Social media hype videos are all the rages these days.
Over the years teams have made them the stuff of legend. During their run to a National Championship the social media department for the LSU Tigers crafted incredible videos, culminating in this appearance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for their finale against Clemson.
Just this summer alone we have seen Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes in dueling hype videos for the NBA Finals, with Brady narrating a video put together by the Boston Celtics while Mahomes supplied the voiceover for the corresponding video released by the Dallas Mavericks.
That leads us to the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers are on the verge of making NHL history, as they look to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup Final after dropping the first three games of the series. The Oilers already made some history earlier in the series, as they became the first team in league history to force a Game 6 after going down 3-0 to start a series, while winning Game 5 on the road.
As you might expect, the Oilers dropped a hype video of their own Monday ahead of Game 7, but they kept it simple. No celebrity voiceover, just some tremendous instrumental music along with the calls from various moments of the series.
The Mets were a hapless mess of an organization until Grimace came into their lives. The husky blob of unknown density arrived at Citi Field to throw out the first pitch on June 12, and since the team has gone 9-and-2 — now in legitimate striking distance of grabbing a wild card.
Everyone has wondered how the hell Grimace has been able to turn the Mets around. More importantly: Why Grimace? What if I told you that this was a plan 53-years in the making, all set into motion by Don Draper of Mad Men fame in an effort to help his beloved team win before his 100th birthday?
Don Draper is a die-hard Mets fan
This is established throughout Mad Men. The Mets are a fundamental piece of Don’s identity, which establishes him as a modern man who has no particular reverence for the past, which is why he supports the upstart Metropolitans over the historic and vaunted Yankees.
A Mets pennant is a proudly displayed part of Don’s office, and remains a feature of the show until late in the series. The last we see Don’s allegiance to the Mets he finds the pennant under an old desk, electing to throw it out — but as we’ll come to realize it’s a love that never dies.
There are some Mad Men spoilers coming up, but at this point the finale was in 2015. You’ve had more than enough time to watch Mad Men.
Don Draper, Coca-Cola, and Grimace
The series finale of Mad Men left with Don finally finding the inner-peace that alluded him throughout the series. More importantly to the tale of Grimace and the Mets, it establishes that Don came up with the groundbreaking “Buy the world a Coke” campaign, which reshaped advertising in 1971, and is one of the most influential commercials of all time.
This tells us that Don was back on top in 1971. He didn’t leave the ad game, but instead rose like a phoenix to deliver the best work of his life after getting his own like in order. Now, it’s not difficult to imagine that after reshaping Coca-Cola he wouldn’t have landed another massive account to guide them into the future: McDonald’s.
When was Grimace created? You guessed it… 1971. The same year as the Coca-Cola campaign. But this goes so much deeper.
Debuting as “The Evil Grimace,” the initial portrayal of Grimace was as an evil entity who stole all the cups from McDonald’s to prevent children from getting … you guessed it: Coke.
See, Grimace was the part of Don’s psyche he left behind. The negative energy that he jettisoned. If the new, enlightened Don Draper wants to buy the world a Coke, the old Draper wanted to horde all the cups to himself and prevent the world from having Coca-Cola.
Don created “The Evil Grimace” to be the precise counterpoint to the last image we have of him from Mad Men — smiling. Then, in 1972 Grimace is re-introduced as Ronald’s best friend, and not a bad guy anymore. This was Don telling the world that he had changed. That he was different. That he was a happy, contributing member of society.
There are more hints of Draper’s involvement in McDonald’s too
Draper creates Grimace in 1971 and continues to work on the McDonald’s account, pulling more and more examples from his own life into the ad campaigns.
Hamburglar is a manifestation of Peggy Olson, created in 1971. With red hair and prominent teeth, Draper posits that Hamburglar is both mischievous and lovable, while also stealing the literal heart of out McDonald’s by taking their hamburgers. This is a metaphor for how Peggy ripped Don’s heart out, and he never recovered.
The Fry Kids from 1972 represent Don’s children.
Birdie is introduced in 1980, named after Don’s nickname for his ex-wife Betty. The full name “Birdie, the early bird” is a scathing critique of Betty’s self-absorption and his resentment at how self-reliant his children needed to be to support their mother’s life of sloth.
Mayor McCheese represents Bert Cooper, while Officer Big Mac is Roger Sterling — for obvious reasons.
How do the Mets fit into all this?
The number 100 is key to all of this. Don, despite being such a die-hard Mets fan, endured four consecutive 100-loss seasons from 1962-to-1965. When Draper was in his prime, the Mets were disgustingly awful — and yet he remained a fan.
Draper’s beloved team finally managed to win in 1969, but at that point Don was too far in the depths of despair and alcoholism to truly enjoy it. By the time he got his life back on track (and created Grimace) in 1971, the Mets had firmly become a middling team, which was present for most of his life.
There was only one World Series that Don truly got to enjoy in 1986. This coincided with Grimace’s rise to popularity, in which Grimace’s universe was expanded to highlight his family. It’s here that Draper, now aged 61 is coming to terms with his own mortality and wanting to wind down his advertising career by showing that family is important.
The “Grimace Shake” unveiled by McDonald’s on June 12, 2023 to commemorate the character’s birthday means inherently that the shake is there to celebrate Don’s birthday. HE. IS. GRIMACE. The two are one in the same.
