Grand

Although the hope behind the new rule was that it would add spice to the race, the spice was all theoretical as teams were on tenterhooks waiting for incidents that would require quick decisions.

But although Alpine’s Pierre Gasly crashed into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull early on and broke his suspension and Fernando Alonso retired his Aston Martin with an engine failure, there was not a safety car that led to a strategy scramble.

At the first pit stops, the only change in order saw Hamilton jump ahead of Alonso, who then dropped back from the Ferrari, managing his engine problem before retirement.

Alonso, still on zero points, has now had his equal-worst start to a season ever, matched only by McLaren-Honda’s dire 2015.

Behind Hamilton, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar finished sixth, making two pit stops within a few laps of each other early in the race to end up on hard tyres and run to the end.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon was seventh, ahead of the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson and the Williams of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Albon annoyed his good friend George Russell as he managed the traffic to manipulate the race to ensure he and Sainz could pit and both finish in the points.

Russell, complaining Albon was driving erratically, eventually cut the chicane to take the position and refused to give it back, saying he would “take the penalty”.

Russell was expecting a five-second penalty, but in fact he was given a drive-through, and he finished 11th, his race already ruined by the electrical problem in qualifying that left him 14th on the grid.

The Ferrari driven to victory by Formula One legend Michael Schumacher at the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix has been sold for 15.98m euros (£13.43m) at auction.

He also raced in the F2001 to win the Hungarian Grand Prix and clinch the fourth of his seven world titles in that year.

The car was sold by RM Sotheby’s before qualifying for this year’s Monaco Grand Prix and became the most expensive car driven by the German, 56, to be sold at auction.

It was also the fourth most expensive F1 car ever sold – the world record was set in February when a Mercedes ‘streamliner’ raced by Sir Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio went for £42.75m.

Previously, the most paid for a car driven by Schumacher was the £9.75m bid for his F2003 back in 2002.

Ferrari will hope to emulate Schumacher’s 2001 success in Monte Carlo with Charles Leclerc second, behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Lando Norris said his pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix was a “step in the right direction” and “quite a big thing” after being unhappy with his form since the start of this season.

The McLaren driver trails team-mate Oscar Piastri by 13 points in the championship after the Australian’s four victories to Norris’ one.

The pole was Norris’ first since the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season, while Piastri has taken three.

Norris said: “To classify it as a breakthrough, you also need consistency of results.

“I can look at it both ways. It’s a breakthrough that I had a good Saturday. For me it’s at least a step in the right direction, which I’m very, very happy about.

“But it’s one weekend. Consistency is a big part of it, too, and I will be happier if I know and can get to that point where I am confident into every session that I can perform like I did today, because I think my performance was at a very, very strong level.

“If I go into Barcelona and Canada and the next few races and I can perform at this level, that is my goal.

But certainly today is a step in the right direction, whether it’s a small step or big step, it’s a step and that’s all I need for now.”

Norris beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.109 seconds in an exciting session in Monaco, as pole swapped between Norris and the Monegasque over their runs.

Leclerc did one flying lap, while McLaren chose to do two, staying out on track but cooling their tyres in between. Norris took pole, Leclerc snatched it from him, before the Briton grabbed it back again.

Norris has been working hard on improving his qualifying performance this season, after explaining that he has been finding it difficult to trust the McLaren car enough to be able to take it consistently to the limit in qualifying.

Asked to explain his step forward, he said: “Things from the car, just it being Monaco and a very different layout, a very different kind of style of driving that’s needed here. It’s a lot more risk commitment rather than just absolute car balance, in a way.

“And also things that I’ve been working on to improve, to do a better job.

“Never because I’ve not had the pace – just more that I’ve never put it together come Q3. today was probably the first time since Australia that I’ve really put it all together.

“It’s not like I’m driving quicker, it’s I’m driving in a better way, in a smarter way.

“But there’s been a lot of work that’s gone on. For me, even if I was pole in any other track, I think it probably would have been the pole that’s meant the most to me.

“It probably means even more that’s in Monaco, but more because of what’s happened over the last couple of months. It may not seem like a lot, but for me, it’s quite a big thing. So, yeah, like I said, a very, very good moment.”

