sport

F1’s bosses agreed at a meeting of the F1 Commission rules-making body on Wednesday they would assess data from this final test at a further meeting to decide whether action needed to be taken in the short term.

Concern arises from the fact the new engine rules have tripled the power provided by the electrical part of the engine but left the batteries more or less the same size as last year, and removed one of the devices used to recover energy.

This had led to cars that are energy starved and forced the teams to find new ways to harvest sufficient electrical energy to produce the best performance. The rules governing energy recovery are also highly complex.

That in turn has required drivers to perform behaviours that have been described as “counter-intuitive” to optimise lap time.

These include not going flat out put of the final corner before a qualifying lap, lifting and coasting on a qualifying lap, and even not accelerating at full power at the end of a lap because it was more advantageous to use the energy elsewhere.

However, drivers have generally been positive on the handling characteristics of the new cars, and a number of top drivers all told BBC Sport they are still driving to the limit of grip, and driver ability will still be as crucial as ever.

Domenicali said: “Don’t be worried about the energy management. We’re going to solve that. If we need to solve it, by the way.”

He has spent his time in Bahrain having a series of discussions with individual drivers about the sport, including Verstappen.

And he added: “Max wants and does care about Formula 1 more than anyone else. He has a way of putting the point that he wants to say in a certain way.

“Max will be part of the future of Formula 1 and of course it’s very important that we listen to him and all the top drivers that are very important in this sport.”

Domenicali also said F1 was looking at introducing new sporting elements on Fridays, expanding on the approach that led to sprint-race weekends, which feature two qualifying sessions rather than one, and a shorter race on the Saturday in addition to the grand prix on Sunday.

He has already previously said F1 is considering increasing the number of sprint events beyond the current six.

Domenicali added: “Feedback from the fans, from the people attending the track, the promoter, [is] that people want to see action, real action during the three days.

“People want to see already on Friday something that is sporting – qualifying, points, whatever it is.

“So, it is true that there is the trend to go in the direction of, even if it is not a sprint every weekend.”

Ukraine’s Winter Paralympics team will boycott the event’s opening ceremony next month after Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited to compete under their national flags.

On Tuesday, it was announced six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will take part in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Games, which start on 6 March.

Both countries had previously been suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus an ally of Russia.

In September, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted its ban on athletes from the two countries competing at the Games.

However, the IPC does not govern the six sports contested at the Paralympics and despite the individual bodies, including the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), refusing to lift their own bans, Russia and Belarus won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport against FIS.

As a result, athletes have been able to return to FIS competitions and the 10 Paralympians have been awarded bipartite commission invitations to compete in Italy.

Following an announcement that Ukrainian officials would avoid the entire competition, the country’s National Paralympic Committee now says team members will miss the opening ceremony.

The organisation has also made a “demand that the Ukrainian flag not be used”.

The team will still compete in the Games and “fight for the sporting victories of Ukrainian athletes”.

Earlier this week in its response to criticism over the decision to allow the Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete, the IPC said it was a “democratic organisation and the decision to lift the partial suspension of NPCs Belarus and Russia was taken by IPC member organisations at the 2025 General Assembly”.

With fans protesting against the club’s board at the start of the game and later ironically cheering Schmeichel making a save, the atmosphere at Parkhead was far from harmonious.

“It’s bitterly disappointing,” former Celtic captain and manager Neil Lennon said of the jeers directed at Schmeichel.

“He had a bad night but it still doesn’t warrant that kind of treatment.”

Thursday night was the latest in a string of perceived errors made by Schmeichel, following Joe Hugill’s looping header for Kilmarnock last weekend and Jonathan Rowe’s effort for Bologna last month.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Celtic closed ranks around their embattled goalkeeper post-match.

“It’s a tough evening for us,” interim manager Martin O’Neill said. “On paper, 4-1 looks pretty poor.

“We were masters of our own downfall in many respects, conceded some poor goals.

“Kasper [Schmeichel] has made some great saves while I’ve been here. This is a collective, there’s no doubt about that.

“We played Feyenoord in a game we probably had to win and he made an unbelievable save, otherwise we wouldn’t be here playing tonight.

“I will think about all sorts of things [before the next game], but Kasper has done really well since I’ve arrived at the football club, in both spells.”

Captain Callum McGregor added: “Everyone makes mistakes.

