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Tory BarronESPN Editor
That’s 2016 NBA champion and “Dancing with the Stars” winner Iman Shumpert to you.
The former Cleveland Cavaliers guard and New York Knicks 2011 first-round draft pick made history when he and partner Daniella Karagach emerged victorious in the 30th season of the show.
While Shumpert is far from the first former professional athlete to be named Mirror Ball champion, he is the first ex-NBA player to boast the distinction.
.@imanshumpert and @DKaragach stopped by to give the NBA Today crew some dance tutorials đđđș
Catch them on @DancingABC finale at 8 PM ET on ABC đș pic.twitter.com/BgjPnlsASW
â NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) November 22, 2021
To be fair, he’s also the only one who is married to singer-songwriter, dancer and choreographer Teyana Taylor. While we can’t say for certain that Taylor played a role in the 31-year-old’s preparation for the competition, having her in his corner certainly didn’t hurt.
Whether Shumpert’s success will prompt more NBA brethren to participate remains to be seen, but he knows who would be primed for success.
“Kyrie Irving and Carmelo Anthony, they’ve got good footwork. Guys with good footwork,” he explained in an interview with Page Six.
Now that Shump has officially joined the likes of Emmitt Smith, Laurie Hernandez and Hines Ward as a Mirror Ball champion, we’re looking back on his electrifying dance journey that both put the world on notice and made us acutely aware of our lack of coordination:
Team DanIman, as Iman and Daniella were referred to on the show, wowed the judges during the semifinals with their jazz routine to “Dark Fantasy” by Kanye West (which features vocals by Teyana Taylor). If you watch the above video you’ll have approximately zero questions why they earned the strong score of 38 out of 40.
In case the tantalizing choreography and flawless delivery weren’t reasons enough for fans to vote for Shumpert, the former Cavs player shouted out his old teammate LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers star’s signature “Silencer” celebration.
The nod to King James was seemingly enough to make LeBron fans pledge their loyalty to Iman in the final. He admittedly needed all the help he could get going up against Amanda Kloots, Cody Rigsby and JoJo Siwa and her dedicated fan base, the Siwanatorz (Siwa boasts 11.1 million followers on Instagram alone).
In every hero’s journey there’s a moment, a turning point that thrusts the main character on the path to fulfilling their destiny. In Shump’s quest to capture the elusive Mirror Ball trophy, we can all point to the “Horror Night” dance and say “this was it.”
The contemporary routine was inspired by the 2019 critically acclaimed Jordan Peele horror movie “Us” and was performed to “I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix).” The duo got into character by rocking red jumpsuits like the murderous doppelgĂ€ngers, or tethers, featured in the movie and delivering the same haunting facial expressions and mannerisms as the villains.
Their commitment to detail paid off, as all four judges awarded Shumpert and Karagach the maximum 10 points, giving the team its first perfect score (40) of the season. The judges were also heavy on the praise.
“You transported us to another world,” said judge Carrie Ann Inaba. “My mind was blown, it was sheer perfection.”
Fellow judge Derek Hough agreed with Inaba and described the dance as a routine that “people will watch over and over and over again.”
And finally, judge Bruno Tonioli echoed the sentiment, concluding, “It was your masterpiece performance.”
The judges weren’t the only ones enamored with the duo’s Oct. 25 performance. The routine went viral, garnering reaction from fans of the show and NBA superstars alike.
Most notably, the LeBron guy we were talking about earlier had thoughts:
Man my G @imanshumpert in his f’n đŒ!!!!!! LFG đŁđŁđŁđŁđŁ. Don’t even try to front, just respect the conglomerate! đ„đ„đ„đ„đ„đ„đ„đ„đ„đ„ https://t.co/8SzL2th79q
â LeBron James (@KingJames) October 26, 2021
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
James’ support didn’t go unnoticed by his former teammate. Upon seeing LeBron’s rave review, Shump was quick to shoot a subtle shot about potentially joining King James & Co. on the Lakers’ star-studded roster:
Once I get a real shot at this mirror ball…u know where to find me…I’ll be in La still đ€·đŸââïžđ https://t.co/DMGqjYun8A
â Iman. (@imanshumpert) October 27, 2021
Hey, if J.R. Smith could get a ring in 2020 anything is possible.
As is true with any great artist who has amassed an extensive catalog of work, there are many varying opinions on what qualifies as Shumpert’s best stuff. Just as someone might ride for Adele’s banger “Rolling in the Deep” or generational ballad “Hello,” others will vow her heartbreaking transparency on “Hold On” puts the new track in a league of its own.
That is to say, while the “Horror Night” performance and semifinals jazz routine earned the most critical acclaim, this Nov. 1 “Queen Night” paso doble to “Another One Bites the Dust” (32 out of 40) is excellent in its own right.
Did we just compare Shumpert the dancer to Adele the singer-songwriter? Yes, yes we did. Just go with it.
If there was ever any doubt about Team DanIman’s range, it was put to rest when they performed a redemption tango to “Telephone” by Martynas (37 out of 40) during the semifinals. The same night they showed out with the “Dark Fantasy” jazz routine? Precisely.
We won’t pretend to have a wealth of ballroom dancing knowledge, but if the experts — er, people in the comments section of the “Dancing with the Stars” YouTube page — are to be believed, the duo demonstrated excellent connection despite their height difference, the choreography was outstanding and Iman’s posture improved immensely over the course of the season.
The above praise was enough to bring the Mirror Ball home to the sports world despite a star-studded finale.
As Shumpert explained on “The Real” last week, he “didn’t come on the show to lose.” But he had to bring his A-game to defeat who he perceived to be his greatest competition: Siwa.
“My daughter might vote for her,” Shumpert said of the YouTube sensation, with a laugh.
Meanwhile, Taylor had one piece of advice for how her husband could emerge victorious on Monday: “Sell it.”
And sell it he did. Shumpert and Karagach’s freestyle to “Lose Control” and their cha-cha/foxtrot fusion dance to “September” both earned perfect scores of 40 out of 40 in the finale.
The PGA Tour is raising purses even higher in five of its biggest events, with two FedEx Cup playoff events now offering $15 million in a schedule that pushes prize money closer to the $500 million mark this year.
The increases, which include $12 million purses in the three invitational tournaments, were approved at a board meeting two weeks ago in Houston and outlined in a memo PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sent to players Monday.
“We are positioned to grow faster in the next 10 years than we have at any point in our existence,” Monahan said in the memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Monahan said the tour’s forecast is for 55% of revenue going back to the players in prize money, bonus programs and other benefits. The $838 million allocated to the players includes $32 million from the reserve fund.
Prize money from official events comes out to $360.1 million. That doesn’t include the $75 million from the FedEx Cup, and it doesn’t include the majors, which now are lagging behind regular PGA Tour events.
The majors typically don’t announce their purses until closer to the event. A year ago, the richest major was the U.S. Open at $12.5 million. The PGA Championship purse was $12 million and the Masters and the Open Championship awarded $11.5 million.
