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F1 Spanish Grand Prix: What comes next in the Red Bull-McLaren-Ferrari fight? f,spanish,grand,prix,what,comes,next,in,the,red,bull,mclaren,ferrari,fight,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

On: June 17, 2024 By: admin

Two weeks ago the Formula 1 grid arrived in Montreal with visions of a true title fight on the minds of fans and drivers alike. “I don’t think either championship is over by any means,” Oscar Piastri declared to me when I sat down with the McLaren driver for an exclusive interview following his second-place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix.

“The Constructors’ [Championship] I would say is still open. We’re still a third of the way through the year. So it’s definitely still all to play for. I would say, of course, we’re at a bit of a disadvantage being as far back as we are, but it’s certainly not impossible,” continued Piastri “And yeah, I think even in the Drivers’ Championship, it’s not done and dusted yet.”

However, Max Verstappen had something to say about that latter point in Montreal.

Verstappen’s win in the Canadian Grand Prix, coupled with a DNF for Charles Leclerc, his closest challenger in the Drivers’ Championship, meant the Red Bull driver pulled 25 points further head of his nearest threat. Even with Lando Norris’ P2 in Montreal, Verstappen’s first-place finish saw him gain a few more points on the McLaren driver.

Now, the Constructors’ Championship was another matter. Sergio Pérez suffered a DNF of his own, so while Verstappen added 25 points to Red Bull’s account with his win, Norris’ P2 and Piastri’s P4 saw McLaren bank 28 points in the Canadian Grand Prix. Those two results, coupled with the Ferrari double DNF, meant the field on the Constructors’ side of things tightened up even more in Montreal.

As Piastri said, neither championship is “done and dusted” just yet. And things have only tightened more in the Constructors’ Championship these past few weeks.

Will things tighten even more in Barcelona? That is surely the biggest storyline to watch this week as the F1 grid heads to the Spanish Grand Prix.

But it is not the only one.

What awaits on the driver market front?

Will the fluid driver transfer market deliver more news this week?

With the F1 world descending upon Barcelona, the focus likely shifts to Carlos Sainz, Jr. The Spanish driver has yet to confirm his plans for the 2025 season, when Lewis Hamilton slides into the seat Sainz currently occupies at Ferrari.

Rumors have surrounded Sainz ever since that announcement, with teams such as Mercedes, Sauber — soon to become the Audi works team — and most recently Williams linked with the accomplished driver.

Late last week reports surfaced that despite expectations that Sainz would move to Sauber, ahead of the transition to Audi, that Williams was in the driver’s seat to land the driver. According to these reports, Williams has offered Sainz a four-year deal, giving the driver a potential out after two seasons if he believes the team has not made sufficient progress in his mind.

Of course, nothing is official until ink is put to paper, and Sainz himself has brushed aside various reporting already this season.

“The only thing I can tell you is there is nothing locked in. I’ve seen reports, I don’t know if it’s in Spain, people saying I’ve signed. I look at those things and it makes me laugh because I remember seeing reports three months ago that I had signed for Mercedes, reports that I had signed for Red Bull. Now obviously those places are not going to happen,” said Sainz earlier this month.

“So it’s funny now seeing people say I’ve signed for Williams. It makes me laugh that this goes a bit unpunished for some media person. It concerns me that people can get away with that kind of stuff,” added Sainz. “When I have something to announce, you guys will be the first to know and I will be here openly talking about my future.”

Now Sainz is just one of the drivers yet to announce his future plans. Other drivers we are waiting to hear from include Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, and more. But with the grid in Sainz’s home country, it is fair to turn our thoughts to an announcement from him first.

The future of F1 in Barcelona

As the grid arrives in Barcelona for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, the future of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the F1 grid is in severe doubt. At the start of this calendar year it was announced that the Spanish Grand Prix will move to a new street circuit in Madrid beginning in 2026, on a track that will city’s exhibition center.

The new location will extremely accessible for fans, as the new circuit will be just five minutes away from Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suarez airport, and near local Metro and train stations. According to the announcement, “ … it is estimated that 90% of fans will be able to travel to the paddock via public transport, while those staying in local accommodation will be a short walk away from the venue.”

While that might be great news for fans, it calls into question the future of an event in Barcelona.

Will Spain soon host two races, or will the new circuit in Madrid remain the sole race on Spanish soil going forward? Or perhaps Barcelona will again host F1 pre-season testing, as it did until 2023, when the site of pre-season testing was moved to Bahrain.

