Ferrari Revel in Putting Red Bull under Pressure

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 24, 2024 Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrates with his team after winning the Australian Grand Prix along with second placed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 24, 2024 Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrates with his team after winning the Australian Grand Prix along with second placed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. (Reuters)
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Ferrari Revel in Putting Red Bull under Pressure

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 24, 2024 Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrates with his team after winning the Australian Grand Prix along with second placed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 24, 2024 Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrates with his team after winning the Australian Grand Prix along with second placed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. (Reuters)

Thousands of red-clad Ferrari fans descended on Lygon St in Melbourne to party in the Italian restaurant strip until the wee hours of Monday after Carlos Sainz's unlikely win in the Australian Grand Prix.

The Italian Formula One team will hope the celebrations continue at Suzuka in two weeks after Albert Park breathed new life into the championship.

Sainz and team mate Charles Leclerc's 1-2 in Australia trimmed Red Bull's lead to four points in both the drivers' and constructors' title races, a major momentum shift following Max Verstappen's Middle East dominance.

Ferrari had the fortune of Verstappen flaming out with a brake problem at Albert Park which ended Red Bull's two-year run of avoiding DNFs (non-finishes) on race-day.

Ferrari nonetheless leave Melbourne delighted by the pace of their SF-24 car after being trounced by Red Bull in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

"This weekend is good evidence that when we are putting everything together, and I'm not sure that we'll be able to do it every single weekend, we can put (Red Bull) a little bit under pressure," said team boss Frederic Vasseur.

"It's when they are under pressure that they will also have more mistakes. We have to continue in this direction."

With triple world champion Verstappen topping the podium ahead of team mate Sergio Perez in the season's first two races, Red Bull were blindsided by setup struggles from the get-go in Melbourne.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said Red Bull had not got to grips with conditions while Ferrari, clearly, had.

"I think the nature of the surface (was a factor), as well. I think that the tire graining here in particular was something that Ferrari looked in control of," he said.

"Certainly from Friday their long runs looked good."

Perez, who finished fifth after the floor of his car suffered damage, said Ferrari "absolutely" had the pace to beat Verstappen had the Dutchman gone the distance.

However, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was unconvinced.

"I spoke to Max and he said that, despite the problems, he kept up with Sainz's pace relatively easily," Marko told Sky Sport.

"With Max in the race, it would have turned out completely differently."

Ferrari may not know where they sit until their next proper duel against Verstappen, who won 19 out of 22 races last season and will be eager to hit back at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Mercedes, by contrast, can have little doubt of their place in the pecking order, with Melbourne confirming their also-ran status.

With no championship points at Albert Park and their first double DNF since 2018, the Silver Arrows have slumped to fourth in the championship, 71 points behind leading Red Bull.

The free-fall may continue as the Brackley-based team battle to understand the fluky performance of their overhauled W15 car.

"We haven't swallowed a dumb pill since 2021. It's just we don't understand some of the behaviors of the car," said team boss Toto Wolff.



Verona Prepares its Ancient Arena for the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday

A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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Verona Prepares its Ancient Arena for the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday

A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A city forever associated with Romeo and Juliet, Verona will host the final act of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday inside the ancient Roman Arena, where some 1,500 athletes will celebrate their feats against a backdrop of Italian music and dance.

Acclaimed ballet dancer Roberto Bolle has been rehearsing for the closing ceremony inside the Arena di Verona this week under a veil of secrecy, along with some 350 volunteers, for a spectacle titled “Beauty in Motion," which frames beauty as something inherently dynamic.

“Beauty cannot be fixed in time. This ancient monument is beautiful if it is alive, if it continues to change,” said the ceremony's producer, Alfredo Accatino. “This is what we want to narrate: An Italy that is changing, and also the beauty of movement, the beauty of sport and the beauty of nature."

Other headlining Italian artists include singer Achille Lauro and DJ Gabry Ponte, whose hits could be heard blasting from the Arena during rehearsals this week.

Inside a tent serving as a dressing room, seamstresses put the finishing touches on costumes inspired by the opera world as volunteers prepped for the stage, The Associated Press reported.

“It’s really special to be inside the Arena,” said Matilde Ricchiuto, a student from a local dance school. "Usually, I am there as a spectator and now I get to be a star, I would say. I feel super special.”

The Arena has been a venue for popular entertainment since it was first built in 1 A.D., predating the larger Roman Colosseum by decades. Accatino said the ancient monument will produce some surprises from within its vast tunnels.

“Under the Arena there is a mysterious world that hides everything that has happened. At a certain point, this world will come out," Accatino said, promising “something very beautiful."

The ceremony will open with athletes parading triumphantly through Piazza Bra into the Arena, which once served as a stage for gladiator fights and hunts for exotic beasts.

The closing ceremony stage was inspired by a drop of water, meant to symbolically unite the Olympic mountain venues with the Po River Valley, where Milan and Verona are located, while serving as a reminder that the Winter Games are being reshaped by climate change.

While the opening ceremony was held in Milan, the other host city, Cortina d’Ampezzo, nestled in the Dolomite mountains, was considered too small and remote to host the closing ceremony. Verona, in the same Veneto region as Cortina, was chosen for its unique venue and relatively central location, said Maria Laura Iascone, the local organizing committee's head of ceremonies.