The memo was a year-end message that was delivered earlier than usual, in part because of an announcement earlier this month that a Greg Norman-led group funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund plans to inject $200 million into the Asian Tour as a step toward creating a world tour promising guaranteed riches.
Monahan did not mention competing tours in his memo.
The tour already posted the 2021-22 schedule, which shows most tournaments increasing prize money by nearly $1 million.
The updates approved by the board include the postseason events — the FedEx St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship — going from $11.5 million to $15 million in prize money, meaning the winner would get $2.7 million. That’s a boost from a $9.5 million purse a year ago.
Also, prize money at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the Memorial at Muirfield Village are going up to $12 million, compared with $10.5 million previously listed and $9.3 million a year ago.
The World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play also will have a $12 million purse.
The average purse on the PGA Tour, not including the four opposite-field events, is roughly $9 million.
Along with prize money, the FedEx Cup bonus pool goes from $60 million to $75 million, with the winner getting $18 million. The Comcast Business Tour Top 10, which offers bonuses to the top finishers in the regular season, doubles its total bonus to $20 million.
The Player Impact Program, which awards the leading players based on various media metrics, goes from $40 million to $50 million.
The tour said $685 million from the $838 million allocated to the players would be player compensation, such as prize money and bonuses. The rest goes into retirement and benefits plans.
The increases come largely from the nine-year media rights deal (network and digital) worth roughly $7 billion that goes into effect in 2022.
“Over the past 20 months — as we have managed through the pandemic and restored our operating reserves — we have prioritized purse and comprehensive earnings growth across all FedEx Cup positions,” Monahan said in the memo, adding that the tour was “bullish on the forecast” going forward.
Daniil Medvedev has moved to within one match of defending his Nitto ATP Finals title, yesterday, cruising past Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 to earn his ninth consecutive victory at the season finale.
The Russian, like Djokovic, soared through the round-robin stage with a perfect 3-0 record, playing confidently against Ruud as he overpowered the Norwegian with his flat and deep groundstrokes in a dominant performance to advance after 80 minutes in Turin.
Medvedev now leads Ruud 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having also defeated the world number eight on grass in Mallorca in June en route to the title.
The 25-year-old, who downed Dominic Thiem to lift the trophy in London in 2020, will face either five-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Novak Djokovic, or Alexander Zverev in the championship match.
Earlier this season, the world number two captured his fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto, before he ended Djokovicâs grand slam hopes in the U.S. Open final to win his maiden major title. Medvedev arrived in Turin following a run to the championship match in Paris, where he lost to Djokovic, who gained revenge for his defeat at Flushing Meadows.
Medvedev trails the Serbian 4-6 in their ATP head-to-head series, but leads Zverev 6-5, having won their past five meetings, including a three-set win at the Pala Alpitour this week. Ruud was making his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals and edged Andrey Rublev to qualify for the semi-finals as he went 2-1 in Green Group action. In a breakthrough season, he has earned 55 tour-level wins, holding a 25-10 record on hard courts.
Around the same same time, the FIA denied Mercedesâ right to appeal last weekâs non-penalty on championship leader Max Verstappen.
Wolff, the head of Mercedes, and Red Bull principal Horner sat side-by-side during a tense 30-minute media briefing that displayed the full animosity between the two teams.
âItâs the world championship of the highest category in motor racing,â Wolff said, âand what started as Olympic boxing went to pro boxing and is now MMA. Elbows are allowed now because the rules say so, and the gloves are off. Nothing else is to be expected.â
F1 moved this week to Losail for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix with the results of last weekâs race still hanging over the championship fight. Lewis Hamilton earned his 101st victory at the Brazilian GP to cut his deficit to Verstappen to only 14 points with three races remaining.
Mercedes protested the decision not to penalize Verstappen in Sao Paulo when the Red Bull driver ran Hamilton wide off course as the seven-time champion attempted a pass for the lead. The FIA heard the appeal on Thursday and then denied the Mercedes request as Horner and Wolff were in the middle of Fridayâs briefing.
Horner shrugged off Wolff, declaring âthere is no relationshipâ between the two. He also suggested the Mercedes team might be cracking as Red Bull attempts to end its reign at the top of the series.
âI think itâs the first time theyâve been challenged. Itâs interesting to see how people react under pressure, how they react when they are challenged,â Horner said. âItâs by far the most intense political title fight weâve been involved in, in this sport.â
No relationship is one thing. But respect?
Horner said he appreciates what Mercedes has accomplished. Same for Hamilton, who can pass Michael Schumacher with a record eight championships if he can catch Verstappen over the next three races.
âBut I donât need to go to dinner with Toto. I donât need to kiss his (butt) or anything like that. Thereâs a few other team principals that might,â Horner said. âToto and I are very different characters and we operate in very different ways. Am I going to be spending Christmas with Toto? Probably not.â
âI think the competition is just too high,â Wolff said. âYou cannot expect that youâre going to dinner with your rival or with a rival team or your enemy in sporting competition, irrespective of personalities and the characters.â
Mercedes and Red Bull have been sparring all season â a collision between the drivers on the first lap of the British Grand Prix sent Verstappen to the hospital, and a crash between the two at Monza led to Verstappenâs car landing on top of Hamiltonâs head.
But it reached another level in Brazil. Mercedes was found to have an illegal wing on Hamiltonâs car, and Verstappen was caught on video taken from the grandstands illegally touching the part after practice.
The drama built all weekend and when Verstappen wasnât penalized for running Hamilton wide, Mercedes erupted. Even though Hamilton won the race, Mercedes protested the no-call in hopes that Verstappen would be retroactively penalized.
If the protest had been successful, Verstappen would have been given a time penalty that would have dropped him from second to third at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and further tightened the title race.
Wolff said the ruling was âcompletely expectedâ and added âwe wanted to trigger discussion around it because it probably will be a theme. We didnât think it would go any further.â
Horner called it the right decision: âOtherwise, it would have opened a Pandoraâs box regarding a whole bunch of other incidents that happened in that race.
âI think the most important thing now is we want a good, clean, fair fight,â Horner said before watching Hamilton power into the distance on Sunday evening at Losail, with Verstappen limiting the damage of a five-place grid penalty finished second.
However, Horner had been on the rampage in the aftermath of Verstappenâs penalty in Qatar for ignoring double waved yellow flags during qualifying on Saturday, slamming a ârogue marshalâ when speaking to media after Stewards released the sanction a few hours before the race started.
For this, the Red Bull boss was served an official warning by the FIA Stewards and Horner was quick to apologise for causing offence with his angry remarks.
Nevertheless, it is crystal clear that tensions are feverishly high in both camps as knives are out in this contest between #CryWolff and #SpiceBoy as their prizefighters â Lewis and Max â battle it out for the greatest prize in motorsport. (Reporting by AP with input by GP247)
Q: Weâve just had our first laps of this Losail circuit, so gentlemen, first of all, what have your drivers been saying about the track? Toto, can we start with you please?