The next step in the never-ending development wars

We are truly in the thick of the 2024 F1 season, and when you add in the layer of a true title fight shaping up — at least when it comes to the Constructors’ Championship — every upgrade matters.

And as you might expect, teams are bringing a host of upgrades to Barcelona ahead of the upcoming tripleheader (more on that in a second).

Andrea Stella, the McLaren Team Principal, teased some upcoming upgrades for the Woking-based outfit recently. “For the coming races, we will have some upgrades, but they won’t be a single kind of big upgrade like we have seen over the last 12 months,” said Stella. “This is more some individual components where we found a little bit of performance and rather than waiting to deploy everything together once ready we take it track side.

“So I won’t say what but we will see some new stuff coming over the few coming races.”

McLaren, thanks to a P2 from Lando Norris and a P4 from Oscar Piastri last time out, actually gained three points in their chase of Red Bull at the top of the Constructors’ standings. And with Ferrari dealt a double DNF in Canada, McLaren pulled 28 points closer to the Scuderia, and they now trail Ferrari by just 40 points.

While Mercedes is a bit farther back in that fight, the Silver Arrows are coming off their best weekend of the year, with George Russell notching a podium finish in Montreal. That result comes as the team has been rolling out a series of upgrades, starting with the Miami Grand Prix. That package has included a new front wing, with Russell utilized in the Monaco Grand Prix and then Lewis Hamilton utilized in Montreal.

But the Silver Arrows are not done, as a new floor is coming for the W15.

“I think definitely, since Imola, we’ve taken the right steps and put parts on the car that are working, something that we were struggling in the past couple of years,” said Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff recently. “Now directionally we seem to be adding performance every weekend and we have new stuff coming also, new parts coming in Barcelona that should help us. So I would very much hope that we can continue this positive trajectory.”

While the new floor is a big component, and a new front wing is something certainly visible to the naked eye, Wolff outlined that Mercedes has been bringing many new components these past few weeks, some of which might not be visible to the untrained eye.

“Sometimes when you bring a highly-visible part like a bodywork or front wing, this is pretty much the talk of what has changed the performance,” added the Mercedes boss.

“But the truth is we have, over the last three races, brought so many new parts, visible and invisible for the eye, that have contributed milliseconds to more performance. I think this is where those marginal gains then have that positive effect. That was just a huge effort of the factory, so I think the wheel has started to get some real motion on it.”

As for Ferrari, the Scuderia planned on bringing their latest set of upgrades later this season, but reports out of Maranello indicate that they may push those new components out for the Spanish Grand Prix, given the disaster that was the Canadian Grand Prix for the team. According to Formu1a.uno, Ferrari was targeting Silverstone for another aggressive package, but the team may be “ … accelerating production times to introduce the most important innovations already in Barcelona.”

Will that truly be the case? We’ll know more in a few days.

Finally there is Red Bull. Will they have some upgrades of their own in Barcelona?

Team Principal Christian Horner hinted recently that they indeed might have some new components ready for Barcelona. “It’s a possible yes,” said Horner when asked if Red Bull would roll out some upgrades in Barcelona. “We’re closer to the top of the curve, so you get into a law of diminishing returns. But there will be subtle upgrades over the summer months.”

As the F1 schedule hits the summer the action on the track — and in the factories — heats up.

Round 1 of a tripleheader

When the 2024 F1 schedule was announced, many noticed that the calendar called for three different triple headers.

The first is upon us.

This weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix kicks off three straight weeks of racing. Following the Spanish Grand Prix, the grid will head to Red Bull Ring, for the Austrian Grand Prix. That weekend adds even one more layer, as the Austrian Grand Prix is one of six F1 Sprint race weekends.

Following Austria, the grid then heads to historic Silverstone, the site of the British Grand Prix.

Beyond the usual challenges an F1 week presents for teams and drivers, having three straight weeks of racing adds even more hurdles — and potential problems — for the ten teams to endure.

So buckle up friends, as a lot of F1 action is heading your way these next three weeks.

33 soon … ?

When the grid arrived in Barcelona a year ago, Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso were in many ways the talk of the F1 world. Aston Martin was still second in the Constructors’ Championship standings, one point ahead of third-place Mercedes. As for Alonso himself, he was in third place, 12 points behind Sergio Pérez. As you might expect from that place in the standings, the veteran driver was in fine form, having five podiums in six starts.

