Fernando Alonso caught snitching on Max Verstappen

Fernando Alonso took it upon himself to act as a race steward after witnessing Max Verstappen being impeded by Pierre Gasly during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, calling for the Frenchman to be handed a three-place grid penalty. Verstappen was in a league of his own through all three practice sessions in Barcelona with nobody able to get close to the Dutchman.

That trend continued in qualifying, but Verstappen was still keen to get lap times in to avoid finding himself with any unnecessary concerns. Q1 saw lap times tumble quickly towards the end of the session with drivers like Nico Hulkenberg and Oscar Piastri moving above Verstappen in the timesheet.

The reigning two-time world champion was out on track on a hot lap when he was forced to abort after being caught behind Gasly. Alonso was racing just behind the pair of them at the time and had a clear view of the incident. birds-eye is above

Fernando Alonso caught snitching on Max Verstappen

“Big impeding on the Alpine on the out-lap to Verstappen,” Alonso said on team radio. “Massive one. I mean into turn four, that will be three places.”

The FIA has shown little mercy in impeding during qualifying with Charles Leclerc punished for a similar incident last week at the Monaco Grand Prix. Gasly is under investigation for two separate incidents having interrupted Carlos Sainz earlier in the session.

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The Frenchman ended up qualifying fourth but could drop down as low as 10th if he’s handed two three-place grid penalties. That would help out Lewis Hamilton, who would be bumped up to fourth on the grid to put him in the same row as Lando Norris.

Alonso would also benefit from Gasly being slapped with two penalties after a disappointing end to his qualifying session.

The Spaniard suffered floor damage after going off the track into the gravel in Q1. “The damage was worth a couple of tenths, no more than that,” he said.

“The guys did a good job trying to repair it every time we went in the garage. The last lap in Q3 was quite competitive but I also went the damp part in Turn 10, so it was not my best Saturday. Hopefully a good Sunday tomorrow.”

Novak Djokovic embraces pantomime villain act with blockbuster Alcaraz showdown looming

Novak Djokovic baited the Roland Garros crowd again on Sunday, as he eased into the last 16. But this time, by contrast with his ill-tempered showing in the previous round, he did it with a sense of humor.

Djokovic was briefly booed by the fans during the first set of his comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas. The barracking came as he was beaten by a flashing backhand winner and he responded by holding out his arms towards his support team in a gesture of exasperation.

But the mood of these notoriously mercurial Parisian spectators would turn on a sixpence, with the jeers suddenly becoming cheers.

Just two points later, Djokovic pulled off one of the feats of escapology that he is famous for, chipping back a series of Varillas attacks until his opponent yielded. Now he held his hand up to his ear, before waving at the crowd as if to say – Delia Smith-style – “Let’s be ‘avin you!

To be clear, he was very much in pantomime-villain mode and wore a broad grin rather than the glare we had seen on Friday.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Djokovic played down his previous criticisms of the local spectators, and described the crowd – which chanted his name during his on-court interview – as “great”.

“I didn’t say [on Friday] that the crowd is disrespectful, that’s not true,” explained Djokovic, whose complaints after his previous win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had instead been aimed at certain individuals “who love to boo every single thing you do”.

Novak Djokovic embraces pantomime villain act

“[Today] I thought they were great, especially in the end. They gave me a very nice chanting and support. As a player, you always want to receive that love from the crowd.”

Varillas is a total newbie at this level, having only played in the main draws of two previous slams and losing in the first round both times. As such, he was a much more comfortable opponent for Djokovic than Davidovich Fokina, which probably explains the difference in Djokovic’s demeanor.

On Friday, Djokovic had roared aggressively at the fans on seizing the key second set – a response he later justified because “99 percent of the time I will stay quiet [but] sometimes I will oppose that because I feel when somebody is disrespectful, he or she deserves to have an answer.”

This time, Djokovic needed only 1hr 57min to overcome Varillas, maintaining his perfect record of dropping no sets in the tournament. His reward was a 17th visit to the French Open quarter-finals, which – amazingly – is one more than the “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal has managed.