Toto WOLFF:Â First of all, itâs great to be on a new track. It makes it interesting and youâve seen the track ramp-up was quite high, so itâs very difficult to really compare times. Also, some corners were taken pretty wide. I donât know if that makes a difference. Lewis was not entirely happy with the car this morning. Valtteri, more so, but the conditions are probably not representative of what weâre going to be seeing in qualifying and the race, which happens in the night. So, I guess itâs learning the track, understanding the set-up direction, where it could go to â but itâs not yet representative.
Christian?
CH: Yeah, interesting track. Both drivers quite enjoyed it. Checo couldnât remember coming here until we showed him some pictures,  actually won a race here 11 or 12 years ago. But I think itâs a challenge. I think on low fuel itâs going to be exciting for the drivers. I think that itâs obviously designed primarily for motorbikes, which is why the kerbs are so low. I think track limits you could see becoming a bit of a nightmare for race control but Iâm sure they were using that first session to look at whereâs the boundary line? But early days. I think it will ramp-up quite quickly.
Q: Letâs throw it back to last weekend now. We had a fantastic Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday. And the intensity hasnât let-up in the days since. Toto, starting with you, youâve chosen to request a right to review to the incident on lap 48. Can I ask why?
TW: Well, the intensity is high. Itâs normal. There is two drivers, two teams fighting for a world championship. Itâs close, itâs swinging one direction and then the other. Red Bull had a fantastic weekend in Mexico and then we were able to strike back the following weekend â but itâs the tiniest of margins that could make a difference at the end. Also that has gone both ways. Max has lost points with crashes, that he wasnât entirely responsible for and on the other side we lost some points when it was about, for example, the Spa race, which shouldnât have been as it was. So, you fight every single point and we still feel the incident⊠so we donât expect to gain anything, to be honest, from the right to review but itâs more about the principal and the philosophy because if it stays that way it means overtaking from the outside is pretty much not possible anymore because the inside controls the corner completely. Now that is anyway the case but as it was before, when a car is next to you, you need to leave a car width. Thatâs not the case. We just want to take it to the end, have a judgement on that and then adapt, if necessary, for the last few races. And you can see some of the drivers have actually expressed that same opinion. So thatâs why weâre making the stewards have another look on it.
Q: Thank you. Christian, what was your reaction to Mercedesâ request for a review?
CH: I wasnât really that surprised. I think, just referring to Totoâs comments there about overtaking on the outside isnât possible. I think Max demonstrated clearly it is in Mexico, into the first turn. I think this right to review, weâve been through it, at Silverstone, where we felt that there were strong circumstances to look at and the consequences of an incident like that were obviously serious with the retirement, destruction of the car and the loss of an engine, and so on. With this one, it feels a little bit spurious because the key questions to ask yourself, and the key fundamentals are: is it new? Potentially. Is it relevant? One could potentially argue that as well. Is it significant? Absolutely not. I think there are enough camera angles for the stewards to make their decisions. I think weâve seen numerous incidents, both in the Sprint race and during the grand prix, indeed on the first lap of the grand prix, with Valtteri taking an almost identical line, and so I would be surprised, I would be disappointed if it were to go to another hearing but itâs just frustrating itâs taking this long. I mean, the discussion was yesterday. Not quite sure why itâs taking⊠it would be nice to have it cleared-up, obviously before we go into the next session.
Q: Toto, do you think the new evidence is significant?
TW:Â You know for me, the question is less a legal one. It is enough evidence or not to go to a review? I think it is â but itâs clear that we both may have different viewpoints on that. Itâs more the racing consequences that it has, and I have a very strong opinion about that. So it is really important to understand whatâs on and whatâs not on for the next few races because we donât want this championship to be decided by a highly controversial situation that may end up in the stewardsâ room again and with lots of polarisation afterwards.
Q: You did say last weekend Toto, that you didnât want to win the championship off-track.
TW: Well, thatâs the main aim. We donât want to end-up, after Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi wherever it may end in one or the other direction and it going to the stewardsâ room, or to the International Court of Appeal because one of the teams feels it wasnât treated rightly, so thatâs why now is the time for this for this very championship to discuss the rules.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Julien Billiotte â AutoHebdo) A question to both gentlemen please. Is there any concern that investigating a grand prix several days after the event could actually open a can of worms and set a dangerous precedent for Formula 1 whereby you have all the teams challenging the results all the time?
Christian, can we start with you please?
CH:Â Well, I think thatâs the danger for the FIA with this. That if they do go down this route than every single incident from now on will be questioned. Theyâll be evidence from iPhones or spectatorsâ phones. Thereâll always be something that can be deemed as new or relevant or significant and I think that the stewards made their call. It wasnât even referred to on their listing after the event. It was a non-issue. It was two drivers racing hard, both in truth went in deep, went in late. Both went off the circuit and we saw many incidents at Turn 4 throughout that weekend in both the race and on Saturday. Then, of course, if you wind it back, you know you get incidents like Istanbul, you get to incidents like at Monza. Where do you draw that line? So, yeah, the competitors are going to push every angle that they can but I really donât see the relevance of it and I think it does set a dangerous precedent if this incidence, on this occasion is reopened.
Thank you. Toto?
TW: I think indeed itâs a danger. Nobody wants to have feeds from social media thatâs coming in and then you suddenly have new evidence, rightly or wrongly, so we need to clean that up. Hopefully in the regulations, with the consent of everybody that, first of all, the stewards need to have access to all relevant channels. I think in that case the stewards didnât have access to the onboard, which is an important tool to judge. I think weâve had instances in the past, like Red Bull on the Red Bull Ring where Lewis didnât see a yellow flag but on the video  you could see he did â or he could have seen it, and it was penalised. And I think in that case, those informations werenât available to the stewards, and thatâs why itâs relevant and we should make sure they have access quickly to all these relevant channels. But I agree: we donât want to drag it for a week or two. Thatâs not the right thing.
Q: (Andrew Benson â BBC) This is for you Christian, but Toto Iâd like a comment from you afterwards. Christian, in the incident at Copse during the British Grand Prix, the driver on the inside ran a bit wide, the driver on the outside didnât give room and you called that move from the driver on the inside ârecklessâ and âamateurishâ. In Brazil, the driver on the inside ran a bit wide and the only reason they didnât collide, you could argue, is that the driver on the outside did give room, but you called that âhard, fair racingâ. Could explain the apparent contradiction please?Â
CH:Â Well, I donât think it is a contradiction as itâs two different corners, two different circumstances and two different car positionings, and I think Silverstone, youâve got a gravel trap and a wall and you know the overspeed that was at Silverstone is incomparable with what it was at Interlagos., You could see at Interlagos that both drivers braked late. They have arguably outbraked each other but at no point was Lewis in a position to turn into the corner as Max was at Silverstone and of course the difference at Silverstone was that we had a driver end up in hospital. We had a car destroyed, we had an engine destroyed and a driver eliminated from the race. This was a racing incident. Lewis won the grand prix. He was the quicker driver in the quicker car on the day and you know there was no consequence and I think the two incidents you cannot compare, because then we can go back to Monza, numerous other incidents and you have to take each one in isolation. Different circumstances, different corners, different conditions, different layouts, different surfaces, different kerbs, different run-offs, they are incomparable.