That beginning of the 2023 season led to talk of “33 soon?”, the rallying cry that followed Alonso’s quest for his elusive 33rd grand prix victory. With the grid arriving in Barcelona, there was hope that perhaps Alonso would earn that elusive victory in front of a home crowd.

However, if anything the results in the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix told the story of what was to come for Aston Martin down the stretch a year ago. Alonso finished down in seventh — behind teammate Lance Stroll — and he would see the podium just three more times over the rest of the year.

“I think sixth and seventh positions were the maximum for us. I thought our performance seemed better in qualifying, so I think we need to look at why and aim to bounce back for Canada,” said Alonso after the race. “We still scored some solid points and we had no risk at the end of the race. I want to thank the fans for their passion, energy and support this weekend. It was very emotional and special for me.”

Canada was one of those final three podiums for Alonso in 2023, as he finished P2 behind Max Verstappen. But that elusive 33rd victory has yet to materialize for the veteran driver.

Can he make some magic happen at home this weekend?

LPGA: Lilia Vu outlasts Lexi Thompson in epic playoff lpga,lilia,vu,outlasts,lexi,thompson,in,epic,playoff,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,lpga-golf,golf-news

On: June 17, 2024 By: admin

Somehow, someway, Lilia Vu is an LPGA winner again.

Vu, the second-best player in the world behind Nelly Korda, has battled a back injury for most of the season. She even missed the U.S. Women’s Open two weeks ago, and had to withdraw from the Chevron Championship in April because of her back. But Vu overcame that ailment—and an eight-shot deficit on Sunday—to win the Meijer LPGA Classic in thrilling fashion.

Vu carded a 7-under 65 to climb up the leaderboard on Sunday, as she finished at 16-under-par, putting her in a tie with Lexi Thompson and Grace Kim after 72 holes. The trio needed three holes to determine the winner, but in the end, Vu made a birdie putt on the third playoff hole to seal the deal.

“I wasn’t thinking about winning,” Vu said.

“This was the one day I was playing really well. Felt really good with my swing. Coming back from an injury, I was a little up in the air, not knowing my swing, and I felt like I didn’t know where my arms were if I wasn’t tight. I was just trying to make contact today. That’s it.”

Like Vu, Thompson came from behind to get into the playoff. She fired a 4-under 68 on Sunday, while Kim, the 54-hole leader, carded a 1-over 73 on Sunday to fall back to the field.

After all three ladies made birdies on the first two extra holes, they walked over to the par-5 4th. After each player found the green in regulation, Thompson and Kim missed their putts to extend the playoff while Vu sank her birdie putt for the win.

“I think my mindset when it comes to putting is pretty simple: It goes in, or it doesn’t,” Vu said.

“I don’t put a lot of pressure on it. That relieves the pressure for me, and I go for it.”

Vu won her first LPGA win in Thailand in February 2023 from six shots back, so she has experience coming from behind.

“I felt like my first win I had blinders on,” Vu said.

“In the final round, I was focused on making birdies. I felt like that today. I felt like I left some out there, too. So once I got the opportunity for the playoff, I got to the box, and my caddie said, ‘There is nothing to lose now.’ We just went out there and played.”

Vu called this one of her most meaningful wins because she did not know if she could ever play golf pain-free again.

But clearly, she can.

Now, Vu has her fifth career LPGA victory as she eyes another major championship at next week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Hopefully, her back holds up for her at Sahalee.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Angel Reese whacks Caitlin Clark in head for Flagrant-1 foul, and WNBA refs got it right angel,reese,whacks,caitlin,clark,in,head,for,flagrant,foul,and,wnba,refs,got,it,right,sbnation,com,front-page,wnba,draftkings

On: June 16, 2024 By: admin

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese entered the WNBA has household names after their electric rivalry in women’s college basketball. Reese’s LSU team beat Clark’s Iowa team in the 2023 national championship game when both players were juniors. They met again in the Sweet 16 as seniors, and Clark and the Hawkeyes got revenge by ending LSU’s season.

Clark was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft to the Indiana Fever. Reese went No. 7 overall to the Chicago Sky. There’s already a budding rivalry between their pro teams after Chicago’s Chennedy Carter hip-checked Clark earlier this season in a play that started a nauseating amount of national discourse. Part of the problem with that play was the refs ruled Carter’s cheap shot as a common foul — until the league changed it to a Flagrant foul the next day.