Fast-forward to 2024
It is established in Mad Men that Draper was born in 1925, and we now know his full birthday is June 12, 1925. This is significant because 2024 is the last season the Mets can win the World Series before Don turns 100, a chance to exorcise the memories of those horrible 100-loss season where it all began, a chance to experience some sporting joy before he shifts off this mortal coil.
Don calls in a favor. He tells McDonald’s to dispatch Grimace to the Mets. Don is too old and frail to make it to Queens in person, but Grimace will be his spiritual medium to help the team in their time of need.
Grimace throws out the pitch on June 12, 2024 — Don’s 99th birthday. He witnesses as the team begins to turn it around and become relevant once more. The man who bought the world a Coke has now thrown the Mets a bone.
As an inside joke both McDonald’s at the Mets poke fun at Don’s womanizing past by having Grimace hit on Mrs. Met, and post it on social media.
Don Draper created Grimace as an extension of himself, and now Grimace is helping the Mets achieve what was previously thought impossible. It’s all because of one advertising executive and his checkered past.
The Travelers Championship in Connecticut always delivers, and this year’s edition echoed that sentiment once again.
Scottie Scheffler won his sixth event of the year, becoming the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six PGA Tour events before July 1 in a season. The win marks Scheffler’s fourth Signature Event title, along with his impressive victories at TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National.
But unlike his five prior wins in 2024, Scheffler needed to prevail in a playoff this time around. He defeated Tom Kim on the first playoff hole—the par-4 18th. Kim dunked his approach into the greenside bunker as his ball nestled in a buried lie. Scheffler, meanwhile, stuffed his second shot to 11 feet, which all but secured the title.
The 22-year-old Kim could not get up and down, and Scheffler lagged his putt next to the hole—a fresh cup thanks to the chaos that ensued on the 18th hole in regulation. Minutes before, protestors invaded the green, spraying colorful substances all over the putting surface and leaving marks everywhere. Consequently, the PGA Tour’s agronomy team had to cut a new pin location for the playoff: 11 steps on and five from the right. The interruption paused play for 15 minutes.
Then, after police had subjugated the trespassers, Kim rolled in a 10-footer for birdie to force a playoff with the top-ranked player in the world, who also dubs as one of his best friends. It produced a surreal moment at TPC River Highlands, one that both players will soon not forget.
Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim embrace after the 2024 Travelers Championship.Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images
5 Takeaways from Travelers Championship:
1. It’s Scottie Scheffler’s world
Scottie Scheffler bounced back with a vengeance after his worst performance of the season at the U.S. Open. He carded two rounds of 64 and a pair of 65s to finish at 22-under par in regulation, seven days after posting 7-over. Scheffler was locked in all week, mainly due to a putter that rebounded nicely after a brutal week at Pinehurst No. 2.
The two-time Masters champion gained 2.540 strokes with the putter in Connecticut, good for 16th in this limited field. To help put that in perspective, Scheffler lost 1.51 strokes to the field last week, ranking 71st of 74 players who made the cut.
Granted, TPC River Highlands pales in comparison to No. 2 as it relates to green complexes and overall difficulty. But to win at this golf course, you have to shoot 4-or-5-under every day to have a solid chance to win.
“You have an off day; all of a sudden, it’s much harder to catch up,” Scheffler said.
Scottie Scheffler chats after his win.Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images
“I feel like sometimes at the harder golf courses, you can fake it around a little bit for a day or two and hang around and hang, but sometimes these golf courses when they’re a little bit softer and not as demanding, there’s always a lot of birdies, just because the fields out here are so deep, and once you get behind, it can be harder to catch up.”
Scheffler made the putts when he needed to and failed to make a single mistake down the stretch. He looked unflappable for all four days, yet Scheffler burned a few lips on the back nine on Sunday. Imagine if a couple more of those putts had fallen.
Now, he will take three weeks off to rest and recuperate before The Open Championship at Royal Troon, leading many of Scheffler’s fellow professionals to breathe a sigh of relief.
2. Tom Kim is here to stay
Kudos to Tom Kim, who brought the World No. 1 to the brink on Sunday in Connecticut. Kim held a piece of the lead on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, an impressive feat at any PGA Tour event—let alone the eighth consecutive one you have played.
He did not have his best stuff with him early, as his even par 35 on the front nine reflected that. Despite that, Kim played spectacularly on the back nine. He got a big boost of momentum on the par-4 10th, where he knocked his approach to nine feet and subsequently drained the putt for birdie.
Three more birdies for Kim followed, none more important than the one on the 72nd hole. But Kim also took advantage of the scorable holes on the back nine: the par-5 13th and the drivable par-4 15th. You have to make birdie on those holes, or you will lose strokes to the field. Look no further than Akshay Bhatia, who was in the mix but faded thanks to lackluster pars on the 13th and 15th.
Tom Kim reacts to his birdie on the 18th green during the final round of the 2024 Travelers Championship.Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
Kim did not fade from the limelight, however. He shined in it, proving that he can take on any player in the world head-on. The Seoul, South Korea native will only get better from here.
“I fought hard. I really did. I played really well this week,” Kim said.
“I was really close, really, really close, but I was just a shot short. Unfortunately, when you’re going against Scottie, who I know very, very well, I knew that I had to play really good golf [on Sunday], and I felt like I did. It got tough out there with the wind, but I fought hard. It was just shy, but I’m taking some positive things going into the rest of the season.”
Unlike Scheffler, Kim will keep the pedal to the metal at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the Detroit-area tournament that will mark his ninth tournament in a row.
3. Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay: close, but no cigar… again
At one point late in the day, you saw Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay’s names pop up towards the leaderboard. Finau tied the lead at 20-under with a birdie at the 15th hole, while Cantlay crept up to 19-under, thanks to back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes.
Could this be the week for Finau, who has not won since the 2023 Mexico Open? Or could Cantlay pick up his first trophy since the 2022 BMW Championship?
But their sealed was fate on the par-3 16th, which measured only 158 yards on Sunday. The large pond in front of the green, coupled with a front left-hole location and a devilish swirling wind, made things nearly impossible. It turned this short par-3 into a bear late in the day on Sunday, ranking as the second most challenging hole during the final round.
Patrick Cantlay during the final round of the 2024 Travelers Championship.Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
Cantlay played in the group ahead of Finau and pulled his iron shot long and left. It settled up against the rough while sitting below the putting surface, thus making it all but impossible to save par. A bogey there dropped him back to 18-under, as he ultimately tied for fifth. Cantlay tied for third at Pinehurst No. 2, his best career finish in a major. He could be someone to watch out for at Royal Troon, as his game finally looks to be in shape.
Finau, meanwhile, came up woefully short from the tee, as his watery demise led to a double-bogey five. He went on to tie for fifth, one week after tying for third at the U.S. Open. But, like last week, a mistake cost Finau a chance at glory. The chipping and putting mistakes did him in on the 13th hole on Saturday, while a poorly struck approach into the wind cost him today. At any rate, Finau will be back. It’s a matter of when, not if, he wins.
4. Signature Events need work
We need more players in Signature Events.
I understand that the PGA Tour wants top players to compete against the best, but 72 players are not enough in one of the season’s marquee events. At a minimum, 100 players need to play. Too much talent in professional golf exists for the PGA Tour to roll out the red carpet for only a third of its members. Plus, golf is the most random sport of them all. Anything can happen on any given round on any given day, so why not add to the drama and expand Signature Events by 30 people or so?
So, in 2025, when the Travelers Championship will once again act as a Signature Event on the heels of the U.S. Open, I hope to see more than 72 players in the field. One hundred has a nice round number to it; plus, it’s not as if there is a night-and-day difference between the 72nd-ranked player and the 102nd. Heck, anyone of the top 1000 players in the world realistically has the game to contend in a PGA Tour event. Just ask ninth-alternate John Daly.
Nevertheless, the Signature Event model is here to stay, but it certainly could use some enhancements. Adding more players who deserve an opportunity would be a good start.
Scottie Scheffler plays the 17th hole during the final round.Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images
5. TPC River Highlands: too easy?
Once again, TPC River Highlands yielded plenty of birdies and not a lot of bogies. That’s fine if you like surreal scoring, hoping somebody wins at 30-under par. But it just does not provide the entertainment value that other demanding courses do.
As Scottie Scheffler alluded to in his post-round presser, it’s almost more of a challenge to set ‘par’ at a 5-under 65, knowing that if you do not shoot a 65, you are losing strokes to the field. Look at Tom Kim, who shot a 4-under 66 as the final-round leader and lost—a tough pill to swallow.
But at 6,835 yards, the modern game has likely passed TPC River Highlands by. With that said, this course has committed itself to hosting the PGA Tour’s best once again in 2025 and should do so once again. It deserves it. The layout is spectacular, with the final four holes always producing drama. And the community embraces this tournament like a major championship. Plus, the hospitality for players, volunteers, media, and fans alike is all top-notch, a true five-star experience.
Yet, we have an idea: what if the Travelers Championship became the Northeast’s premier Signature Event, rotating around a bevy of top courses within the region? Obviously, this region has plenty of capital. So, perhaps Bethpage Black hosts one year while Liberty National slides in during another. Maybe TPC Boston will get back in the mix. Or Aronimink in Philadelphia. Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey would be another viable candidate.
At any rate, the tour has an opportunity to take things a step further regarding its Signature Events by rotating courses in and out. Yes, the Hartford, Connecticut community would be heartbroken to see this tournament leave, but the Travelers Championship could always return to this area, too.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya contains the longest run from the start-finish line to the first turn on the entire Formula 1 schedule. Measuring in at 579 meters from the pole position grid box to Turn 1, that is a lot of ground to cover at the start of a Grand Prix.
Saturday night those 579 meters must have been on Lando Norris’ mind.
Starting in P1, Norris knew he had to close the door on Max Verstappen at the start of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. To beat Verstappen you need to be perfect, you need to be “balls out” as Norris rather eloquently described on Saturday after snaring pole position from his rival. That meant slamming the door on Verstappen — one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen — over those first 579 meters and holding on from there.
Try as he might after the lights went out, Norris could not fend him off. Verstappen was able to get by his friend and rival shortly after the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix began after a hard bit of racing between the two.
Their initial fight opened the door for George Russell, albeit for just a moment. Russell was able to overtake both drivers with a stunning double overtake at the start to take an early lead in the race.
But Verstappen was not behind the Mercedes for long. Prodded on by race engineer Gianpiero “GP” Lambiase, Verstappen stuck his own overtake of Russell on Lap 3 to get into the lead.
Where he would finish, capturing his seventh Grand Prix victory of the season.