He said he always believed he would get on top of the problem.

“I don’t think I have ever doubted what I can do,” Norris said. “I have got frustrated. I have been unhappy, because that’s normal if you don’t win, don’t get pole, you’re not going to be happy, especially when it’s where you should be. It’s what the objective is.

“Of course I’ve had those moments but I have never certainly this year doubted what I am capable of doing and having a day like today backs all that up so I’m happy with that.”

Charles Leclerc set the pace in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix, despite consistently complaining about the behaviour of his Ferrari.

Leclerc, who won his home race for the first time last year, said at various times that Ferrari were “nowhere” and that there was “something wrong with the car”.

But he ended the session 0.163 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was third, 0.326secs off the pace, with Williams’ Alex Albon fourth and championship leader Oscar Piastri fifth.

Leclerc, who was pessimistic about Ferrari’s hopes for Monaco, had an incident-packed session.

He started it by taking to the escape road at Mirabeau on his very first lap, and soon afterwards hit the rear of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin at the Loews hairpin, after the Canadian veered into the Ferrari’s path while on a slow lap.

That damaged the Ferrari’s front wing, but Leclerc was able to continue. Stroll, though, took no further part in the session because of rear suspension damage and the need to change his gearbox.

WEST SACRAMENTO — Taylor Ward hit a go-ahead grand slam, Logan O’Hoppe also homered in a five-run seventh inning and the Angels rallied past the skidding Athletics 10-5 on Thursday for their seventh consecutive victory.

Ward and O’Hoppe both connected off reliever Grant Holman (4-1), sending the A’s to their ninth loss in a row.

It was the second go-ahead slam in 10 days for Ward, who finished with three hits and five RBIs. He has an extra-base hit in eight straight games — one shy of the club record set by Darin Erstad in 1998.

Ward has 17 RBIs in his last 10 games. He and O’Hoppe each have 14 homers this season. Zach Neto also had three of the Angels’ 13 hits.

The Angels (24-25) completed a 7-0 trip, winning four games against the Athletics to sweep them on the road for the first time in 28 years. The Angels have hit multiple home runs in six consecutive games for the third time in franchise history (also 1961 and 2019). It’s only their third seven-game win streak in the last 10 seasons.

It was a fitting drive to mark Red Bull’s 400th grand prix.

The two caution periods led to a see-sawing battle between the McLaren drivers for second place.

Piastri had been on target to pass Norris when the Briton made his only pit stop and looked set to lead to a fight with Norris coming back at Piastri on fresher tyres.

Shortly after Norris’ stop, Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopped on the hill between the Tosa and Piratella corners, leading to a virtual safety car (VSC) period.

Norris was ahead after the VSC because Piastri stopped for fresh tyres to avoid being vulnerable to cars behind.

Then, officials decided to deploy a full safety car when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes stopped in exactly the same place as Ocon had.

This time, Verstappen and Norris stopped for fresh tyres and Piastri did not – because he had no appropriate ones still available – and that put Norris back behind Piastri, but on 16-lap fresher tyres.

Behind the safety car, Norris suggested that Piastri’s tyres “looked pretty dead” and they should not fight if they wanted to challenge Verstappen for the win.

But McLaren chose not to apply team orders and the two battled for three laps before Norris finally swept by into the first chicane with five laps to go, by which time Verstappen was out of reach.

The closing laps were compelling viewing, with the field alternating position between drivers on old tyres and those on fresh.

This allowed Hamilton to move up. He had started on hard tyres and ran long, which allowed him to make his first stop under the VSC, and again for fresh tyres under the safety car.

He passed Albon’s Williams and Leclerc and was just 1.4 seconds behind Piastri at the flag.

Leclerc fought hard to hold back Albon but was adjudged to have forced the Williams off track when they were side by side through Tamburello and Ferrari ordered him to hand the position back, giving Albon fifth place.

The Anglo-Thai’s team-mate Carlos Sainz finished eighth, ahead of the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, scoring the final point after his heavy crash in qualifying.

And the timing of the two safety cars also wrecked the hopes of Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso, after his excellent fifth place on the grid.