“Kasper has been amazing since he’s come to the club. He’ll dust that down. We win as a team and lose as a team.

“There’s no blame, he’s made so many big saves for us. He’ll bounce back for sure.”

MILAN — She flipped her hair. She shrugged. She dusted her hands off.

Alysa Liu makes winning an Olympic gold medal look easy.

The 20-year-old became the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic singles title since 2002, electrifying the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena with her “MacArthur Park” program Thursday and overtaking Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai, who won second and third, respectively.

Liu scored a monster 150.20 points in her free skate, the highest mark for a women’s free skate all season in international competition to win by a total of 1.89 points. Her choreographer Massimo Scali’s jaw dropped when he heard the score read in Italian. A beat later when the screen caught up to the public address announcement in the stadium, Liu nodded confidently and cracked a subtle smirk.

American gold medalist Alysa Liu hugs Japanese bronze medalist Ami Nakai after their final scores were revealed at the Winter Olympics on Thursday in Milan.

(Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

She doesn’t care about the scores.

Liu, who grew up in Oakland, has floated through her second Olympics as if she had not a single care in the world. A two-year retirement during which she climbed Mt. Everest, got her driver’s license and started college at UCLA made skating feel inconsequential. Now so unbothered, Liu spent part of her six-minute warmup cheering on teammate Amber Glenn in the leader’s chair. Minutes before taking the ice, Liu snapped a selfie with her coaches. She gives her coaches a high-five right before taking her starting position.

“She’s not like us,” her coach Phillip Diguglielmo said. “The rest of us here would be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m nervous. Oh, I can’t do this. I have a million voices in my head.’ She has one voice in her head, and it says, ‘I got this.’”

The only emotions Liu felt during her program were “calm, happy and confident.” When she sees the faces in the crowd smile, Liu said she can’t help but smile, too. And there was a lot of smiling. Her Donna Summer disco program had fans clapping within the first minute. Diguglielmo and Scali held their hands overhead to join the roar. Liu’s pre-program message to the crowd on the video board was “Y’all better turn up!”

Liu, who won the 2025 world championship with the same crowd-pleasing program, returned to the sport in 2024 with the sole objective of sharing her art. She wanted to make as many programs as possible. Winning never seemed to matter. With the gold medal hanging around her neck, Liu stopped short of saying she even wanted it. She surely didn’t need it, she said.

“What I needed was the stage,” Liu said. “And I got that.”

Once Liu processed the final scores, she rose to her feet and turned toward Nakai, clapping for the 17-year-old. Nakai, skating in her first Olympics, was shocked. She held up three fingers to Liu, asking if she had finished on the podium. Overjoyed, they hugged. Liu picked Nakai, who had entered the free skate in first place, up off the ground.

Sakamoto was less than a point ahead of Liu entering Thursday’s free skate, but small mistakes from the three-time world champion, in addition to Liu’s strong technique and infectious energy made Liu the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic gold medal since Sarah Hughes in 2002. The United States’ 20-year drought without a medal — since Sasha Cohen took silver in 2006 — was the country’s longest.

Liu held her palms up in disbelief after finishing the program of her life that put her in the lead with two competitors remaining. She leaned into the camera and pointed to the piercing on the inside of her upper lip. She did it herself.

With blond horizontal stripes dyed in her dark brown hair, bold black eyeliner and the smiley lip piercing, Liu has cut an alternative path to the top of a sport that long valued a specific kind of femininity. But the slick back bun, classical music and balletic dress was not Liu’s brand.

Her brand is joy.

And now as just the second figure skater in history to win two Olympic gold medals at the same Olympic Games — joining U.S. star Nathan Chen — Liu has the stage, and the attention, to display her joy for the next generation of athletes.

“People will be able to see how she approaches the sport now versus before and see how much more successful it is now in a healthy way,” Glenn said. “And I’m hoping people can really learn from that.”

Glenn got redemption after the short program, putting up a season’s best 147.52 during her free skate that vaulted her from 13th to fifth with a 214.91 total score. The only blemish was when Glenn put one hand down on her final jump — the same triple loop that cost her in her short program. But as she held one leg behind her during a spiral in her last sequence, Glenn smiled as she looked into the crowd. After the program, she whipped her fist through the air triumphantly.

The performance put a positive punctuation mark on Glenn’s winding Olympic journey. She has faced intense scrutiny at the Games. The same pressure that consumed Glenn and teammate Ilia Malinin could not even touch Liu’s glowing aura.

