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WORLD SPORT
Email: [email protected]
Gulf Daily News Monday, 24th November 2014
39
‘Greatest day of my life’ says Hamilton
n Hamilton
waves the
British flag in
celebration
ABU DHABI: Lewis Hamilton
basked in the glory of a second
Formula One world title yesterday and described
it as the greatest day of his life.
Surrounded by his family and pop star girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, the 29-year-old added
the 2014 title to his 2008 win after cruising to victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“You know, I’ve been lost for words, but I really want to thank everyone, starting with the fans,”
said Hamilton, as he stood on the victors’ podium
after finishing first in the ‘double jeopardy and
double points’ showdown.
“It’s made such a difference to me, the amazing
support – and to my family I love you guys. And
to my team thank you. It feels even more than the
first time. This is the greatest day of my life and
that’s due to people around me. 2008 was special,
but the feeling I have now is above and beyond.
It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”
Hamilton became the first British multiple
champion for 46 years when he won Sunday’s
55-lap race billed as the ‘duel in the desert’.
Triumphed
The Englishman, who took his first title in 2008
with McLaren, also triumphed in his season-long
battle with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg,
who suffered prolonged power problems with his
car, after making a poor start from pole position.
“It was a good start, probably the best start I’d
ever had,” said Hamilton.
“Nico put up an incredible fight throughout the
year. He is a great competitor. We met in 1997,
when we were karting team-mates, and always
thought we would be competing together and
joked and dreamed that one day we would be
fighting it out for the world championship in Formula One.
“He was graceful enough to come up to congratulate me. He just came into the room, very
professional and he said: ‘you drove really well.’
And the same for him.”
Having started from the prime spot on the grid
for the 11th time this year, Rosberg was comprehensively outpaced immediately
as Hamilton surged clear to control the race with a well-judged
and dominant performance.
Hamilton’s victory was his
11th of the season and the 33rd
of his record-breaking career
and secured a record 16th victory of the season for the Mercedes team.
Rosberg struggled with a series of problems that hampered
his performance, but refused to
retire when offered a chance to
pit with two laps remaining.
He finished 14th and was
lapped by Hamilton who became the fourth British driver
to win more than one championship, joining Jackie Stewart,
Jim Clark and Graham Hill, the
last man to succeed in 1968.
Rosberg was dignified in defeat after failing to emulate his
father Keke who won the world
title in 1982.
“I’m very disappointed,” he
said. “All in all, Lewis deserved
to win the championship. What
happened to me had no impact.
It did not change anything so
there is no point focusing on
that.
“He did just a little bit better
than me. The positive is I’ve
been the better qualifier over
the last two years and that gives
me a good base. I came very
close and it is a pity it did not
work out. I’m proud to have
been here with the team.
“It’s been very intense, a
very special weekend for me
with so much support,” he said.
Federer wins
Cup for Swiss
LILLE,
France:
Roger Federer produced a vintage
performance
to
crush Richard Gasquet 6-4
6-2 6-2 and seal Switzerland’s maiden Davis Cup title with a 3-1 win over hosts
France yesterday.
The 17-times grand slam
champion shook off back problems during the weekend and
recovered from Friday’s defeat
by Gael Monfils to hand France
a third defeat in their last three
finals.
With Federer imperious on
serve, there was a sense of
inevitability in the air at the
DAVIS CUP FINAL SCORECARD
France
1 Switzerland
FORMULA ONE
3
Roger Federer (SUI) bt Richard
Gasquet (FRA) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; Gael
Monfils (FRA) v Stan Wawrinka
(SUI) – cancelled.
Pierre Mauroy stadium despite
the support of a record 27,448
raucous crowd and Gasquet’s
decent level of play.
He made more unforced errors than the gifted Frenchman
– 24 to 21 – but hit an astonishing 62 winners, kneeling down
before lying on his chest after
wrapping up the match with a
cunning drop shot.
“We fought hard for it. I’ve
been playing this game for almost 15 years and clearly I
had never come as close than
this past weekend,” said world
number two Federer, for whom
the only major title missing
n From left, Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli, Federer, team captain Severin Luthi, Wawrinka and Michael Lammer with the trophy
from his collection is now an
Olympic singles gold medal.
“I’m happy I stayed calm
and played a good match when
I had to. I’m really happy for all
the guys in the team.”