An early pit stop and a limited tyre allocation boxed Aston and Alonso in, and he bemoaned on the radio that he was “the unluckiest driver ever” as he slumped to an 11th-place finish.

Lewis Hamilton, on the occasion of his first race for Ferrari in Italy, was 11th fastest in the second Ferrari after being fifth, and just 0.096secs from Piastri, in the first session.

The seven-time champion said he had been happy with the car early on but between the sessions he “changed two tiny things that shouldn’t have had any effect at all, the smallest change we’ve probably done this year and we had some brake issues that made a massive difference, so that was then a fight with that.”

Hamilton was vague on what specifically the problem was.

Asked whether it was to do with the change to a different brake manufacturer at Ferrari from the one he was used to with Mercedes for 12 years, he said: “It’s not the transition. It’s the performance of…” and then his voice trailed off.

In the pool interview, which is the only driver access provided to the media on Friday, he was not pressed for an explanation.

He added: “It’s a lottery. We will roll the dice. We put on one and it works, put another one on and it doesn’t and we’ll see. I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We’re working on it for sure.”

Russell, who has had strong qualifying form this season, said that the decision to bring the softest three tyre compounds to this race could have an influence.

Pirelli has widened its range to six compounds this season, introducing a softest tyre that was originally intended only for street circuits, where tyre degradation is usually low.

However, it has been decided to use it in Imola to try to add an extra dimension to the grand prix, hoping the softer range of compounds might shift the race away from from the standard one-stop strategy at the track.

Russell said: “There is a lot of tyre degradation. We have the softest tyres here for the first time this season and that spices things up a bit.

“But we know McLaren generally seem to extend their advantage in those conditions.

“I had Oscar in my sights and then I didn’t. He passed Max and then went off. That’s just where we are at the minute as a team. We know our fight is with Max and the Ferraris.”

Williams driver Alex Albon said he did not expect strategy to change, saying the medium tyre had proved “really good” with “pretty low deg”.

The race runs were interrupted when Isack Hadjar, seventh fastest overall for Racing Bulls, lost his car on the exit of the Tamburello chicane and spun into the barriers.

The car appeared to have escaped largely undamaged, but Hadjar became stuck in the gravel as he attempted to return to the track and the session was red-flagged.

It did restart, but only in time for some drivers to do a single flying lap.

Behind Hadjar in the list of fastest times, Yuki Tsunoda was eighth fastest in the second Red Bull, ahead of Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Lance Stroll, given the responsibility to test Aston Martin’s major upgrades, which included a new floor, was down in 17th.

Team-mate Fernando Alonso, in the previous-specification car for a back-to-back comparison, was three places higher and 0.121secs quicker.

Stroll said the car felt “the same”. And although it features a new floor and engine cover, the Canadian described the upgrade as “small changes”.

The first practice session had been brought to a premature end when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed at the second Rivazza corner, flicking into the barriers pretty much front-on and damaging his front wing and nose.

AN ICONIC F1 grand prix track is at risk of being axed from the race calendar.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola could be set to host its last F1 race.

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The famous circuit is the host for this weekend’s race in the 2025 season.

But F1 president Stefano Domenicali has admitted that it could be cut from the calendar.

There are currently two races in Italy, the one in Imola as well as the Italian GP at Monza.

Domenicali has suggested that with the increased interest in the motorsport, it could prove “difficult” for both to be kept.

He told RAI radio: “Italy has always been and will be an important part of Formula 1.

“It will be increasingly difficult to have two races in the same country because interest in F1 is growing and it’s a situation we will have to deal with in the coming months.

“It’s hard for this situation with Imola and Monza to continue together on the calendar for long.”

The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari debuted back in 1981.

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However, it has previously been cut as it was left off the calendar from 2006 until it was reintroduced in 2020.

This was when the race was rebranded as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

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No other country in Europe has more than one race but Spain will have next year.

This is down to the overlap between the new Madrid track and last year of the Barcelona circuit.

The USA has three races with tracks in Miami, Las Vegas and Austin.

Speaking in 2024, Domenicali admitted that some tracks in Europe could become rotational in the calendar.