TW:Â The outcome from Silverstone was much more severe and nobody liked the pictures, but the philosophical question remains the same. If the outside drive doesnât cede room then they collide and they would have collided in Turn 4 in Interlagos if Lewis hadnât have opened up and run even wider, so I think the regulation that can be applied is the same.
Q: (Jon McEvoy â Daily Mail) Do you each believe that you are running legal engines, legal rear wings and any other elements as well? How would you describe relations at the moment between Red Bull and Mercedes? Would you say there is still mutual respect as you fight these last few rounds?Â
TW:Â I open a diplomatic speech. I think that nobody would show up at the track with an illegal engine or an illegal rear wing. The world is too transparent for that and you would be mad if you take decisions in a team with such a visibility that are illegals â 100%. As far as the punches between the teams, there are many great people working in Red Bull and obviously many great people working in Mercedes and itâs a hell of a fight. There is a respect for the capability that Red Bull has, definitely. And itâs clear that this is tough. Itâs the World Championship of the highest category in motor racing and what started as Olympic boxing went to pro boxing and is now MMA, but thatâs OK. We are in the ring there trying to do the best job possible, elbows are allowed now because the rules say so and gloves are off and nothing else is to be expected.
CH:Â There is no relationship. There is a competition and I think it was interesting to hear Totoâs views after the sprint race last week and I think that on his team radio. Look, we are going to push to the maximum. We worked hard to get into this position. Itâs the first time they have been challenged. Itâs interesting to see how people react when they are under pressure, when they are challenged. Itâs by far the most intense, political title fight weâve been involved in in our time in the sport. Does our car comply with the rules? Absolutely. Do we have concerns about the gains in straight line speed we have seen since Budapest, but which have been exponential in the last couple of races? Absolutely. Do we expect the FIA, as the scrutineer and the policeman of the sport, to ensure that all the cars are compliant? The rules are a complex set of regulations so you know we rely very, very heavily on the FIA to ensure that itâs absolutely scrupulously fair, because what we absolutely want going into these last three races is a fair fight. Whoever comes out at the end of this on top, it shouldnât be in the stewards room or in a court of appeal, it needs to be done on track. We just want to ensure that going into these last three races that these cars are being scrupulously policed and are in full compliance, because there is too much at stake. Youâve got two teams and two drivers that are fighting for the biggest prize in sport and the stakes are incredibly high and you want to make sure the playing field is level.
Q: Christian you say there is no relationship, but is there respect?Â
CH:Â I think relationship and respect are two different things. Of course there is respect for everything that Mercedes have done and everything that Lewis Hamilton has done, but I donât need to go to dinner with Toto. I donât need to kiss his arse, or anything like that. There are a few other team principals that might but from my perspective itâs a competition and I think itâs great that weâre in this position, that weâre fighting. Weâre fighting for the World Championship, weâre fighting for the Constructorsâ World Championship and itâs the first time in seven year they have been challenged, so that intensifies it and I think the sport is a big winner out of this and I just hope that we have a hard and fair fight between now and the end of the season.
Q: (Luke Smith â Autosport) A question for both of you, picking up on what you said, Christian, about this being the most intense political fight youâve had. Between both of you, do you feel that at points this season, between Mercedes and Red Bull, that the political fighting has gone too far, has it crossed a line? Also is there part of both of you that actually enjoys this kind of political warfare as well and trying to get one up on each other?Â
CH: Formula 1 is a competition. It is the most competitive sport, arguably, in the world. Itâs the most technical sport in the world. There is a huge amount at stake. The competitors are operating at an unbelievable level and you know on track, off track itâs been an extremely intense season, but I think we have absolutelyâŠ. This is what we have worked for. We have worked incredibly hard behind the scenes, itâs not just what you see at the circuit, thatâs only 10% of who our team is. Itâs what goes on behind the scenes in the factory, the late nights, the difficulties through all the remote working that we have had, the circumstances of the last 12 months. As a team we have fought incredibly hard to get into this position. Max having won nine grands prix this year and the team having won 10 grands prix, is a position that we have strived for during the difficult years and we have never given up. Weâve kept fighting, weâve kept pushing, weâve kept believing and Mercedes, make no bones about it, have set the bar incredibly high but itâs great that we are in this position, weâre enjoying being in this position and rest assured we will give it everything that we have between now and the end of the year.
TW:Â Yeah, I think, what is there to add. The fight happens on all levels â political, sporting, technical. Thatâs clear. I think that whoever wins this championship at the end of the year, Driver and Constructors, merits the win, because it was on a very high level.
Q: (Ian Parkes â New York Times) Question to both of you, obviously weâre listening to the comments here in the press conference and we have heard numerous comments as well during the course of the season directed towards one another. Where does this dislike of each other stem from? Whatâs been the cause of it? And do you feel there will always be this undercurrent of ill feeling towards one another or is there any hope of any reconciliation between the pair of you. And a direct question to you, Christian, you talked about there being a fair fight, that the FIA police things correctly. Are we going to see therefore any kind of protest from yourselves towards Mercedesâ straight line pace as youâve referred to and obviously pointedly there towards the rear wing?Â
TW:Â I think the competition is just too high. You cannot expect that you are going to dinner with your rival or with a rival team or with your enemy in that sporting competition, irrespective of the personalities and the characters, nothing else. Everything else would be not normal and thatâs as simple as it is. No negative emotion or positive emotion. The emotions are pretty neutral.
CH: Look, Toto and I are very different characters and you know we operate in different ways and I think thatâŠ. Am I going to be spending Christmas with Toto? Probably not, unless youâre in panto  this year, I might take the kids.
TW:Â Shame.
CH: I think that from my perspective itâs a tough competition and thatâs Formula 1. I donât think⊠you donât have to be best mates with your opponents. How can you be? I think that would be dishonest in many respects, to fake a façade when you are competing against each other. What was the second part of the question?
TW:Â Whether you are protesting us?
CH: Arenât you protesting us at the moment? Would I protest? Absolutely. If we believe that the car is not in compliance we will protest, because the straight line speeds we have seen in Mexico and Brazil⊠I think everybody could see in Brazil it was not a normal situation. Yes, a new engine comes, we know with Mercedes, comes with increased performance but when you have a 27 kilometre an hour closing speed and you see âwitnessâ marks on rear wing endplates that have been marking up from wings that have been flexing, itâs very clear to us what has been going on. So, of course thatâs why I refer itâs down to the FIA but if we feel that to make sure the cars are in compliance, if theyâre not you protest if you believe a competitor isnât complying with the rules.
Q: The decision has just dropped and the news from the steward is that they deny the competitorâs decision for a review, under Article 14 of the ISC? Can we get your reaction to that, please?