This result also left Djokovic tantalizingly close to a first best-of-five-set meeting with Carlos Alcaraz, the man he has been exchanging the world No1 ranking with for the past nine months.

This would be a big moment for the sport because the two biggest beasts of the men’s tour (at least, since Nadal began his injury-related decline) have never actually faced each other during that time. Indeed, they have only ever shared a match court on one occasion. That came in Madrid 14 months ago and delivered a close and thrilling victory for Alcaraz.

𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩-𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝘿𝙟𝙤𝙠𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙘! 👏

Novak Djokovic surpasses Rafa Nadal for the most French Open quarter-finals reached with 1️⃣7️⃣ 😍

def. Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3 6-2 6-2#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/wcywkvOKIW

— Eurosport (@eurosport) June 4, 2023

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As it happens, Alcaraz won through on Sunday by the same scoreline as Djokovic – the only difference being that he was facing an opponent with a real pedigree on this surface. Lorenzo Musetti, the 17th seed from Italy, might have despatched British No1 Cameron Norrie in ruthless style on Friday, but he was completely outclassed by Alcaraz in 2hr 8min.

Now both these heavy hitters need to come through their quarter-finals to set up that dream match on Friday. All the evidence suggests that it will decide the eventual champion, as the early exits of Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have left the bottom half of this draw looking short on clout.

Djokovic was asked on Sunday whether he ever looks beyond his next opponent – in this case, the burly Russian Karen Khachanov – to a match further down the line. “You always follow the top guys in your half or whatever,” he replied. “Of course, you’re looking, you’re analyzing everyone’s game.”

So far, statistics suggest that Djokovic and Alcaraz stand well clear of the pack. After four rounds, they are respectively winning 46 and 54 percent of their opponent’s service games – both of which are outrageously high figures for the men’s tour.

The only other man lighting up the leaderboards after week one is an unexpected name: Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, who is due to play last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud on Monday. Having played three rounds, the 6ft 6in Jarry has dropped serve only three times – an intriguing anomaly at an event where most male players are broken at least once per set.

Kevin Harvick Replacement Emerging

2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button made his NASCAR Cup Series — and his overall NASCAR — debut in March’s race at Circuit of the Americas, the first of six road course races on the 2023 schedule.

Button, who drove the No. 15 Ford for Rick Ware Racing in this race, is also set to compete for the team in the races at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, July 2 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Sunday, August 13.

While Button and lead Sky Sports announcer David Croft exchanged some light-hearted comments about NASCAR during the broadcasts at Albert Park Circuit on Australian Grand Prix weekend, the 43-year-old British driver is reportedly considering running the full Cup Series schedule.

In light of several “road course ringers” competing in select Cup Series road course races, there have been calls for some of them to try the ovals as well, as Button could very well seek out options to do so.

Kevin Harvick Replacement Emerging

Could one such option be replacing Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season?

Stewart-Haas Racing already know that they will need to make a driver change for the seventh time in eight offseasons before next year, as the 2014 champion is set to retire and join the Fox Sports broadcast booth once the 2023 season reaches its conclusion.

It seems relatively safe to say that the team’s two Xfinity Series drivers, Riley Herbst and ex-Cup Series driver Cole Custer, are not yet ready to make the jump to the Cup Series, though that could obviously change throughout the year.

Potentially facing somewhat of an identity crisis, given the lack of performance within the four-car team aside from Harvick, could Stewart-Haas Racing take a swing at Button, even if only for one year while their younger drivers continue to develop and/or additional drivers become available?

Another element to consider here is sponsorship. Button’s three-race deal with Rick Ware Racing is backed by Mobil 1, which has a considerably long history with Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, and team co-owner Tony Stewart.

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With Harvick retiring, longtime partner Busch Beer is set to sponsor a new driver in 2024, and while a formal confirmation hasn’t yet been made, this could leave Stewart-Haas Racing needing to fill a sizable sponsorship gap.

But while it can’t totally be ruled out yet, Jenson Button replacing Kevin Harvick is looking increasingly unlikely for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Josh Berry has recently emerged as the favorite to replace Harvick and is currently in the midst of finalizing a long-term deal with Harvick’s management firm, KHI Management.