Formula 1 testing begins in Spain
McLaren debuts Renault engine after leaving Honda.
Jessica Korda set a tournament record to win the LPGA Thailand at the Siam Country Club Pattaya Old Course in Chonburi on Sunday.
Korda held off fellow Floridian Lexi Thompson and local hope Moriya Jutanugarn for a four-stroke win after a final-round 67 for an overall total of 25-under 263, smashing the previous mark of 22 under set by Amy Yang of South Korea in 2017.
“It’s an incredible thing to be able to win again. I haven’t won in two years. And who knows? It’s so hard out here. These girls are so good. I mean, look at the scoreboard. I had to shoot 25 under just to win,” said Korda after claiming her fifth LPGA win.
It was Korda’s first trophy since winning in Malaysia in 2015.
Ranked No. 26, Korda had surgery on an overbite in December and was playing in her first tournament since November.
“I just came with no expec- tations after surgery,” she said. “It’s really hard for me to move. All this stuff is just still really hard, but I’m really, really happy that I chose to come back in this event exactly where I started my rookie year in 2011. I don’t think I could have asked for a better win.”
Thompson, who won here in 2016, turned in a bogeyfree round that included eight birdies to sign off with a 64 for a 21-under 267.
“I had to just fire at everything today and make a lot of birdies because Jessica has been playing amazing, along with a lot of other people. So that’s what I did. I just went after it,” said No. 4-ranked Thompson.
Jutanugarn, the 2013 Rookie of the Year, failed to become the first Thai win- ner of the tourney. She finished with a 67 for an overall 21 under 267.
European Tour: Eddie Pepperell survived a tense finish to win the Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club for his maiden tour title.
The 27-year-old English- man held off a challenge from compatriot Oliver Fisher, who needed a third successive birdie on the 18th hole to force a playoff, but saw his putt from 6 feet slip past the hole for a par.
Pepperell shot a 2-under- par 70 for a four-day total of 18 under 270, while Fisher, who started the day tied for the lead, could only manage a 71.
Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult (68) finished third at 16-under.
Formula One MADRID — teams will finally take their 2018 cars to the track when preseason testing begins today in Spain, with Mercedes and Ferrari promising significant improvements to try to keep running up front.
This week’s test session in Barcelona will also allow McLaren to debut its Renault engine after three dismal years with Honda, and give Red Bull a chance to show it has a car fast enough to finally contend for titles again.
Force India and Williams will look to move closer to the top three, while Renault and Hass will try to keep improv- ing. Toro Rosso will be the team trying to succeed with the Honda engine, and Sauber will bring partner Alfa Romeo back to F1 hoping to take a step forward after a last-place finish a year ago.
What all teams will have is the halo, the protective cock- pit device that is mandatory this season. The odd-looking cover that goes around the drivers’ heads is the most visible change to cars from a year ago. The “shark fins” and their adjacent tiny wings on top of the cars are gone this season, and each driver will only be allowed to use three power units — instead of four — during the 21-race calendar.
The season opens on March 25 in Australia. Driv- ers will participate in another four-day test session in Bar- celona from March 6-9. Most teams unveiled their cars last week, when drivers were allowed to get a first taste of action in limited outings for video filming.
Mercedes dominated the last four seasons but Lewis Hamilton faced a tough challenge from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel a year ago.
“Last year the car was fantastic, but there were so many things we could still improve on,” Hamilton said. “What we’ve done is taken a lot of the DNA from last year’s car... this is the sister car, an evolution of that. This is better than last year’s car in every aspect. It looks quite similar but inside, underneath the shell, and even the bodywork, it’s all refined to perform even better than it did last year.”
Ferrari won five races with Vettel last season, but the Italian team hasn’t won a drivers’ title since 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen. Its last constructors’ championship came in 2008.
“We can’t wait to get out on to the track to see how the car performs, how it behaves,” Vettel said. “This car is a big step from last year.”
Red Bull, which won four straight titles with Vettel from 2010-13, was the third force last season and at times it got extremely close to Mercedes and Ferrari. Max Verstappen won two races and Daniel Ricciardo one. Red Bull will debut a new suspension — in addition to new livery — that it hopes will allow the team to make a leap forward and become a title contender.
McLaren is likely the team most anxious to get to the track after swapping from Honda to Renault, a move it hopes will end the struggles from the last few seasons, when it dealt with reliability issues and lack of power.
“I think good times are coming,” two-time world champion Fernando Alonso told Sky Sports. “We struggled, we kept motivation very high. I think the team is stronger now than three years ago. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”