TW:Â Completely expected. I think we wanted to trigger a discussion around it, because probably it will be a theme in the next few races and I think that objective is achieved. We didnât really think it would go any further.
CH:Â I think itâs obviously the right decision because it would open Pandoraâs box regarding a whole bunch of other incidents that happened at that race. I think the most important thing now is to focus on this grand prix. Itâs great to be here in Qatar. I think itâs going to be a good circuit and we want a good clean fair fight, not just here but in Jeddah and in Abu Dhabi.
Q: (Ben Hunt â The Sun) A couple of questions for Toto. You said you would be mad to turn up with an illegal wing or engine. The only thing is you did have a wing that failed in Brazil. You mentioned that the FIA can cut it into lots of pieces if they wanted. I just wondered whether youâd had it back? Is there any concern that perhaps you could face some penalties yourselves as a result of their investigation into that wing. A second question: we saw quite a strange reaction from you, passionate somewhat, perhaps. Are you struggling with the pressure of this title fight? And if not, how are you managing to cope?
TW: I start with the second part: I donât feel pressure. I think Iâve felt pressure in my life at various other points that is ridiculous compared to what I had in my personal life, number one. Iâm very passionate about it and I protect my tribe and my driver and when things are going against me you will see the emotions. You need to be authentic about it. As for the rear wing. Yeah, we got the rear wing back and, as we thought, it was broken. It broke in qualifying. We didnât pass the 85mm slot gap test on the far right side. We passed it on the left and the middle, but not on the middle by a fraction of a millimetre and thatâs fine. We werenât allowed to inspect it, nor to make the argument that the part is being broken and consequently we found out that two screws became undone in qualifying and that caused that right side to be irregular and you know probably it was even detrimental to the lap time but it is what it is. It was reported to the stewards and that was very different to how these things were handled in the past where you would be able to patch up things that got broken during parc fermĂ© but weâve moved on. Itâs a race gone. We were obviously able to turn it around. I wish that Lewis had been able to take more points from the Sprint Qualifying, but that is the past. I think now the rules are in a way reset and weâre going to do the best out of it for the current grand prix and the next ones to come.
Q: (Scott Mitchell â The Race) Just to go back to the topic of the Mercedes rear wing. Christian you talked about if you do feel that it is illegal you will protest it. I wondered how close you are to determining that situation and Toto, if you have anything to say about the legality of the car?Â
CH:Â We will follow the situation and it will depend really on what happens this weekend â so what we see and the analysis that we have conducted, so it really depends on what we see. It doesnât just apply to here because I think in many respects itâs even more pertinent to the two circuits that are coming up. But as a competitor, Iâm sure Mercedes, we know, have paid a huge amount of attention to our car this season, and we are doing the same. Itâs high stakes and there is an awful lot to play for and we just want to make sure it is an equal playing field.
TW:Â Yeah, Iâve always said that is how you fight. You are trying to avoid that a competitor has an advantage. If youâre led by scepticism because someone told you something and you expect that to be the root cause, you should go for it. Weâve said that I think we have been controlled 14 times on this particular wing. The FIA has all the drawings about it. There is no such thing as Red Bull expects there to be. So we are happy to send it, cut it, I can send you one to Milton Keynes.
CH:Â So, how do you explain the score marks on the rear wing endplate?
TW:Â I think it is within what is allowed and therefore that is OK.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll â Motorsport.com) Toto, the decision says, like Christian said before, that the new evidence was relevant but not significant. Can you first of all confirm that the evidence that you submitted is basically just a video or was there anything else and what about this onboard video that for you that made it significant enough to amend the decision of Brazil?Â
TW:Â I think we made a little dossier without investing too much time, particularly not of the engineers who are involved in the performance of the car. It was premeditated where that would go, but still we wanted to make the case, also to make it public and I think what we have seen on the video is clear to anybody who has ever raced a car. Obviously far away from any of the levels that any driver in Formula 1 driver can do but that corner was not meant to be the corner where he stayed on track. He didnât mean to stay on track. Thatâs my personal interpretation but I shouldnât be judging on anybodyâs driving because if I could I should sit in a car and not sit here on a chair and comment.
Deccan Gladiators 113 for 1 (Kohler-Cadmore 51*, Banton 44) beat Delhi Bulls 112 (Rossouw 48, Russell 3-17) by nine wickets
Alongside Tom Banton (44 off 21), another among an array of English batting talent, the pair put on 100 in 39 deliveries to drive their side home in front of England’s white-ball captain, Morgan.
For Dwayne Bravo and Delhi Bulls, it was a first defeat in the Abu Dhabi T10. Despite becoming the first team to get bowled out this season, they still managed to set a challenging target of 113 for Gladiators.
Kohler-Cadmore went into the chase on the back of scores of 6 and 7 and he attributed his match-winning knock, which included three fours and five sixes, to a conversation he had earlier in the day with Mushtaq Ahmed, the Gladiators coach.
“I had a great chat with Mushy today, he just gave me a shed load of confidence and told me to trust myself from ball one and that’s exactly what I did,” Kohler-Cadmore said.
After the opening pair navigated the initial two overs of the powerplay with relative comfort, Bravo turned to another England man, Adil Rashid, in the hope of making a breakthrough. Kohler-Cadmore instead had other ideas.
How better to make a statement than to take one of England’s most prized assets for 25 runs in an over, with Morgan given a front-row seat to witness the onslaught?
Rashid was smashed for four consecutive sixes by Kohler-Cadmore: three wonderful shots over midwicket and one straight back over the bowler’s head. By the end of the third over, the Gladiators were 53 without loss and had almost halved the target. It was as emphatic a statement as you could make.
“I’ve faced Rash a lot in the nets, especially back home, so it was only going one way or the other,” Kohler-Cadmore said. “Either he was gonna get me out or I was gonna get him. Thankfully, it went my way.”
The chance to get one over his Yorkshire team-mate was certainly sweet, but Kohler-Cadmore was still full of praise for Rashid. “For me, to be able to learn and play with someone like him – because he’s world-class and he shows it every time he performs, especially in an England shirt – it’s awesome to learn from someone as good as him,” he said.
T10 is a format of the game that doesn’t allow for any time to settle in and Kohler-Cadmore underlined how that helped his approach. “It’s probably the simplest format because your intent is to hit every ball for six anyway. Even when someone like Rash deceives you, you’re still swinging in this format, so you might get an inside edge or an outside edge and get lucky. In fact, it’s quite a simple game as opposed to when it’s longer, it’s perhaps slightly harder.”
As he and Banton continued their assault at the Zayed Cricket Ground, the television crew decided that it would be a good time to interview Andy Flower, the coach of the Delhi Bulls. “He’s a beautiful batter and he’s great to watch, just maybe not so much when you’re on the other side,” Flower said of Kohler-Cadmore’s assault.
He was remorseful and apologetic for his actions and it is fair to say he has made strides forward since then, not least by volunteering to speak at a PCA rookie camp where around 50 newly signed professional cricketers heard his tale as part of an induction into the game.