When asked Thursday if she felt any “Olympic pressure,” Liu smiled.

“You would have to explain what Olympic pressure is,” she said.

Then she bounced away, the gold medal around her neck blending perfectly with her gold dress.

Known for producing first-round draft picks as pitchers, Harvard-Westlake has assembled a group of hitters this season that look capable of producing lots of offense after a 15-1 season-opening five-inning win over Southlake (Texas) Carroll on Thursday at O’Malley Family Field.

Just look at the first five hitters in the lineup: Shortstop James Tronstein is headed to Vanderbilt; outfielder Ethan Price is committed to Santa Clara; center fielder Ira Rootman is a Texas commit; freshman third baseman Louis Lappe is the Little League star from El Segundo; designated hitter Jake Kim is a UCLA commit.

Freshman Louis Lappe of Harvard-Westlake got an RBI double in his first high school at-bat on a 3-and-2 count.

(Craig Weston)

Kim led the Mission League in home runs as a sophomore with seven and hit his first home run of 2026 to right field with a little help from the wind on Thursday. Rootman hit a ball so far over the left-field fence for a three-run home that it might have gone out of a big-league stadium. Lappe, in his first high school at-bat, delivered an RBI double.

“It was cool,” Lappe said. “A lot of pressure came off. I got that weight off my shoulders.”

The Wolverines have been focused on getting stronger in the weight room and no one has benefited more than Rootman, a junior who added 10 pounds and can’t wait to see how his improved strength is going make him a better hitter.

As for first impressions of Lappe, Rootman said, “I think he’s a very special kid and has so much talent it’s unbelievable.”

Justin Kirchner struck out nine in four innings. He’s a junior committed to Yale.

Boys soccer

El Camino Real 1, Palisades 0: Defending champion El Camino Real advanced to the City Section Open Division championship game with a victory in overtime. Jayden de la Cruz scored the overtime goal. El Camino Real will face the winner of Friday’s semifinal between South East and Marquez.

The Lakers had just completed practice Thursday with a full and healthy squad when Luka Doncic strolled over to speak with the media.

Doncic had played only five minutes Sunday for Team World in the All-Star Game because of a lingering left hamstring strain. He had missed the previous four Lakers games.

With the Lakers scheduled to start the post-All-Star break against the Clippers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, Doncic was asked if he was playing in that game.

“Probably,” he said. “We’ll see. I got to talk to people.”

Since Doncic did practice, he was asked how he was doing and how his hamstring felt.

“I’m good,” he said. “Feeling good.”

But, Doncic was told, he did play in the All-Star Game, even if it was limited time.

“Five minutes. I was on minutes restriction,” Doncic joked.

Lakers coach JJ Redick was the first to speak to the media after practice, his time away from the game leaving him fresh and ready to go.

He was asked if Austin Reaves, who had been on a restriction of about 25 minutes after returning from a 19-game because of a left calf strain, would still be on a minutes restriction and if Doncic would be available for the game against the Clippers.

“Austin won’t have a minutes restriction,” Redick said, “and as of 35 to 45 seconds ago, we’ll have everybody available tomorrow.”

Injuries have been a common thread for the Lakers this season.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves sits on the scorer’s table before entering a game against the Mavericks earlier this month. His minutes restriction since returning from a calf injury has been lifted.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It started at the beginning of the season, when LeBron James missed 14 games because of sciatica. He has recently dealt with left foot arthritis that kept him out of a game.

Center Deandre Ayton missed the last two games with right knee soreness.

“Well, there’s only so much you can control. I mean, you know, as a coach, you have zero control in that. As a player, you know what you do to prepare, and what you do to recover can give you some level of control, but ultimately, the basketball Gods in the game are going to dictate health,” Redick said. “It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games. So it’s just the situation we’re in.

“Not the only team that has had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that. But I think … my messaging this morning to the players was this is going to be a sprint, these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where, starting tomorrow, we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March. So, we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, play our best basketball after the All-Star break. We’ve got a number of indicators on both sides of the ball that we’re doing some things that are trending in the right direction. And I think it’s coming at a good time, as we’re getting fully healthy.”

Doncic, James and Reaves have played just 10 games together because of health issues.

