SPORT Monday 26 November 2018 PAGE | 07 PAGE | 10 Kohli and Marin Cilic Pandya help leads Croatia to India level second Davis Twenty20 series Cup title Dominant Hamilton ends 2018 in style AFP out after his car was manually rolled back ABU DHABI by the marshals, who extinguished the blaze. New five-time Formula One champion The race was red-flaggedggg as a Lewis Hamilton kept his cool in a Safety Carr waswass deployed,deplooyeed,d, re-startingre-e sttarartit ngng incident-filled final Grand Prix of the after five lapsaps withwiw tht HamiltonHamiltoon resumingreresumimingn season yesterday to claim his 11th win as leader. of the campaign in Abu Dhabi. On resumption,ummption,n HamiltonHamili tot n pulledpullled 1.21.22 The 33-year-old Briton, who started seconds clearear whwhileile from his 83rd pole position, came home Verstappenn foughtfouughg t 2.5 seconds ahead of his main title rival, back after fallingfala ling four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of to 10th. HisHis Ferrari, on the day Fernando Alonso bade progresssss farewell to F1. included a Retirement-bound Alonso finished passingg McLaren’s just outside the points positions for move at thehe Spanish driver McLaren as the two-time champion hairpin onn Fernando Alonso taking 11th in his 311th and final GP. Esteban Ocon,Occon, (centre) poses Hamilton’s win came after a race the Frenchmanhman for a photograph that began with an horrific opening lap who had collidedollided with his team crash from which Nico Hulkenberg with him inn BrazilBrazill ---- yesterday. escaped unhurt despite his Renault car and been shovedshoveed andannd threatenedthreeatene ede catching ablaze and barrel-rolling into afterwards.s. the track-side barriers. Ocon respondedrespoondede byby regainingregaaini ing hishih s Alonso bows out with Hamilton’s victory completed a place on thethe straightstraighg t andand thisthhiss waswasa season of total dominance for the Eng- repeated before,before, atat thethe thirdthhiri d attempt,atteempt, a champion’s send-off lishman. “I am so happy right now,” he the Dutchmanman mademadade it stickstit ck shortlyshoh rtlyy REUTERS said, before praising Vettel. “I know next before Kimimi Raikkonen,RaR ikkonen n,, inin hishis farewellfarer wew ll ABU DHABI year he’s going to come back stronger.” outing forr Ferrari,Ferrari, lostloost powerpowo er andand Vettel responded generously. retired, parkingrkik ngg onon thethe pitpit straight.straigghth . Fernando Alonso bowed out of Formula One yesterday with “He deserves to be champion,” This triggerediggere edd a VirtualVirtuaal SafetySafetty CaCarr a champion’s send-off and the ‘Triple Crown of Motorsport’ Vettel said. “It’s been a tough year and interventiononn thatthat sawsaaw Hamilton,Hamim lton, ono laplap next on his list of targets. I tried until the last lap.” seven, pit toto changechange toto harderhardder tyres.tyrress. The double world champion failed to score a point in his Dutchman Max Verstappen finished Bottas tooktoook thetht e leadleeada andandn HamiltonHama iltoon final race for McLaren, finishing tantalisingly close in 11th place nearly 13 seconds back in third, ahead rejoined inn fifth,fif fth, thethee racingracinng resumingreesumim ng after making up four positions, but the Spaniard went out of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo -- who on lap nine,ne, andandd afterafter a seriesseries off pitpitt fighting to the last. is moving to Renault after 100th race for visits from thethhe leadingleadinng drddrivers,ivers,s HHamiltonamilltoon He also collected three penalty points and three separate Red Bull -- and Valtteri Bottas in the eventually retookretook firstfirst place.pllace. five-second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an second Mercedes. With 200 lapslapsps remaining,remmainingg, it waswas clearcleara advantage in the heat of battle. Carlos Sainz came home sixth for Bottas andd MercedesMercedes wewerere strugglingstrt ugu gling Alonso was joined on his slowing down lap by five times Renault ahead of Ferrari-bound Charles with tyre-weare-wear andand VettelVettel tooktot ok champion Lewis Hamilton, his former McLaren team mate, Leclerc of Sauber, Sergio Perez of Force advantage,e,, sweepingsweeeppini g pastpap stt forfoor second and Ferrari’s four times champion Sebastian Vettel. Together India, Romain Grosjean, who had tangled behind Hamiltonmili toon to setset upup a dramaticdramatic they performed tyre-smoking spins on the pit straight in front with Hulkenberg on the opening lap, and finale. of the crowd. his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen. Bottas brieflybriefe ly hheldeld ooffff an attack “It has been a pleasure racing with these champions and On a hot