Suspension served, an England cap is still something that has evaded Kohler-Cadmore till now. He toured with the Lions in Australia in early 2020 and was part of England’s 55-man training squad last summer. And he has spent the past year representing Yorkshire and Northern Superchargers, as well as Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL and starring in the T10.
The hunger is undoubtedly still there and innings like this can only help when knocking on the door of an England white-ball setup that is notoriously tricky to break into.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) â Jordan Poole had his second straight 30-point performance with 33, Andrew Wiggins added 32 points and seven rebounds, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors 119-104 on Sunday night with Stephen Curryâs supporting cast taking pressure off the reigning scoring champion.
Poole shot 10 for 13 with eight 3-pointers and became the first Warriors player aside from Curry with consecutive 30-point outings since DâAngelo Russell did so in three in a row from Dec. 27, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020.
Curry scored just 12 points but had eight assists after sitting out a 105-102 win at Detroit on Friday night to rest his sore hip on the second night of a back-to-back. Curry began 1 for 7 and finished 2 of 10 from the floor.
âThe scoring balance means that teams canât throw everything at Steph,â coach Steve Kerr said. âThatâs what was happening last year. Teams were throwing everything they had at Steph.â
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Wiggins made six 3s, knocking down his first five shots for 14 early points. Golden State started 9 for 14 to build a 27-9 lead late in the opening quarter. The Warriors (15-2) never trailed in winning their fourth straight and 11th in 12.
âWe all know what Wiggs is capable of,â Poole said.
Pascal Siakam scored 21 points and Fred VanVleet had 17 points and seven assists for the Raptors.
VanVleetâs back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the fourth pulled Toronto within 103-93 before Golden State called a timeout with 7:16 to play. The Warriors then stayed safely ahead the rest of the way.
âItâs great to have everybody on the roster contributing and understanding that every nightâs going to be different and they just have to stay ready,â Kerr said.
The Raptors had won four of the previous five meetings with the Warriors.
TIP-INS
Raptors: VanVleet was 3 for 12 from deep and the Raptors 15 of 37 from 3-point range. ⊠F Scottie Barnes grabbed 13 rebounds but shot 3 for 11. ⊠Toronto has dropped 15 of the last 17 on Golden Stateâs home floor. The Raptors are 6-4 on the road but 1-3 against the Western Conference.
Warriors: Two-way G Chris Chiozza scored 11 points over 29 minutes off the bench. His teammates gave him a standing ovation. ⊠G Andre Iguodala sat out a third straight game nursing a tender right knee while Gary Payton II was out as he continues to recover from surgery on his right hernia. ⊠Otto Porter Jr. returned from sitting out a game protecting a foot injury and scored 15 points off the bench to go with five rebounds. âEverybody is buying in to what weâre trying to do,â Porter said. ⊠Golden State has scored 100 or more points in every game â the only NBA team to do so.
ESPORTS EXTRAVAGANZA
The Warriors and Riot Games announced Sunday that Chase Center will be host to the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Finals premier esports event â and Toronto will serve as a semifinal host city.
Kerr sported a League of Legends shirt during his pregame media session.
UP NEXT
Raptors: At Memphis on Wednesday night continuing a six-game road trip.
Warriors: Host the 76ers on Wednesday night.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
© 2021 The Canadian Press
MILWAUKEE — Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said the organization would “continue to fight for better” in the aftermath of a jury’s verdict Friday that Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men and wounded another during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, was acquitted of all charges.
The Bucks performed a wildcat strike during the NBA’s playoff bubble in Orlando, Florida, days after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in August 2020 and one day after Rittenhouse shot three people in the protests over police violence that followed.
The Bucks met as a team ahead of Friday’s 96-89 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, and while Milwaukee forward Khris Middleton didn’t want to go into details about the team’s conversation, he said they never discussed not taking the court Friday.
“We talked about [the verdict] a little bit as a team,” Middleton said after Friday’s game. “Speaking for myself, it was definitely disappointing, but at the same time, it really wasn’t surprising about the verdict. I watched [the trial] a little bit and was able to keep up with it, but it’s something that I think we’ve all seen over and over again.”
Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant appeared to share Middleton’s opinion, tweeting, “not surprised at all.” Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet also said he wasn’t surprised but added that he didn’t want Friday’s verdict to be discouraging either.
“I think that we’ve got to continue to use the tools that we have at our disposal,” VanVleet said. “I think that things are changing and they will continue to change, but we can’t lose sight, we can’t lose focus, we can’t lose hope.”
Rittenhouse had been charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering after killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28, with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle during a tumultuous night of protests.
Rittenhouse — who is white, as were those he shot — pleaded self-defense. He could have gotten life in prison if found guilty on the most serious charge, first-degree intentional homicide, or what some other states define as first-degree murder.
The anonymous jury, whose racial makeup was not disclosed by the court but appeared to be overwhelmingly white, deliberated for close to 3œ days.
“The System Is Broken,” Minnesota‘s Karl-Anthony Towns tweeted.
The System Is Broken.
â Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) November 19, 2021
In January, the Bucks and Detroit Pistons each knelt on the court for seven seconds after tipoff and then rolled the ball out of bounds, following a decision by a Wisconsin prosecutor to not file charges against Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey for shooting Blake. The number of seconds matched the number of times Blake was shot.
“Still trying to push for better in our country,” Budenholzer said before Friday’s game. “Hoping for improvement. Organizationally, just continue to fight for social justice, for better. But at the same time, have to abide by the jury and the decision and the verdict and continue to fight for better.”
Budenholzer’s comments pushing for better were echoed by coaches around the league Friday.
Protestors gathered outside of Barclays Center in Brooklyn surrounding Friday’s game between the Nets and Orlando Magic.
“Clearly these situations are disappointing, and it’s important to not become demoralized and for people to continue to fight for the type of justice and equality that serves all,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “While I think it raises a lot of eyebrows, questions, a lot of pain, we recognize there has to be a path forward.
“It can’t be, ‘Well, this is just the way it is,’ and so I think the movement that we’ve experienced, one way or the other, is pushing change. Even if you can’t see that change on a daily basis or even year by year, over the course of time, without that type of attention and willpower to come together and fight for a brighter future, I think there would be no change, and it’s paramount in the seeds of change. So I think these are always opportunities for us to look in the mirror.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr voiced his concerns about gun laws before Golden State’s game in Detroit on Friday.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 when he went from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, had also been charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, a misdemeanor that had appeared likely to lead to a conviction. But the judge threw out that charge before jury deliberations after the defense argued that the Wisconsin law did not apply to the long-barreled rifle used by Rittenhouse.
“The fact that we are seemingly OK with a teenager’s right to take an AR-15 into an area where there is civil unrest, that’s really scary and concerning,” Kerr said. “This is where we are with gun laws. This is why we have to have safer gun laws in place to protect ourselves, to protect each other.
