for the first time, in this turbo-hybrid era of the sport, has not come as a surprise to Todt, who told RacingNews365: “It was not unexpected.

“More stability in the rules means that less progress can be made and the margins are smaller. Both teams also have many talented people and the engine departments also continued to take steps.”

That Hamilton and Verstappen are the standout drivers of this era, both making their respected teammates – Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez – look decidedly ordinary on just about every weekend, is a bonus for the sport that has for too long been dominated by Mercedes.

Referring to the title contenders Max and Lewis, Todt continued: “In addition, both teams have an exceptional driver. Every driver in Formula 1 is of course good, but a small number have that extra talent. If that is combined with a good car, then we see what we see this year.”

Who will win the 2021 F1 world title, Verstappen’s his first of Hamilton’s eighth?

Todt has respect for both drivers: “I like Lewis. I admire that he stays so good for so long. Of course, it is easier when you drive for the best team with the best car, but he does have the passion.”

“It’s good for Mercedes. At the moment there are still two champions with seven titles, but records are always there to be broken.”

Todt also respects and backs Hamilton’s widely reported social activism: “That he is always involved in whatever way is very good. Of course, it doesn’t always mean that I agree with the way he gets involved, but he believes in something, his own thing. I respect that.”

“Again, sometimes I think it could be done differently, but the fact that he wants to be so involved in every subject, I respect that too.”

As for the Verstappen, the President said: “Max is very different. He is a bit like Kimi Raikkonen. Very straightforward, enormously talented. His focus is very different.”

Todt: There are other drivers who can also perform at that level with those cars

Todt famously masterminded the Ferrari glory years at the turn of this century, the key player in the extraordinary Michael Schumacher legacy was asked if he would have hired Lewis or Max if they had been around at the time?

“When I was at Ferrari I wanted the best drivers. That’s why I wanted Michael. It didn’t matter if I was in the rally or sportscar world, I always wanted to identify the best driver.”

“Now Max and Lewis are the two best drivers. However, there are other drivers who can also perform at their level with those cars,” suggested Todt.

Round 21 of the 2021 F1 season is the all-new Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with Verstappen leading Hamilton by eight points and Mercedes top of the constructors’ standings by five.