evening at the Yas Marina from Verstappentapppen on lap 3838 butbut I feel privileged. Thanks to everyone and to Formula One, I Circuit, after a series of farewells and pre- could not resistessist thethe DutchmanDututchchmman as will always be a fan of this sport,” said the Spaniard, who won race theatre that included flag-waving Hol- they bangedged wheelswhheeels as hehe his titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. lywood star Will Smith, the engines out- passed at TurnTurn 111,1, bbeforeefore then “I will come back maybe one day as a tourist or a com- roared the hype as Hamilton made a falling behindind Ricciardo.Ricciardo. mentator and enjoy Formula One in a different way.” perfect start from his 11th pole of the All thiss left HamiltonHamilton Alonso, who started out with now-defunct backmarkers season to draw clear of Bottas. leading, onn wornwworn tyres,tyres, six Minardi 311 races ago, will next year compete with McLaren Drama then intervened when seconds aheadheaad of Vettel,Vettel, at the Indianapolis 500 as well as continuing in the world Hulkenberg tangled with Grosjean and Verstappenn andand Ric-Rici - Mercedes’MeMe British driver endurance championship for Toyota. was sent into an airborne roll that saw ciardo. Bottastttasa mmadeade a LewisLe Hamilton celebrates The target is the Triple Crown, a feat only previously him crash violently into the barriers as final charge afterafter pittingpittiingg afteraftaft winning the Abu Dhabi achieved by the late Briton Graham Hill, and two times Monaco flames erupted. for softer ttyres,yrese , butbub t FormulaFoFo One Grand Prix at the Grand Prix winner Alonso has won two of the three after his The German was unhurt and climbed could not makemakee a dent.dene tt. YasYaY Marina Circuit yesterday. triumph in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year. Coach Trabelsi delighted with Al Sailiya’s fighting win THE PENINSULA League points table, Trabelsi DOHA said: “We always look to be in the top three or four. We are Al Sailiya’s gritty comeback win capable of doing it, of course.” over former champions Al Al Gharafa coach Christian Gharafa on Saturday has Gourcuff said his team missed delighted coach Sami Trabelsi. chances to score. In a round 13 clash on Sat- STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 13 “It was an important match urday, Al Sailiya rallied from a RANK CLUB M W L D PTS and we always looked for a win. goal down to beat Al Gharafa 2-1 1 Al Duhail 12 11 0 1 34 We did not win because we after a stunning effort by sub- 2 Al Sadd 11 8 1 2 26 made mistakes. When you stitute Mohamad Rajeb who pro- 3 Al Sailiya 13 8 4 1 25 compete in the league, making duced a header with a full-length 4 Al Rayyan 13 6 2 5 23 mistakes can prove costly,” forward dive to score Al Sailiya’s 5 Al Ahli 13 7 5 1 22 Gourcuff said. winning goal in injury time. 6 Al Gharafa 13 5 5 3 18 “There were difficulties in Earlier, Mashaal Qassim Al 7 Umm Salal 13 4 5 4 16 the match but I thought we were Shammari scored Al Sailiya’s 8 Al Shahania 13 4 6 3 15 better in the second half,” he 9 Al Arabi 13 5 8 0 15 first goal in the 73rd minute. For added. “But the result was not in 10 Qatar SC 13 3 8 2 11 Al Gharafa, the only goal was 11 Al Khor 12 2 8 2 8 our favour,” he said. scored by Slovakian star “It’s hard to wait for a 12 Al Kharaitiyat 13 1 12 0 3 Al Sailiya players celebrate after defeating Al Gharafa in their QNB Stars League match on Saturday. Vladimir Weiss off a penalty in penalty just to score. We had the 51st minute at Al Ahli scoring opportunities but we Stadium. important as we move forward,” Shammari and Mohamad Rajeb Gharafa’s Yousuf Ali, an U-23 into an open net with a left- were not able to turn them into “I believe we have managed the Tunisian said. “This is the as they played extremely well in player, allowed Al Sailiya to footed shot. goals. It’s true that when a to get an important win at this kind of fight I like in my team. the absence of Rachid Tiber- equalise late in the second In injury time (90 + 3), Rajeb mistake like goalkeeper stage of the league,” Trabelsi said The journey is long and there are kanine. The replacement players half. Ali, standing a couple of produced a deft header with a Youssef Hassan comes in, you after the match. “We won against many matches to go but we have did not disappoint. They did feet outside his own box, failed forward lunge on a loopy cross concede a goal,” the coach a top side and I think Al Sailiya the attackers needed to score what was required of them,” the to clear a loopy ball that flew from the flank to score Al said. showed great character,” he goals,” he said. coach said. in his direction. Ali’s shot Sailiya’s winning strike.