“It wasn’t a shocking verdict, but one that poses great risk going forward if we continue to go down this path of open carry and states determining that people can carry, even underage people, weapons of war. This is America. Treading down a dangerous path.”
National Basketball Social Justice Coalition executive director James Cadogan released a statement saying the organization “remains committed” to protecting the right to peaceful protest and that “any forms of vigilantism in our society are unacceptable.”
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Ohm Youngmisuk and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contrary to insinuations that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has formally parted ways with the Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr, the football house said yesterday that it canât do anything to that effect now.
The post We canât do anything about Rohr now, says NFF appeared first on The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News.
Featuring race winner Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) second-placed Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and third-placed Fernando Alonso (Alpine).
TRACK INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY JENSON BUTTON
Q: Lewis, after a faultless qualifying effort yesterday, a great race. It looked really straightforward from the outside, but Iâm sure it wasnât.
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, well, I always like to give a thanks to all the people that came out today, because itâs the first time weâve seen a crowd here in Qatar, so thank you all for coming. Yeah, it was pretty straightforward. It was pretty lonely at the front. Of course I enjoy those races where you are battling through, but we needed those points today, so a real solid job from the team, just with pit stops, with the car and yeah, I canât wait to watch the replay of the race to see what happened behind me. Iâm not really sure why peopleâs tyres were going, Iâm sure it was the kerbs. But yeah, Iâm really, really grateful for these points. Itâs been a hell of a year, so to be at this point of the year and to get back-to-back wins is a great, great feeling and it puts us in good stead for the next two.
Q: I think we all agree that this year is probably going to go down in history as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, title fight, between Max and yourself. Youâve got it down to eight points with two races to go, whatâs the feeling going into those two races?
LH: The feeling feels good. Iâm really, really happy with the car. I feel fit. Fitter than Iâve ever felt, so thatâs a positive. A big, big thanks to Ange, who is helping me to train, keeping me on my toes. Recovery has been great, so yeah, bring on the next two.
Q: Max, obviously you always come away with a victory and your main championship rival won the race today, but damage limitation. You also got the fastest lap of the race. It wasnât too bad a race was it?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, our starting position was a bit compromised but luckily we had a really good start and from there onwards I was quite quickly back into second, so at the end of the day to get that fastest lap was very nice. Of course I know itâs going to be difficult to the end but I think thatâs nice, it keeps it exciting.
Q: Itâs been quite a controversial weekend for Mercedes and Red Bull, but Iâm sure it was nice to get out on track and actually have a proper race out there?
MV: Yeah, it was good. This track is a lot of fun to drive as well. Itâs really, really quick. Also degradation-wise the tyres were holding on quite well. Yeah, it was cool.
Q: Only two races to go, championship fight, eight points between you, how are you feeling going into the last two?
MV: I feel good, like, itâs going to be a tight battle to the end.
Q: Congratulations Fernando. I think thereâs a lot of excitement here from your team Alpine and I think everyone around the world is excited to see you back on the podium. Itâs the first time since 2014, Budapest.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, unbelievable. Seven years, but finally we got it. We were close a couple of races but not enough. Sochi was the last possibility and yeah, today, honestly I thought to be leading after lap one. I thought with the red tyre I thought I could have a go and risk. But yeah, I couldnât and then with Checo it was very close at the end. But so happy for the team. Also, Esteban P5. A good Sunday.
Q: For us watching it looked like you were really looking after your tyres during the race and then pushing on the last four or five or six laps on the tyres. It was a real thinkers race today.
FA: Yeah, we planned one stop from the beginning but we never knew how bad was the wear and the degradation. Itâs a new race for everybody. But I think it was quite well executed, the race. The pit stop was fantastic. The team was great. The reliability of the car was superb and they deserve it.
Q: Enjoying Formula 1.
FA: I am enjoying and (laughs) F**k, I was waiting so long for this! I am happy.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Tremendous race Lewis, well done. You looked to have it under control from the outset. Is that how it was in the cockpit?
LH: Thank you, thank you. Well, it was just an amazing⊠these past three weeks have been so difficult for everyone with such big distances between all the races and the team did such an amazing job â particularly these past two races, and today, of course, the race was made a lot easier with the penalties that the guys obviously got for the mistake they made yesterday. That made it a lot more straightforward and yeah, I was just managing the gap at the front and just keeping the car safe and trying to maximise and bring the car home.
Q: Talk us through the start. Was your life made difficult with you being on the Medium tyre and the cars around you being on the Soft?
LH: Yes, a little bit. There was a little bit to gain from being on the Soft tyre but I generally felt I wasnât massively under threat. I managed to cover the ground just off the start and after that it was just head down and focused on trying to bridge the gap. I already saw that when I got to Turn 6, Max was already in fourth place, so I knew he was already past my team-mate, and at the time I obviously didnât know that Valtteri had had such a bad getaway but after that I was just focused on trying to maximise the points for the team. So, I was feeling strong. I think they had relatively decent pace, but I was able to manage the pace, so it was no problem.
Q: And Lewis, any nervous moments for you when your team-mate had the puncture?
LH: No. I mean, I wasnât⊠I was managing quite well, I wasnât on any of the kerbs, so it wasnât a concern for me. I assumed they were coming from people running on the kerbs but I was never near any of them, that wasnât the issue. Iâm really, really grateful, as I said, to my team. Big thank you to all the guys, the men and women back at the factories who have been pushing so much over this⊠particularly this second half of the season, to really try to bridge the gap, to really try and bridge the gap to our competitors. Itâs a great feeling but thereâs no time to celebrate, thereâs no time to rest. We keep our head down and we keep chasing.
Q: You talk about bridging the gap to Max. Itâs now down to eight points, having been nineteen after the Mexican Grand Prix just two races ago. How confident are you feeling?
LH: As I said, I feel great. I feel in the best shape physically that Iâve been in all year. So just feel⊠obviously at the beginning, not particularly that well, so yeah, I feel great, the car is feeling better than ever, and I feel positive going into these next couple of races. I think they should be quite good for our car, so Iâm looking forward to that battle.
Q: Max, coming to you, great race by you as well. Given where you started back in P7, how important was this P2?
MV: It was of course very important to try to clear them as quickly as possible. I had a really good getaway and I was already fourth out of Turn 1. Then I think within five laps I was second and yeah, just tried to keep the gap close with Lewis as much as I could, and I think that worked out well. We just didnât have the pace this weekend to match them. I just tried to follow and yeah, it was alright at the end. I did the fastest lap, which I was pretty happy about. At the end of the day itâs one extra point. Everything counts at the moment but yeah, overall I would say this weekend wasnât the best for us, but thereâs still two races to go and a lot of things can happen still, so weâll see.
Q: You said you didnât have the pace of Mercedes today, but when youâd made it into second place, as you say, after five laps, did you at that time think you could challenge for the win?
MV: You obviously have to wait and see a little bit. Quite early on in the race, I saw that was not really on, so I just tried to do the best I could by managing that gap.