“Only Italians can use such monuments to do special events, so this is very unique, very rare," Iascone said of the Arena.

She promised a more intimate evening than the opening ceremony in Milan's San Siro soccer stadium, with about 12,000 people attending the closing compared with more than 60,000 for the opening.

Iascone said about 1,500 of the nearly 3,000 athletes participating in the most spread-out Winter Games in Olympic history are expected to drive a little over an hour from Milan and between two and four hours from the six mountain venues.

The ceremony will close with the Olympic flame being extinguished. A light show will substitute fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona to protect animals from being disturbed.

The Verona Arena will also be the venue for the Paralympic opening ceremony on March 6. For the ceremonies, the ancient Arena has been retrofitted with new wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms along with other safety upgrades. The six Paralympic events will be held in Milan and Cortina until March 15.


Arsenal Blows 2-goal Lead at Wolves to Boost Man City's Premier League Title Chances

Soccer Football - Premier League - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal - Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, Britain - February 18, 2026  Wolverhampton Wanderers' Tom Edozie celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates REUTERS/Chris Radburn
Soccer Football - Premier League - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal - Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, Britain - February 18, 2026 Wolverhampton Wanderers' Tom Edozie celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates REUTERS/Chris Radburn
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Arsenal Blows 2-goal Lead at Wolves to Boost Man City's Premier League Title Chances

Soccer Football - Premier League - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal - Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, Britain - February 18, 2026  Wolverhampton Wanderers' Tom Edozie celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates REUTERS/Chris Radburn
Soccer Football - Premier League - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal - Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, Britain - February 18, 2026 Wolverhampton Wanderers' Tom Edozie celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates REUTERS/Chris Radburn

Arsenal blew a two-goal lead at last-place Wolves on Wednesday to give a huge boost to Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title.

The league leader was held to a surprise 2-2 draw at Molineux, having led 2-0 in the second half.

Teenage debutant Tom Edozie scored in the fourth minute of added time to complete Wolves' comeback.

“There was a big difference in how we played in the first half and the second half. We dropped our standards and we got punished for it,” Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka told the BBC.

The draw means Arsenal has dropped points in back-to-back games and leaves it just five ahead of second-place City, having played a game more.

With the top two still to play each other at City's Etihad Stadium, the title race is too close to call.

“(It's) time to focus on ourselves, improve our standards and improve our performances and it is in our control,” Saka said.

Arsenal has led the way for the majority of the season and one bookmaker paid out on Mikel Arteta's team winning the title after it opened up a nine-point lead earlier this month.

But Wednesday's result was the latest sign that it is feeling the pressure, having finished runner-up in each of the last three seasons. It has won just two of its last seven league games.

Having blown a lead against Brentford last week, it was even worse at a Wolves team that has won just one game all season.

Victory looked all but secured after Saka gave Arsenal the lead with a header in the fifth minute and Piero Hincapie ran through to blast in the second in the 56th.

But Wolves' fightback began with Hugo Bueno's curling shot into the top corner in the 61st.

The 19-year-old Edozie was sent on as a substitute in the 84th and his effort earned the home team only its 10th point of a campaign that looks certain to end in relegation.

While it did little for Wolves' chances of survival, it may have had a major impact at the top of the standings.

“Incredibly disappointed that we gave two points away,” Arteta said. "I think we need to fault ourselves and give credit to Wolves. But what we did in the second half was nowhere near our standards that we have to play in order to win a game in the Premier League.

“When you don’t perform you can get punished, and we got punished and we have to accept the hits because that can happen when you are on top."

Arsenal plays Tottenham on Sunday. Its lead could be cut to two points before it kicks off if City wins against Newcastle on Saturday.


Sinner Sees off Popyrin to Reach Doha Quarters

 Italy's Jannik Sinner greets the fans after defeating Australia's Alexei Popyrin in their men's singles match at the Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha on February 18, 2026. (AFP)
Italy's Jannik Sinner greets the fans after defeating Australia's Alexei Popyrin in their men's singles match at the Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha on February 18, 2026. (AFP)
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Sinner Sees off Popyrin to Reach Doha Quarters

 Italy's Jannik Sinner greets the fans after defeating Australia's Alexei Popyrin in their men's singles match at the Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha on February 18, 2026. (AFP)
Italy's Jannik Sinner greets the fans after defeating Australia's Alexei Popyrin in their men's singles match at the Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha on February 18, 2026. (AFP)

Jannik Sinner powered past Alexei Popyrin in straight sets on Wednesday to reach the last eight of the Qatar Open and edge closer to a possible final meeting with Carlos Alcaraz.

The Italian, playing his first tournament since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals last month, eased to a 6-3, 7-5 second-round win in Doha.

Sinner will play Jakub Mensik in Thursday's quarter-finals.

Australian world number 53 Popyrin battled gamely but failed to create a break-point opportunity against his clinical opponent.

Sinner dropped just three points on serve in an excellent first set which he took courtesy of a break in the sixth game.

Popyrin fought hard in the second but could not force a tie-break as Sinner broke to grab a 6-5 lead before confidently serving it out.

World number one Alcaraz takes on Frenchman Valentin Royer in his second-round match later.