Again, however, he needed to push. In the closing stages of the race, Norris was again trying to close the gap, extracting every last bit of rubber out of his tires, much as he did at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix a few weeks ago. At Imola, Norris just needed one more lap and he might have caught his friend, ultimately losing by less than a second. In Barcelona, Norris could only close the gap to around two seconds, and at the end of the race when informed by his team he had indeed finished second, the McLaren driver was distraught.
“Should have won,” started Norris. “I ******* up the start.”
But that anguish from Norris perhaps tells the bigger story of this Formula 1 season. A year ago a P2 finish, two seconds behind Verstappen, would have been considered a massive win for any team. At this track a year ago Verstappen won by over 24 seconds.
That gap is down to just two seconds this year.
Verstappen may go on to secure his fourth-straight Drivers’ Championship. He may carry Red Bull to their third-straight Constructors’ title.
But this year, he and Red Bull are going to have to work for it.
Here are the full results from the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, as well as some more winners and losers.
Winners: McLaren
“Not could, should have.”
That is how Lando Norris described his effort at the Spanish Grand Prix to David Coulthard trackside after the race. Norris was emphatic that not only could he have won this race, but that he should have.
Again, that anguish highlights just how much the game has changed this F1 season.
Norris may rue the start to the Spanish Grand Prix, where as outlined above he faced one of the biggest challenges on the calendar, which is holding the lead over the long run into Turn 1 at Barcelona. Norris gave it everything he had, even forcing Verstappen hard to the inside in an incident that race officials investigated, but took no further action on as it was an opening-lap racing incident. But in the end, Verstappen was just too much.
On this day. Upcoming races, however, may be different.
“Austria and Silverstone are two of my favorite tracks,” added Norris to Coulthard. “I need to just tidy up a few little bits and I’ll be on top.”
Still, this was another strong day for McLaren. Norris kept his streak alive of being the only driver this season to secure points in every Grand Prix, and his 18 points — along with the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race — along with the six points from Oscar Piastri’s P7 saw McLaren bank 25 points on the day. That is seven more points than that 18 Ferrari took home thanks to a P5 from Charles Leclerc and a P6 from Carlos Sainz Jr.
Inching McLaren a few points closer to the Scuderia in their fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship.
Loser: C1 hard compound
Photo by Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images
In the game of F1 tire strategy, there was a clear loser this Sunday: The C1 compound, designated by Pirelli as the “hard” compound for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
A two-stop strategy was highlighted throughout the buildup to the Spanish Grand Prix as the ideal path for teams, but those potential strategies often utilized some variation of soft and medium tires. As illustrated by the brilliant Ruth Buscombe on F1TV — whose move from Head of Race Strategy at Sauber to an analyst on F1TV has been a massive addition to the coverage — given the surface in Barcelona drivers want to be on as soft a compound as possible at the end of the race, otherwise the grip is just not there.
But two teams in contention rolled the dice on those C1 tires: Mercedes with George Russell and Ferrari with Carlos Sainz Jr.
Both drivers eventually saw their teammates overtake them on softer tires, with Charles Leclerc getting by Sainz for P5 and Lewis Hamilton overtaking Russell on a set of softs for the final podium position.
And further back in the field some teams that tried to extend longer runs on the hards in hopes of something breaking their way, only saw those tires fade down the stretch of those runs.
For those wondering, the C1 hard compound will not come into play at next weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, as Pirelli has already identified the three compounds for that race weekend. The C3, which was the softest compound in Barcelona, will be the hard compound at Red Bull Ring, with the C4 serving as the medium and the C5 as the soft.
Silverstone, however, will see the C1, the C2, and the C3 back in service.
That gives the C1 two weeks to think about what it’s done …
Winners: Mercedes
“It’s been a good day,” described Lewis Hamilton after the race to David Coulthard.
Sunday was indeed a good day for Mercedes. The Spanish Grand Prix began with the Silver Arrows having the second row all to themselves, with Lewis Hamilton in P3 and George Russell in P4.
And that is how they ended, bringing home 27 points on the weekend, another solid haul for the team.
Dating back to the Miami Grand Prix when Mercedes started rolling out a series of upgrades to their 2024 challenger, the W15, the talk from the team has been that of “progress.” But over the past two race weekends, that progress has been fully realized. Russell notched the team’s first Grand Prix podium of the season with his third-place finish in the Canadian Grand Prix, and Hamilton made it two in a row for the Brackley-based team with his first Grand Prix podium of the season in Barcelona. (Hamilton finished second in the F1 Sprint Race at the Chinese Grand Prix back in April).
Speaking with Coulthard the seven-time Drivers’ Champion hailed the effort from the team. “I have to say a big thank you to the team because they just, they’ve been training so hard,” described Hamilton. “The strategy and the pit stops were really on point.”
Sunday’s result pulled Mercedes two points closer to McLaren, and also nine points closer to Ferrari, in the Constructors’ Championship standings. With a long way to go in this season, there is reason to believe that Mercedes can truly turn this progress into performance and eventually, positions in the standings.
Losers: Aston Martin
Aston Martin has been downplaying expectations all week. Following Saturday’s qualifying session that saw both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll end their days in Q2, Team Principal Mike Krack outlined how that was “ … the best we had in the car today.” That meant a podium finish was likely out of the cards, and points were their only achievable goal.
A goal that they could not accomplish on Sunday.
By the time the checkered flag flew both drivers were on the outside of the points looking in, with Stroll in 14th and hometown hero Alonso a few spots ahead, in P12.