As the Sky and Fever met again on Sunday in a nationally broadcast game on CBS, Clark was again hit with a hard foul, but this time the refs got the call right. As Clark was driving to the basket, Reese went for the block and hit her hard in the head. The officials called for a review and determined it was a Flagrant-1 foul, meaning Clark got two free throws and then Indiana got the ball. Watch the play here:

This isn’t a dirty play or intentional cheap shot. Clark went for the layup, Reese tried to recover for the block, and while going for the ball she whacked Clark in the head.

Clark looked just fine after the sequence, scoring nine points in the last five minutes of the third quarter. Hopefully she’s okay because hard hits to the head are nothing to play around with.

The Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark rivalry will keep going strong in the WNBA. It’s must-see TV every time these two players matchup.

Christian Moore makes Men’s College World Series history in Tennessee-Florida State christian,moore,makes,men,s,college,world,series,history,in,tennessee,florida,state,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

Friday night’s game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida State Seminoles in the Men’s College World Series has yet to go final.

But a player has already made some history.

Tennessee infielder Christian Moore hit for the cycle in the game, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since Jerry Kindall hit for the cycle back in 1956.

Kindall and Moore are now the only two players in Men’s College World Series to ever hit for the cycle.

Moore’s first hit came in the bottom of the first inning, when the Tennessee second baseman tripled to lead off the inning for the Volunteers. Then in the bottom of the second Moore checked the double off his “cycle to-do list,” as he laced a line drive down the left-field line to drive in a run:

Moore came all the way around the bases on a throwing error, but the play went into the books as a double.

In the fourth inning Moore laced a single to right, improving to 3-for-3 on the night. But that still left the infielder a home run shy of the cycle.

Moore checked that box in the sixth inning:

As noted by Tennessee’s social media department, Moore’s cycle is just the sixth in program history, and the first for the school in the postseason.

Moore is considered one of the top prospects in the upcoming MLB Draft, and in our most recent mock draft we had Moore coming off the board with the No. 21 pick to the Minnesota Twins.

After tonight, that might be too low.

Rory McIlroy can’t convert chances in U.S. Open pursuit rory,mcilroy,can,t,convert,chances,in,u,s,open,pursuit,sbnation,com,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

When Rory McIlroy prematurely walked in his final birdie of the day on Thursday evening, the talk of the golf world was, ‘Could this be the week?’

After all, McIlroy has opened a major with a bogey-free round three times before, and he has gone on to win each of those times. He did so again at Pinehurst No. 2 on Thursday, firing a clean, 5-under 65 to share the lead with Patrick Cantlay through 18 holes.

But he could not convert any opportunities a day later, when he carded a disappointing 2-over 72. His poor Friday round dropped him back to 3-under for the championship.

“Obviously not quite as well as [Thursday], but I feel like the golf course plays a little more difficult, even though we were off in the morning,” McIlroy explained afterward.

“Some of the hole locations were definitely a little tougher. Sort of had to have your wits about you.”

McIlroy lost his wits for a brief moment on the par-3 17th, when he putted his birdie attempt off the front of the green. That brought a double-bogey into play, as his third shot had to climb the steep false front that guards the front of the green. But instead of making a bigger mess of things, McIlroy chipped in for a wild par.

“Overall, I felt like I did a pretty good job of keeping some of the mistakes off the scorecard,” McIlroy opined.

“I wish I had converted a couple more chances. Hit the ball pretty well. I think I only missed one fairway. So, I had plenty of opportunities. Yeah, I wasn’t quite as good with the putter today. Still, overall, we are in a great position going into the weekend.”

McIlroy lost 2.5 strokes on the greens on Friday as he failed to convert multiple looks at birdie. He could not get into a rhythm with his putter, unlike Thursday, when he had an above-average day on the greens.

That trend started early and often: McIlroy missed an 11-footer for birdie at 10, and then missed a par-putt from five feet on 11. Three holes later, McIlroy missed another birdie attempt from 11 feet, increasing his frustrations. He then bogeyed the par-3 15th. Another missed birdie putt followed at the 1st, this time from 10 feet.

At least he salvaged these misses with a birdie at the par-4 3rd, his first of the day. But that proved to be his last one, too.

“I was 2-over pretty early. My goal going into that second nine was if I could get it back to even for the day, I would have been pretty happy,” McIlroy added.