Gasquet said he was “very
disappointed” to lose in straight
sets.
“It’s the first time Roger plays
at this level against me,” he said.
French captain Arnaud Clement had no complaints about the
result. “Right now I think we did
everything right, me and the players. But Switzerland were better
than us,” he said.
Federer dropped only four
points on serve in the opening
set, which he sealed with a
whipping forehand winner after breaking Gasquet, the world
number 26, in the third game.
Varying his shots to devastating
effect, Federer toyed with his
opponent, who dropped serve
in the first and seventh games
as the Swiss bagged the second
set with a drop shot having not
conceded a single break point.
Gasquet, sent to the clay court
by captain Arnaud Clement in
place of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who
sustained an arm injury on Friday, looked slightly better at the
beginning of the third set as Federer became careless.
But the Swiss, who withdrew
from last Sunday’s ATP World
Tour final with a back injury,
was still the sharper player and
broke on his first opportunity
in the fifth game when Gasquet
sent a backhand wide.
France shocked by Argentina at home
PARIS:
Argentina
confirmed they are a
bete noir for France
when they play in Paris by kicking four drop goals,
including three from flyhalf
Nicolas Sanchez, for an 18-13
upset victory on Saturday.
The Pumas had lost on their
three previous visits to France
but made it three straight wins
in the capital after twice beating the hosts at the 2007 World
Cup where they came third.
France, fresh from a 40-15
win over Fiji and a 29-26 victory over Australia, fought back
in the second half and scored
the only try through centre
Wesley Fofana.
But, having changed ends
15-3 down, they found the Argentine defence too strong and
did not get enough breaks to
turn the match their way despite more possession.
Argentina stunned the French
with three drop goals in the first
half, including one from centre
Juan Martin Hernandez, and
RUGBY INTERNATIONAL
France
13 Argentina
18
Half-time: 3-15
France – try: Fofana (57); Conversion: Lopez (59); Penalties:
Lopez (37), Kockott (64)
Argentina – penalties: Sanchez
(2, 26); Drop goals: Sanchez (17,
30, 46), Hernandez (28).
two penalties by Sanchez, who
finished with 15 points.
“We were right out of it for the
first half hour, we were dominated ... and denied the ball. They
scored four drops which show
our lapses in defensive pressing,”
France coach Philippe Saint Andre said. “Then in the second half
there’s nothing to say, we dominated, we had control of the ball,
we scored a try and had a second
one refused.
“We’re not surprised by the
Argentines’
performance...
They control possession even
against South Africa, the All
Blacks, Australia. We realise we
can’t manage to string three top
level performances together.”
It was an encouraging
year-ending result for Argentina who secured their maiden Rugby Championship win
against Australia in October
and beat Italy 20-18 last week.
“We’re thrilled. It was a victory that had a bit of everything,”
Pumas coach Daniel Hourcade
said. “In the first half we played
well, to a high standard, and we
had a great defence throughout
the match. The first half substitutions complicated us towards
the end but the team defended
well, with heart.”
ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX RESULTS:
L Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 39min
02.619sec
F Massa (Williams)
at 2.500
V Bottas (Williams)
28.800
D Ricciardo (Red Bull)
37.200
J Button (McLaren)
1:00.300
N Hülkenberg (Force India) 1:02.100
S Perez (Force India)
1:11.000
S Vettel (Red Bull)
1:12.000
F lonso (Ferrari)
1:25.800
K Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:27.800
K Magnussen (McLaren)1:30.300
J Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1:31.900
R Grosjean (Lotus)
1 lap
N Rosberg (Mercedes)
1 lap
E Gutierrez (Sauber)
1 lap
A Sutil (Sauber)
1 lap
W tevens (Caterham)
1 lap
OVERALL STANDINGS
Drivers
L Hamilton
N Rosberg
D Ricciardo
V Bottas
S Vettel
F Alonso
F Massa
J Button
N Hülkenberg
S Perez
K Magnussen
K Raikkonen
J Vergne
R Grosjean
D Kvyat
P Maldonado
J Bianchi
Constructors
Mercedes
Red Bull
Williams
Ferrari
McLaren
Force India
Toro Rosso
Lotus
Marussia
384 pts
317
238
186
16
161
134
126
96
59
55
55
22
8
8
2
2
701 pts
405
320
216.0
181.0
155.0
30.0
10.0
2