Aston Martin is slowly finding themselves where Alpine was a season ago. Just quick enough that the teams at the back end of the midfield cannot pose a true threat, but stuck too far outside range of the teams ahead of them. As the field heads to Red Bull Ring Aston Martin find themselves now 93 points behind fourth-place Mercedes, and with the recent run of form from the Silver Arrows, that gap will likely only grow over the next two races.
Thankfully for Aston Martin their closest pursuers, VCARB, had some struggles of their own and could not chip away at the 30 points that separate those two teams.
Still, after a stunning start to the 2023 season that had Aston Martin the talk of the paddock, things have certainly changed for them this season.
Winners: Alpine
Speaking of Alpine …
The French team began the year with six straight races without a single point to show for their hard work.
But after breaking through with their first point of the year, a tenth-place finish from Esteban Ocon at the Miami Grand Prix the driver described as a sign they were “ … headed in the right direction,” the team has now scored in four of the last five race weekends. Not only did Alpine add to their tally again this weekend, but with both Ocon and Pierre Gasly finishing in the points (Ocon in tenth, Gasly in ninth) it marks the second-straight double-points finish for the team.
They still have a long way to go to catch VCARB ahead of them in the standings, as they trail Red Bull’s sister team by 20 points as the grid leaves Barcelona, but this graph from Formula1Pointsillustrates the upward trajectory we have seen from Alpine in recent weeks:
Can they keep that momentum into Austria, and throughout the rest of the season?
Abbi Pulling swept the weekend the last time the F1 Academy was in action, capturing both races at the Miami Grand Prix.
And the Alpine driver is picking up right where she left off.
Pulling is well on her way to another sweep after capturing the first of two races for F1 Academy at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Pulling began the race in pole position, and fended off a tremendous start from Nerea Martí to secure the lead over the first lap. Martí took advantage of a stall off the line from Doriane Pin and jumped to the inside, getting a slipstream from Pulling into Turn 1.
Martí then jumped to the outside and looked to have the edge on Pulling around the outer racing line, but the Alpine driver soon slammed the door shut, leading the opening lap.
However, the safety car came out at the end of the first lap due to an incident involving Maya Weug, Amna Al Qubaisi, and Lola Lovinfosse. Weug and Al Qubaisi ended up in the gravel following contact between the three cars.
That meant Pulling needed to survive a restart but the British driver built a lead over Marti of nearly a second off the rolling restart, and began to pull away from the field. By the time the checkered flag flew, the Alpine driver was nearly five seconds clear of Martí, who held on for P2.
Haas driver Chloe Chambers, who secured the first-ever podium finish for the team with a P3 in the first race in Miami, notched her second podium with another P3. McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante came across the line fourth, and Hamda Al Qubaisi finished in fifth.
Pin managed to recover from her slow start which shuffled her back in the field, salvaging a seventh-place finish.
But Pulling was the story, as she now has four-straight victories and remains atop the F1 Academy Drivers’ Championship standings. Pulling even captured the fastest lap over the session, picking up a bonus point for her incredible effort. She will look for another weekend sweep tomorrow, when she starts up front for F1 Academy’s second race at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team has come away with points in four straight races, dating back to the Miami Grand Prix. That weekend saw both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finish in the points in the F1 Sprint Race — a result Ricciardo enjoyed deep into the afternoon in Miami, even after his struggles in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix — and kicked off a string of good results for the team, including Ricciardo’s P8 in the Canadian Grand Prix.
That streak appears headed for an end at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Like many teams, VCARB brought a series of upgrades to Barcelona, but those upgrades have yet to materialize into results on the track. After a Friday that saw both drivers at the back of the field, the team hoped the data would uncover some answers for improved lap times on Saturday.
No such luck. Both Ricciardo and Tsunoda were eliminated in Q1, and they will start alongside each other in the ninth row on Sunday, with Tsunoda in P17 and Ricciardo in P18.
Despite that result, both drivers remained positive in their post-qualifying comments.
“We’ve been struggling with pace this weekend and tried multiple things to try and improve, and in the end, I felt better in qualifying than in Free Practice. At least I’m happy with my lap and feel like I was able to maximise the current package,” said Tsunoda. “The last races have been going well and even if it’s a shame, I think it’s important that we’re facing this more difficult moment together as a team. It’s a good opportunity to learn from our struggles and grow as a team. The most important thing is to remain positive, and we certainly will.”
While the lap times were not there for Ricciardo, he still believes that the team made progress overnight with the setup.
“It’s a tricky weekend. We have a lot of new parts on the car, and we still need to understand the best way to make them work,” began Ricciardo. “After yesterday, when we were still finding a bit of balance, we made pretty big changes overnight and today in qualifying the car felt much more together.
“We made progress in terms of feeling and balance, but unfortunately, we’re still in a tough spot in terms of the stopwatch. Being out of Q1 with both cars, especially using three sets of soft each, shows that at the moment, we don’t have the pace,” continued the VCARB driver. “There’s still more to find and we’ll keep chipping away. Tomorrow is going to come around quick, but we have a few races ahead of us with similar track characteristics, so we obviously need to figure out together the things we’re missing.”
Jody Egginton, the team’s Technical Director, praised both drivers for their feedback to the team. While VCARB may not be happy with the results at the moment, Egginton sounded hopeful that this weekend has laid the groundwork for further progress over the rest of the year.