“Got that birdie on 3. I was trying to claw one back there. Ultima,tely I gave one back again.”

McIlroy closed his round with a bogey at the par-3 9th and walked off with his head hung low. But he hit the ball well from tee to green again on Friday. He even led the field in strokes gained off the tee.

Yet, his putter failed him the most, and if he wants to break his decade-long major drought and win the U.S. Open, he will need his flat stick to show up—like it did on Thursday.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Jon Rahm’s U.S. Open fill-in taking full advantage of opportunity jon,rahm,s,u,s,open,fill,in,taking,full,advantage,of,opportunity,sbnation,com,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news,liv-golf

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

When Jon Rahm withdrew and closed the door on his chances of winning another U.S. Open on Tuesday, another door opened for Jackson Suber.

Suber, who attended Ole Miss and has missed four straight cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, took Rahm’s spot in the field as the first alternate at Pinehurst No. 2. He has since taken full advantage of the opportunity.

The former Ole Miss Rebel shot an impressive 1-under 71 in his major championship debut, all while playing alongside Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama in one of the featured groups. It’s an impressive accomplishment for anyone, let alone someone who has played in only two events on the PGA Tour.

Yet, the most remarkable aspect of Suber’s performance was not the round itself—instead, it was the rollercoaster he had to take just to become an alternate in this year’s field.

Suber posted 7-under par at the 36-hole final qualifier in Rockville, Maryland. No doubt a solid score, but it was not good enough. He missed a spot in the U.S. Open by a stroke and instead had to go to a 3-for-2 playoff to determine two alternate spots.

“In that qualifier, I had a six-footer on the last hole, and ended up missing that to get to a playoff [for a final spot],” Suber explained.

“I went into the playoff and was pretty bummed but ended up on the third hole making a 50-foot putt for birdie, while my opponent missed a five-footer. It was a very roller coaster week, just like this has been. I heard that I had a chance to get in, almost be the last man in the field, and then ended up being the first alternate with how things shook down at the Memorial. It’s just been a roller coaster.”

He then arrived in Pinehurst, North Carolina, on Sunday evening, hoping somebody would pull out to give him a chance. If nobody did, he had a flight booked to Wichita, Kansas on Tuesday evening for this week’s tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour.

But in a weird twist of fate, one of the biggest stars in professional golf turned Suber’s hopes into a reality.

“I was on the 8th hole, and I got a tip from someone. They said Rahm was pulling out. I wasn’t sure yet, but I was freaking out,” Suber said.

“No. 8 and 9 didn’t get much done in my practice round. When we were on the 9th, we started getting announcements, and my phone started blowing up; people were asking me if I was getting in, and then I called Reese from the USGA pretty quickly and tried to figure out what was going on and if I was going to be playing.

“That was just a really cool moment, especially to figure out I’m getting in the tournament out on the golf course and then be able to call my family and people around me who help me so much. It was a really special moment.”

Since Rahm withdrew after the USGA released the pairings for this year’s tournament, Suber slid in alongside Spieth and Matsuyama.

Best of all, Suber beat them both on Thursday, finishing in red figures while the two major champions failed to break par.

“I talked to Hideki and his caddie a little bit and talked to Jordan and [his caddy] Michael [Greller], as well, and my caddie talked to them, too,” Suber said about playing with Spieth and Matsuyama.

“There wasn’t a ton of chatter, but there were a couple of conversations here and there, and it was good to talk to them. They’re good people.”

Suber managed to score in red figures, but he still had an up-and-down day on Thursday—much like the rollercoaster ride he has experienced as of late.

Over his first five holes, Suber made par, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie; a stressful yet entertaining way to begin your U.S. Open and sit at even par through five.

He then made a birdie at the par-3 9th, thanks to a tremendous tee shot that landed four feet from the stick. Another birdie at the short par-4 13th followed.

Then, Suber dropped a pair of shots at the 14th and 15th holes. But he bounced back with a birdie at the 523-yard par-4 16th. Like his opening few holes, and his last couple of weeks for that matter, he enjoyed quite the rollercoaster on the back nine, too.

“I always believed I could do this. You never know if you’re actually going to do it, but I feel like I always knew that this was in me,” Suber said.

“I didn’t know if it was going to happen because nothing in life is for sure, but I was going to give it my best chance. I worked hard to be here and feel like I just need to keep working hard and stay humble.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.