Carlos Sainz will start from 20th place, on his home soil, in the “Spanish Grand Prix” in the Formula 1 World Championship for cars after being subjected to a penalty of falling 3 places. Due to the disability of Cadillac driver, Valtteri Bottas, during qualifying, yesterday (Saturday).
The 32-year-old Williams driver was punished. Due to Bottas being obstructed at turns six and seven during the first stage of qualifying.
The FIA said in a statement: “The team failed to notify the driver of car No. 55 that car No. 77 was approaching it on a fast lap, and the driver did not take any action to make way for the oncoming car.”
He added: “The stewards concluded that car No. 55 unnecessarily obstructed car No. 77.”
This penalty causes Sainz to fall to 20th place on the starting grid, while his Spanish colleague Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin driver, Sergio Perez from the Cadillac team, and Bottas advance one place each in today’s (Sunday) race, consisting of 57 laps, which is the first Formula 1 grand prix race held on the “Madring Circuit.”
Sainz, a former Ferrari driver and winner of four races, has suffered a disappointing season and currently ranks 16th in the Drivers' Championship with 6 points. Williams is ranked ninth in the constructors' standings, which includes 11 teams.
Formula 1 champion Lando Norris achieved first pole position for the McLaren team thanks to a wonderful final lap at the Madring Circuit, beating championship leader Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes driver, by 0.011 seconds.
Circumstances came together in favor of Elena Rybakina to win the US Open tennis title, which the player from Kazakhstan never expected yesterday (Saturday), as she left New York as the champion and the new world number one despite the injury that threatened at some point to disrupt her career in the tournament.
Rybakina defeated two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to win the cup just over three weeks after her ankle injury forced her to withdraw from the Cincinnati pre-season tournament, leading fans to wonder whether she would participate in New York at all.
The player dispelled those fears with a series of crushing victories, defeating former champions Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff, before achieving a calm and composure victory over her competitor from Belarus.
Rybakina said after winning the third major title in her career and the second this season: “Honestly, I find it difficult to find words at this moment. "I did not expect something like this to happen when I came to participate in the tournament." “Somehow, all the circumstances came together,” she added.
Rybakina did not play for seven days in the lead-up to the tournament, which was not the preparation she had hoped for and she told reporters that doubts about her fitness persisted until the eve of the major tournament.
But doubts turned into confidence when she reached the fourth round of a major tournament on hard courts for the first time in her career, before ending Sabalenka's 99-week run at the top of the rankings.
This will be the first time that Rybakina has topped the world rankings in an unforgettable season that included her winning the Australian Open at the expense of Sabalenka as well, as well as reaching the final in Toronto.
Rybakina said: “I would like to thank the wonderful fans for this beautiful atmosphere. "I've been coming here for the past 10 years with no luck," she said. "I'm starting to fall in love with New York more and more."
Kazakh star Elena Rybakina won the women's singles title at the US Open Tennis Championship (Flushing Meadows), the last of the four Grand Slam tournaments of this season, after her victory over Belarusian star Aryna Sabalenka, who smashed her racket in anger after the final match of the competition, on Saturday evening.
At Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, Rybakina defeated Sabalenka with a score of 6/4, 5/7, 6/2 in the final to win the championship title for the first time in her sporting career, knowing that it was her third Grand Slam title.
Rybakina previously won the English Open Championship (Wimbledon) in 2022, after defeating Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the final of the competition held on grass courts, before winning the Australian Championship title this year, after her victory over Sabalenka.
This was the third confrontation between the two players in the final matches of the four major competitions, as Sabalenka defeated Rybakina in the final of the Australian Championship in 2023, before the Kazakh player took revenge for her loss to her Belarusian counterpart, after defeating her in the final of the same tournament earlier this year.