“In terms of car balance, there has been some improvement,” began Egginton. “This alone has not been enough, so clearly, we have a lot of homework to do tonight, but also ahead of Austria, to extract more from the car and a large part of this work will be [analyzing] in detail the aero data we have gathered here in Barcelona.
“On the flip side, both drivers have done a good job of supporting the engineering team with feedback on the numerous test items we have evaluated here and also extracting the maximum from the cars we have been able to provide them with, so we have plenty of data to work with to make the necessary steps forward.”
Klay Thompson spent this past season fighting against father time as he played out the final year of his contract with the Golden State Warriors. Thompson still shot the ball well from three-point range (38.7 percent), but it was clear he lost a step in terms of his effectiveness at both ends of the floor.
As the Warriors missed the 2024 NBA Playoffs, speculation about Thompson’s future in free agency became even more intense. With the negotiating window now open between players and their incumbent teams, it’s looking more and more like Thompson and the Warriors are heading for a split.
The Warriors do not have an offer on the table to Thompson right now ahead of NBA free agency, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Talks between the Warriors and Thompson are being described as “frozen,” likely leading to the 34-year-old testing the open market for the first time in his career.
Thompson reportedly turned down a two-year, $48 million extension from the Warriors last summer, according to NBA insider Shams Charania. That deal is apparently no longer on the table from Golden State, and it’s possible Thompson won’t see that type of money from any other suitor given the lack of teams with cap space this summer.
Right now, only the Pistons, Magic, 76ers, Jazz, Spurs, and Thunder appear to have a pathway to substantial cap space. Thompson would be a good theoretical fit for a couple of those teams, but only if they decide he’s worth their investment over younger free agents. Orlando has been rumored to have interest in Thompson, but the club reportedly only wants to offer two-year deals to free agents, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports. That wasn’t good enough for Thompson a year ago, but at this point he may have no other choice.
The Magic could also choose to spend their money on Nuggets free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, according to Fischer. KCP is a few years younger than Thompson, shot the ball better from the outside the last few seasons, and has a superior defensive reputation at this point in his career.
Thompson has spend his entire career with the Warriors since being selected with the No. 11 overall pick by the franchise back in 2012. He has won four championships playing alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
It would feel so wrong to see Thompson in another uniform, but it sure looks like that’s the way it’s headed. NBA free agency opens up on June 30.
“Lando Norris with perhaps one of the finest laps he’s turned in a Formula 1 car.”
That was the description from Alex Jacques in the commentary box on F1TV after the checkered flag flew at the end of qualifying. And if Saturday’s qualifying session at the Spanish Grand Prix is any indication, the rest of this F1 season may be filled with tremendous drama.
Max Verstappen threw down the gauntlet throughout qualifying, and as the seconds ticked down it looked as if the Red Bull driver was going to fend off the challengers in the field. Verstappen was on provisional pole position, but there were still a few drivers on the track.
Including Norris.
The McLaren driver delivered what he described as a “perfect” lap, a thunderous performance that snatched P1 away from his friend and rival Verstappen at the death. While Verstappen was denied pole last time out at the Canadian Grand Prix despite setting the same time as George Russell, Norris finished two hundreds ahead of his friend.
It is the second pole position of the McLaren driver’s career.
Can he translate that into a victory?
Norris said that is the “plan.”
“Of course, I can,” said Norris trackside when asked he he can translate pole position into a victory. “That’s our target. But I know it’s gonna be tough against Max, against Lewis, anyone behind. But we’re to win now.
“So, that’s my plan.”
Norris and McLaren kick off our list of winners and losers during qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix. Here are the full results, as well as some more winners and losers from a thrilling Saturday in Barcelona.
Losers: Williams
The last time Williams finished in the points at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya? That came back at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix when both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa came across the line in the top ten. Since then, Barcelona has been a points desert for the team.
That looks to continue this weekend.
Williams has been on the back foot all week, and that continued with qualifying on Saturday. Both Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant were eliminated in Q1, and the team will face an uphill climb to try and secure points in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
With their two drivers set to start alongside each other on the back row of the grid.
When the team launched their challenger for the 2024 season in New York City in February, the talk from the team was that the FW46 was going to be a more well-rounded car than last season’s challenger. A year ago you knew where the FW45 was going to be strong, particularly at high-speed circuits with lots of straights. Entering 2024, the team was hoping to find a more complete challenger.
While they may have achieved that goal, Barcelona remains tough sledding for the team.
“It’s been a painful weekend guys … I’ll keep trying my best,” reported Sargeant following Q1.
Williams will need something even better than that on Sunday if they are going to break their points-less Barcelona streak.
Winners: Sauber
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Finally.
For the first time all season long, Sauber had a reason to work on both sides of the garage in Q2. Both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu advanced out of Q1, for the first time this year. Bottas was 13th-fastest in Q1, with Zhou right behind him in P14.
While their days ended in Q2, as both Bottas and Zhou failed to advance, it was certainly a step forward for the team during a year that has seen Sauber struggle. The year began with frustration in the pits, as races where the team demonstrated good pace were undone by lengthy pit stops and a problem with cross-threading issues on the wheel nuts of the C44.
Those issues were finally resolved, and now they have their first weekend with both cars in Q2.
Can they translate that into points? With both drivers starting just on the outside of the top ten — with Bottas in P12 and Zhou in P15 — they certainly have a shot.
Losers: VCARB
Both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda described Friday as a struggle for the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.
Saturday was not much better.