He said: “We have some news to share very, very soon with regard to the possibility in the mid-term to have some rotational European Grand Prix and some other new options coming later.

“This is something that, of course, we will clarify in the due course.

“It is true that we have a large demand for new possible venues that want to come in.

“Our choice will always be balanced between the right economic benefits that we can have as a system and also to leverage in the growth of the market.

“That we can see potential that will be beneficial for us to grow our business even further.”

Meanwhile, ahead of this weekend’s race Ferrari star Charles Leclerc has missed media duties due to illness.

May 13 (UPI) — A federal grand jury in Wisconsin has indicted Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, whose arrest last month on allegations of helping a migrant evade federal arrest prompted dozens of legal professionals to accuse the Trump administration of trying to intimidate the judiciary.

Dugan was charged in a two-count indictment on Tuesday.

The court document accuses her of knowingly concealing a person whose arrest warrant had been issued in order to prevent their apprehension, and corruptly endeavoring to influence, obstruct and impede the administration of law enforcement.

UPI has contacted her legal representation for comment.

FBI agents arrested Dugan on April 25 for allegedly misdirecting federal agents to allow Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented migrant, to evade arrest earlier that month.

According to the affidavit supporting her arrest, Dugan was presiding over an April 18 hearing involving Flores-Ruiz in a domestic abuse case when agents arrived to arrest him over his immigration status.

After confronting federal agents in the court’s hallway, she is accused of escorting Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of her courtroom.

Flores-Ruiz was able to leave the courthouse, but then led federal agents on a foot chase before being taken into immigration enforcement custody.

The development comes amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

During the increased law enforcement targeting of undocumented immigrants, the Trump administration rescinded a Biden administration policy prohibiting immigration enforcement action in or near courthouses.

While the previous administration said such arrests hindered the administration of justice, the current administration has argued that the policy “emboldened criminal illegal aliens” and being able to make arrests at courthouses “is common sense.”

The arrest of Dugan was met with swift condemnation from those in the legal profession, who viewed it as another Trump administration attack on the judiciary.

More than 140 retired state and federal judges sent Attorney General Pam Bondi a letter earlier this month condemning what they described as attacks against judges who do not rule in the Trump administration’s favor.

“The intent to intimidate Judge Dugan and the judiciary is clear from the circumstances of Judge Dugan’s arrest,” the group said.

“The circumstances of Judge Dugan’s arrest make it clear that it was nothing but an effort to threaten and intimidate the state and federal judiciaries into submitting to the Administration, instead of interpreting the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

Dugan has been temporarily removed from her duties by the Wisconsin Supreme Court following her arrest.

SAN DIEGO — Taylor Ward hit a grand slam to cap a six-run ninth inning, and the Angels beat the San Diego Padres 9-5 on Monday night.

The Angels rallied against Robert Suarez, who had converted 18 consecutive save opportunities — including 15 this season. Alek Jacob replaced Suarez and struck out Jorge Soler before Ward delivered.

Suarez (0-1) yielded a one-out single before walking four straight batters, forcing in two runs. The right-hander gave up just one run in his first 18 appearances this year.

Zach Neto hit a two-run homer for the Angels in the third. But San Diego scored three runs in the bottom half.

Jackson Merrill hit an RBI single, and left-hander Yusei Kikuchi committed a throwing error on Xander Bogaerts’ comebacker, bringing home two more runs. Gavin Sheets then singled to left but Matthew Lugo threw Bogaerts out at home.

San Diego star Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the fifth with his 10th homer, and a Bogaerts sacrifice fly made it 5-3 in the eighth.

Kikuchi gave up four runs — two earned — and seven hits in six innings. Brock Burke (4-0) pitched the eighth, and Kenley Jansen fanned two in a scoreless ninth.

King struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings. He was charged with three runs — two earned — and four hits.

It was San Diego’s first home game this month after a 6-3 trip.

Key moment

Ward drove a 2-2 pitch deep to left for his fifth career grand slam.

Key stat

Suarez had never walked more than two in a game and had just four in his first 17 2/3 innings.

Up next

José Soriano (2-4, 4.00 ERA) starts Tuesday for the Angels against Dylan Cease (1-2, 4.91 ERA).