Q: And talking of gaps, can we just get your thoughts on the World Championship fight now. Eight points, two to go.
MV: Yeah, itâs exciting. I would of course have liked to make it a bigger gap, but when you donât have the pace, itâs impossible to do that, so weâll just try to be better, and come back strong, especially in Saudi on the street track, and then yeah, weâll see in Abu Dhabi.
Q: Fernando, coming to you, welcome back to the podium. Itâs been seven years â just how sweet is this moment for you?
FA: It feels good. Obviously, a long wait from the last podium. 2014, and yeah, happy for this one. I think we executed a good race, one-stop strategy, and yeah, the car was great all weekend long and yesterday in qualifying the pace obviously helped to start at the front. Also, with the penalties of this morning. We overtook Gasly in Turn 2, that also helped our race, to have a little bit cleaner air and yeah, obviously a long wait. Your career sometimes goes up and down. I had wonderful moments two, three years ago winning Le Mans, winning the World Championship in Endurance etc, but obviously coming back now in preparation for 2022, and the new rules and have this podium now, at the end of the year, it feels really nice, and I think we are more ready than what we were 10 months ago.
Q: And how marginal was the one-stop strategy?
FA: I donât know. I donât think it was too bad for us. It seems that our car is kind on tyres. We did one-stop also in Brazil last week and today I think we had some margin to keep pushing a little bit more, but you never know, and Checo was coming quite fast at the end.
Q: And itâs a great result for the team in the Constructorsâ Championship. Youâre now 25 points ahead of AlphaTauri.
FA: Yeah. We didnât expect this. We honestly were thinking of very little points between us here, Saudi and Abu Dhabi but obviously this 25 points and margin makes things a little bit easier for us. But we cannot relax. Anything can happen on the next two events, and we need to keep the focus high and hopefully deliver more points for the Championship.
Q: Do you think you can continue this level of form at the final two races?
FA: I think itâs going to depend on the track layout and the characteristics of the track. Saudi, what we see on the videos, it could match our package; Abu Dhabi maybe a little bit less, even though the new corners may change a little bit what we feel there. I donât know, I feel positive. I feel that what I saw this weekend on the car made me quite optimistic for the next two.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas â Autosport) Max, we heard you reporting early in the race about some suspected front wing damage. I just wondered, where do you think that occurred and do you think it compromised your pace from there?
MV: Yeah, I think it happened lap one and lap three or something in turns 14 and 15. By trying to follow I just understeered a bit wide and this extra row of kerbs, theyâre quite aggressive and I saw a few sparks flying, so I think it did damage the front wing a little bit but yeah, it just gives you a tiny bit more understeer but it was not enough damage to really impact the pace difference between the two of us.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire â AP) Max, you made very quick work of moving up to second place from seventh, made a move inside straight away and then you got round on the outside. Was that one of your best starts, would you say, in Formula 1?
MV: Yeah, it was a very good start, actually. I didnât expect⊠I mean, itâs difficult to expect because there were people of course, around me with Softs, but then the two guys ahead of me had Medium tyres and itâs a new track, so you arrive at Turn 1 not really having had a lot of experience as well, of what is possible or what can happen, but I chose the right line into Turn 1 and then yeah, the other cars went a bit wider so that was very nice, yeah, it was enjoyable and hectic as well of course, because you have to be a little bit careful not to pick up damage or whatever on that first lap.
Q: (Scott Mitchell â The Race) Fernando, is this the best performance of your comeback so far or is there another race that youâre equally proud of but just didnât quite get the result?
FA: I donât know. Difficult to know. Probably as a weekend in general, this one was the best because Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it was very consistent. Sochi, I think was quite well executed as well. Only the rain at the end stopped us from the podium there. Yeah, I think the last part of this 2021 for sure⊠itâs another level compared to the first part, so Iâm happy with this year of comeback and the preparation into next year is definitely another level now.
Q: (Khodr Rawi â motorsport.com Middle East) Max, you knew today that you were losing your position on the grid one hour and a half before the start of the race. Does such late timing and decision affect your preparation, your own preparation, the preparation of your team or is it OK for you?
MV: No, for my feeling I knew I was going to get a penalty already yesterday evening, so I was prepared for that, so when I saw the result I was not shocked or surprised. Yeah, you just focus, you have to pass a few more cars than you normally would like but luckily it worked out really well on lap one already.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas â Autosport) Lewis, I wanted to ask you about the pace of your Mercedes package this weekend, it seems to have quite the edge over Red Bull. You mentioned the work the team has done to close the gap. Has it made the difference, that work, in terms of overcoming Red Bullâs previous superiority in higher speed corners?
LH: Yeah, I think we just, as the yearâs gone on, weâve understood the car more, weâve definitely been able to squeeze more performance out of the package without bringing any upgrades. Weâve not had an upgrade since Silverstone, so itâs quite phenomenal to see the small bits⊠the increments that weâve been improving. I think itâs very close between the two cars, clearly, so I think that lines us up for a great battle but yeah, in these last two, I think weâve just been able to do a better job overall. I hope that we can take this form into those next two.
Q: (SĂĄndor MĂ©szĂĄros â AutoSport ES Formula) Fernando, having a look at 2022 or the years after, if you want to fight for your third world title, itâs highly likely that you have to do a crusade against these two guys. Iâm just wondering, based on how they performed this year, what kind of a title fight can you imagine?
FA: Well, itâs difficult to predict what is going to happen in the next few years but yeah, I would love to be in the fight with them and whoever makes a good car next year I think itâs a reset for everybody and itâs up to us to produce a fast car. Itâs not like this year, which was a continuation of the last campaign but in 2022 everyone has the same cards so we need to play smarter and hopefully produce a fast car and if we are in that position I feel strong, I feel ready to take the battle and letâs see.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas â Autosport) Max, were you and Red Bull concerned about any punctures late in the race? We heard you on the radio saying pushing, weâre going to get second in any case. And also, just what do you think was the difference between you and Mercedes this weekend?
MV: No, I wasnât worried about punctures. Everything felt quite alright. Of course the wear around here is quite high with theseâŠ. higher with the high-speed corners but I was never worried about it. Yeah, where the pace comes from, if we knew then of course we would change things but just not been our track somehow. You know also these tyres, sometimes you nail them and you get quite a bit of grip; if youâre not on top of it, sometimes you can make bit of a difference as well but clearly the last few races, even races Iâve won, I had a feeling that they were really strong, so yeah, from my feeling, quite a few events where we actually gained points I thought maybe we could have lost points as well. Yeah, we just have to keep on pushing. I think so far weâve done an amazing job as a team compared to the previous year when they were so dominant and so fast, so for us to even be in this fight I think is very impressive and of course weâre not going to give up but yeah, clearly this weekend we lacked a bit of pace but every race weekend is different and also not even the right pace, anything can happen during a race weekend as you could see, you know. In qualifying, I get a five-place grid penalty with this yellow flags situation but these kinds of things can happen really quickly and to anybody.