Ricciardo and Tsunoda were both eliminated in Q1, and are set to start alongside each other on the penultimate row of the grid. Ricciardo posted the 18th-fastest time in Q1, with Tsunoda just ahead of him in P17.
VCARB brought a set of upgrades to Barcelona, like many teams, and the word from the team after Friday’s session was that the upgrades were working as expected. “The main upgrade we brought here is the floor, and with these cars, it’s such a big part of development,” reported Ricciardo in the team’s post-practice report Friday. “There’s still some optimism and once we dive into it tonight, we’ll find how it’s working and better ways to set up the car around it.”
“We’re happy with the numbers coming from the upgrade, all is working well and no issues there,” described Sporting Director Alan Permane. “The focus will be on the mechanical side of the car and improving the suspension setup.”
But judging by the results Saturday, the team is still looking for answers on the setup.
Winners: Alpine
Following Friday’s two practice sessions both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly seemed surprised with the performance from Alpine. With both drivers finishing FP2 inside the top ten — and Gasly in P4 — the Alpine duo wondered if that result offered a true picture of how things stood. “To end the day with both cars in the top-10 is a little bit unexpected from where we thought we would be entering the weekend on this particular track,” said Ocon. “Obviously, we do not know what the others are doing but overall, it is a positive start to the weekend.”
Gasly described it as a bit of flattery.
“It’s been a positive Friday for us, especially Free Practice 2,” added Gasly. “The end result, finishing in fourth place, probably flatters us and it was certainly a surprise, but a pleasant surprise, and one that brings a smile to my face!”
Those pleasant surprises continued into Saturday.
Both Ocon and Gasly advanced into Q3, marking just the second time this season that both drivers lasted into the third segment of qualifying.
Gasly ended Q3 in P7, with Ocon in P9. But with Sergio Pérez between them in P8 — and facing a grid drop for a penalty handed down following the Canadian Grand Prix — Alpine enters Sunday’s Grand Prix in position for big points this weekend.
Along with perhaps some more flattery.
Losers: Aston Martin
“We do not know what we’re going to get at the start of every weekend,” reported Fernando Alonso at the start of the week, as relayed by Alex Jacques during the F1TV broadcast.
That seems to be the case at the moment with Aston Martin.
While Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll advanced out of Q2, both drivers saw their Saturday sessions end there. Alonso just missed out on Q3 and will start the Spanish Grand Prix in P11. As for Stroll, after avoiding a penalty for an incident with Lewis Hamilton in FP3 he could not avoid the drop at the end of Q2 and will start Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in P15.
Returning to Alonso, speaking at the FIA Press Conference on Thursday the veteran driver outlined his current thoughts on the AMR24.
“About the car and the understanding: I think we have clear ideas of what we have to improve. Obviously I will not share here with everyone. I think it is quite obvious for everyone that qualifying has been our strength this year and race pace has been a little bit weak,” described Alonso on Thursday. “The straight-line speed and the DRS effect is quite strong also this year in our car but there are a lot of weaknesses as well that we are identifying now with the new package as well, so yeah I think we’re in a good place.”
That might not exactly be the case, given what we saw Saturday. Is this a track-specific issue for the team, or is something else happening at Aston Martin with their 2024 challenger?
Winners: Mercedes
Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
With all the accolades he has earned over a tremendous F1 career, Lewis Hamilton was seeking something on Saturday that was a bit outside the norm.
A start inside the top six.
Despite all the success he has enjoyed over his career, Hamilton had yet to qualify inside the top six this season. His best starting spot in a Grand Prix this year was seventh, something he had done three times: Japan, Monaco, and Canada.
Hamilton will start Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix not just inside the top six, but on the second row. A thunderous lap of his own late in Q3 saw the Mercedes driver secure P3, and with teammate George Russell qualifying fourth, the Silver Arrows have locked out the second row, putting them in position for another huge points weekend.
“I’m really happy,” shared Hamilton trackside after qualifying. “Firstly, thank you everyone. So, so happy to be here and super grateful to be up in the top three. It’s been quite a difficult year so [a] huge amount of work for me going back to the factory.
“And finally, we’re starting to see those incremental steps moving closer to the guys ahead. I didn’t expect us to be fighting for pole necessarily, but every now and then [it looks like with] little bits there and maybe we’ll be close. And so to be there, I’m just grateful.”
Hamilton also praised his teammate and believes that given their starting position, he and Russell can put some pressure on Verstappen and Norris up front.
“Yeah, we’ve made [a] huge step forwards and it’s really just down to every single individual back to the factory who’s pushing in design, pushing and making the new parts that we get to bring as early as possible to these races,” added Hamilton. “And slowly the car is crafting into a racing machine that we can hopefully fight the guys at the front.
“So, George did a great job as well today. So hopefully tomorrow we can apply pressure on the two cars ahead.”
The tremendous result for Mercedes comes at a fascinating time for the team. Not only are they on the cusp of Hamilton’s impending departure to Ferrari at the end of the season, but reports surfaced this week of an anonymous email sent to F1 journalists after the Canadian Grand Prix alleging disparate treatment between Hamilton and Russell by Mercedes. Team Principal Toto Wolff blasted that email during Friday’s FIA Press Conference, indicating that the matter had been referred to police and dismissing “conspiracy theorists and lunatics,” but this is a strange season for the team. One that began with Hamilton’s shocking announcement, and saw Mercedes begin the year on the back foot.