As a trio, they have combined to average 80.2 points per game, led by Doncic’s NBA-best 32.8 points per game. Reaves is averaging 25.4 points and James 22.0.

Reaves said it is “very important” that the three of them get reps together.

“You have those games from last year, but obviously you still have a learning curve of how to play alongside one another and that’s with everybody else on the team as well,” Reaves said. “Continuing to build that continuity and confidence in every single position. We’re locked in with the five guys on the court. So, very excited.

“I think you can tell throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries and stuff, we’ve done a good job of maintaining it. We’re fifth in the West, on pace for a good record and just getting healthy is going to continue to help that. So it’ll be fun to see what that looks like and get to work.”

The Lakers

play four games next week, all against opponents with winning records that are jockeying for position in the playoff race.

So, Thursday’s practice was a good start for the Lakers to get back in gear.

“We only got one practice in so we’re not going to get a lot out of one practice,” Doncic said. “But we definitely like to get up and down a little bit after one week off. So, it was good.”

PHOENIX — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not hesitate when asked about his expectations for Mookie Betts.

“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said this week. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen. I just want him to focus on just being healthy, helping us win, and then whatever happens outside of that, will happen.”

Coming off a season that got off on the wrong foot with a stomach virus that caused him to lose 20 pounds and then saw him set career lows for batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.326) and OPS (.732), Betts is eager to move forward. And with a more typical spring training timeline this year — unlike the previous two years when season-opening games in South Korea and Japan sped up preparations — Betts can ease into his seventh season with the Dodgers.

“I haven’t had a regular spring maybe since I’ve been a Dodger,” said Betts, who also won’t be participating in the World Baseball Classic as he did in 2023. “I just know that, being 33 now, I don’t have to hurry up and get here, and be ready to play from day one. So, I can just kind of embrace that. Not everybody’s blessed to have that, so being that I am one of the ones that’s blessed with that, I’ll see what I can make of it.”

One thing that’s not in question for Betts heading into the season: his shortstop play. Despite the nearly unprecedented shift from the outfield to the infield, Betts played 148 games at short last season and was a Gold Glove Award finalist. The work he put in to learn a new position raised questions about whether that was a root cause of his hitting struggles, a point he granted some credence to late last season.

Betts did pick up the pace late in the season, batting .317 and nearly doubling his home run total from 11 to 20 over his final 47 games. But he slumped in the NLCS and World Series, batting a combined .136 and was eventually dropped from second to third in the batting order for Game 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, then fourth for Games 6 and 7.

Roberts said this week that he intends to slot Betts third in the batting order this season, with Shohei Ohtani still in the leadoff spot. (He added that Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and newcomer Kyle Tucker are all in play for the second and fourth spots in the order.)

“I like [Betts] in the number three in the sense that there’s an on-base component, there’s a ‘get hits’ component, there’s a drive-in-runs component, and you’re more of a Swiss Army knife in the lineup,” Roberts said. “So, I’m not beholden to it, but I like him in the three-hole right now.”

And as a result, Roberts feels bullish about Betts this season.

“I think he had a great offseason,” Roberts said. “He’s in a good headspace. The body’s good, and I think for me, it’s just getting back to being who he is. I just think that last year was an outlier offensive season, and I’m not too concerned about Mookie at all.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start Cactus League opener

Roberts announced Thursday that World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the Dodgers’ first spring training game Saturday against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium. He did not share how many pitches or innings Yamamoto expects to throw, but he did state that it will likely be Yamamoto’s only Cactus League start before departing to play for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

Roberts also revealed what players may start Saturday’s Cactus League opener.

“I would expect Will Smith to be in there,” Roberts said. “I expect [Teoscar Hernández] in there, and probably Andy [Pages]. I think that’s safe, and then we’ll go from there.”

Roberts plans to hold other veteran players until next week.

“Guys like Mookie and Muncy, I’m going to start those guys a little bit later than this weekend and see where we go,” Roberts said. “Once they get going, then we’ll stagger and give them the ample time in-between. I’ve got to appreciate that it’s a longer spring. So, if they’re going to be here for six weeks, then I don’t want to kind of come in too hot, I want to pace them out a little bit.”

Freeman said Thursday that he will not play in the Dodgers’ first three spring training games.

“I feel good, I’m ready to go, but we are going to slow-play it a little bit,” Freeman said. “I won’t play until I think Tuesday, so the fourth game, and then I’ll get going.”