Ishaq Hajjar upset his rival Charles Leclerc after he saw that Ferrari had the fastest car in the Singapore Grand Prix this month, pointing out that his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen would have won by a greater margin if he had been driving the Italian team’s car.
But Leclerc, who finished second in the race behind the four-time world champion by 7.3 seconds, categorically rejected this vision during the American Grand Prix events on Thursday.
"I think it's ridiculous to make such judgments," the driver from Monaco told reporters at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. Isaac knows nothing about the car we drive, and I, in turn, know nothing about the car he drives.”
Hajjar, who finished the Singapore race in tenth place, confirmed that the Red Bull car is still difficult to drive despite Verstappen winning the last two races.
He said: “In Malaysia, Red Bull was dominant, but I don’t think it was the fastest car in Singapore. In my opinion, if Max had sat behind the wheel of a Ferrari there, he would have won by a greater margin. “I think (Ferrari) was fastest in that race.”
For his part, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri said that Ferrari and Red Bull enjoyed a clear advantage over his team during the recent period.
The Australian said: “It was not surprising that Ferrari showed such strength in Singapore. By analyzing the data, he always appears to be the fastest, or among the fastest, in most turns this season.”
He added: “But he loses a lot on straight lines, whether due to air resistance or engine power, I do not know specifically. We expected Ferrari to be the standard against which performance was measured on other circuits as well, but that was not always the case.”
He continued: “In my opinion, (Ferrari) is very strong, and Red Bull as well. I even think that the two teams were clearly stronger than us.”
He concluded by saying: “I see that (Red Bull) has become the fastest car in a more stable manner in recent weeks, but the balance of power changes from one race to another, and the preference varies according to the nature of each track and race.”
Local media reported that Trabzonspor goalkeeper Andre Onana survived a traffic accident in northern Türkiye following his team's match in the European Football Conference League on Thursday.
The 30-year-old Cameroonian international was on his way home with his family after Trabzonspor's 2-0 victory over Scottish club Hearts, when he was involved in a traffic accident in the Yomra area of Trabzon.
Local media reported that a car collided with Onana's vehicle from behind, causing it to accelerate and collide with another car in front of it in an accident that involved several vehicles.
The accident did not result in any injuries to Onana or his family members, while club officials quickly went to the site of the accident to check on his safety.
Turkish media quoted Trabzonspor club president Ertugrul Dogan as saying that the Cameroonian goalkeeper was in good condition and was not harmed.
Onana joined Trabzonspor on loan from Manchester United in 2025.
On Friday, the Athletics Integrity Unit temporarily suspended Kenyan runner Peris Jeptchurcher, a former Olympic champion and one of the most prominent names in marathon racing, after the presence of the banned drug Epo was confirmed in a sample taken from her outside of competition before she won the Sydney Marathon.
The unit said that the sample, which was drawn in Kenya, tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), a banned substance used to enhance the production of red blood cells and increase endurance.
Her agent, Gianni DiMadonna, said in an email statement: “I can only express my deep regret for what happened, and I believe that the exclusion of any athlete who uses banned substances to enhance performance is correct and necessary.”
Jepchurchir (33 years old) is one of the most prominent long-distance runners in the world. She won the marathon gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and previously broke the world record for the half marathon race, and won four prominent marathon titles.
Her most notable achievements included winning the New York Marathon in 2021, Boston in 2022, and London in 2024, before adding the Sydney Marathon to her record this year.
The Kenyan runner dominated the women's race in Sydney last August, when she took the lead early and covered the distance in a time of two hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds, more than 3 minutes ahead of her compatriot Irene Cheptai, who was in second place.
The Jepchurchir case comes less than a year after her compatriot Ruth Chepengetich, the women's marathon world record holder, was banned for three years for violating anti-doping rules. However, Chepngetich retained her world record of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds; Because it was recorded before her positive result appeared.