But recent upgrades, including a new front wing, have seen them move to the front the past few races. They are coming off their best result of the season in Montreal, and look primed for something even bigger tomorrow.
Winners: All of us
I honestly yelled.
Watching on my couch as Norris pipped Verstappen for pole position, I let out a shout in my living room … and regretted not making the trek across the pond to see this in person. But if you feel like we are witnessing a season that may go down in F1 history, you are not alone.
“This season is just delivering time and time again … this is the finest season of Formula 1 I can remember.”
Those were the words of David Coulthard in the F1TV commentary box, as Saturday’s qualifying session drew to a close. And the former F1 champion is not alone in this assessment. Take a spin through social media — a huge shoutout to my friends on F1 Threads — and you will see comment after comment about how exciting this season is, and what kind of finish we may be in store for.
When I spoke with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri following his tremendous second-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Australian driver informed me in no uncertain terms that neither championship — the Constructors’ Championship nor the Drivers’ Championship — was “done and dusted.” Yes, Red Bull remains the favorite in the Constructors’ title, and certainly Verstappen remains the favorite in the Drivers’ Championship. But neither title race has been put to bed.
Read that again, because we truly have a pair of title races upon us this season.
And while last year’s winners remain the favorites, if Red Bull and Verstappen are going to repeat as champions they will truly have earned it, as the field is throwing everything at them at the moment. Perhaps the biggest challenge to Red Bull and Verstappen came at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix when the Saturday qualifying session saw the driver pushed to the absolute limit. He answered the call that day, and throughout the rest of the season, similar challenges were few and far between.
Now? The challenges to Red Bull and Verstappen are not just happening week-to-week, they are almost happening on a lap-to-lap basis. There is almost no margin for error for Red Bull and Verstappen, and how they respond is going to be a tremendous story to follow throughout this campaign.
Whether they answer the call, or another team and/or driver delivers a stunning run to a title, will be fascinating to watch.
The LPGA is in the Pacific Northwest at Sahalee Country Club for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
After a grueling first two days of play, the Top 60 players and ties will play the weekend.
Among those in contention is Lexi Thompson, who fired off an even-par 72 on Friday to sit tied for third place at 4-under.
She is chasing Sarah Schmelzel and Amy Yang, who both signed for 6-under 66s. Jin Young Ko and Thompson will play together alongside Hae Ran Ryu in the second-to-last group.
Some other notable names within reach are Leona Maguire at 3-under. Madelene Sagstrom and Ally Ewing are both at 2-under.
Charley Hull, Maja Stark and Celine Boutier sit at 1-under ahead of moving day. A solid third round could benefit them. Moving Day is for these ladies right in the mix to move up the leaderboard and give themselves a late tee time for Sunday.
Check out the complete tee time list below for Saturday at Sahalee.
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship Round 3 Tee Times (ET):
*indicates going off the 10th tee
12:44 p.m.* — Elizabeth Szokol, Georgia Hall, Lizette Salas
12:49 p.m. — Ruixin Liu, Yu Jin Sung, Akie Iwai
12:55 p.m. * — Linn Grant, Peiyun Chien, Hyo Joo Kim
1:00 p.m. — Pajaree Anannarukarn, Minjee Lee, Mao Saigo
2:50 p.m. — Lexi Thompson, Jin Young Ko, Hae Ran Ryu
3:01 p.m. — Sarah Schmelzel, Amy Yang, Hinako Shibuno
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.
Welcome to Playing Through’s new morning ritual: Golf Talk Today.
Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, in which the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and other professional golf tournaments.
It is Saturday at the Travelers Championship, the final PGA Tour Signature Event, and LIV Golf begins its second round in Music City.
Tom Kim leads by two shots over Collin Morikawa, Akshay Bhatia and Scottie Scheffler. It is a birdie fest at TPC River Highlands, so expect moving day to feature a lot of birdies, much like Friday did.
Shane Lowry and Robert MacIntyre fired off 8-under 62s on Friday to jump up the leaderboard. The Irishman moved up 27 spots, while the Scottish player went up 35 places.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf do not have cutlines this week. Let’s look at the round 3 tee times for the Travelers Championship and take a look at the LIV Golf leaderboard.
The Saudi-backed tour is in Nashville for the first time, and the crowds have flocked to the Grove.
Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC leads the teams after they posted a combined 14-under. The Crushers GC posted the second-best team score at 10-under.
Abraham Ancer posted a bogey-free 64 on Friday to hold a one-shot lead over Tyrrell Hatton, who signed for a 6-under 66.
U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau continues to win over the crowds, except for Brooks Koepka’s son, Crew. DeChambeau shot a 4-under 67 at The Grove and is three shots back. He is tied for fourth with three other players. His fill-in teammate, John Catlin, fired off a 5-under 68. He shot the best among the Crusher GC.
While DeChambeau may have some fatigue from last week, that did not stop him from entertaining the masses. He put on a show at the party hole, the par-3 15th, and the fans absolutely loved it.
ICYMI: Top stories from across professional golf
Tom Kim in control again; fires impressive round at Travelers to celebrate 22nd birthday
Proud Dad Moment: Brooks Koepka’s son gives Bryson DeChambeau an incredible slight
LIV Golf pro calls out South Africa Olympic team, PGA Tour players should step aside
The Bryson DeChambeau effect is in full force after incredible U.S. Open victory
Travelers Championship: PGA Tour players take advantage of conditions, make golf course look easy
Lexi Thompson delivered at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to remain in contention
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.
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