Hamilton challenges FIA's jewelry rule

Las Vegas Raiders team President Dan Ventrelle has left the organization less than a year after taking over the job.

Owner Mark Davis announced in a statement Friday that Ventrelle “is no longer with the Raiders organization” but divulged no details around the decision.

Ventrelle said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was fired in retaliation for bringing concerns from multiple employees to the NFL about a “hostile work environment.”

“When Mark was confronted about these issues, he was dismissive and did not demonstrate the warranted level of concern,” Ventrelle said in the statement. “Given this, I informed the NFL of these issues and of Mark’s unacceptable response. Soon thereafter, I was fired in retaliation for raising these concerns. I firmly stand by my decision to elevate these issues to protect the organization and its female employees.”

The Raiders had no comment on Ventrelle’s statement.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league officials “recently became aware of these allegations and take them very seriously. We will promptly look into the matter.”

Ventrelle took over as team president on an interim basis last July after Marc Badain resigned. Ventrelle was promoted to the full-time role after the season ended in January.

Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton protested the FIA’s crackdown on body piercings by showing up at the Miami Grand Prix wearing every piece of jewelry he could fit on his body and suggesting he was willing to sit out races over the issue.

Hamilton arrived in the paddock wearing an alldenim outfit with several open buttons on his longsleeved shirt that showed at least four stacked necklaces. Hamilton was later seen wearing at least three watches and with four rings on each hand. He also has earrings and a nose ring.

“I couldn’t get any more jewelry on today,” he said.

The FIA on Thursday tightened its ban on nonregulatory underwear and body piercings when new race director Niels Wittich issued a bulletin that makes the rule part of official scrutineering, meaning such choices are subject to review by race officials.

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel said he thought FIA was being petty and wondered if the rule was aimed at Hamilton, 37, the Mercedes driver from Britain. Vettel also appeared to take exception to the underwear policing and walked through the paddock with a pair of briefs on over his firesuit.

“I think it is a bit unnecessary to blow this topic up and probably at this stage is more of a personal thing, I feel a particular way targeted to Lewis,” Vettel said. “In a way, there’s a concern for safety, obviously if you have stuff and the car does catch fire. To some degrees, there is personal freedom and we are old enough to make our own choices.”

Hamilton said when he is in the car “I only have my earrings and my nose ring, which I can’t remove.”

Hamilton said he sent new FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem a message before arriving at the track noting the jewelry fight seemed silly and that “I don’t want to fight with you guys, ever.” But also sounded prepared to hold his ground.

“If they stop me, then so be it,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got spare drivers ready and prepped for weekends. There’s lots of things going on in the city, anyway, so I’ll be good either way.”

Not long after that, Hamilton was seen in Mercedes’ hospitality area wearing only one watch and one ring on his arm. By the time he took to the track for first practice, Mercedes had submitted the required document to FIA that declared Hamilton had removed all the jewelry he could. He’s been given a temporary exemption on his piercings.

The governing body for Formula One said the primary issue is safety. It said drivers may be subjected to checks before competition because “the wearing of jewelry underneath the required flameproof clothing can reduce the protection afforded by this equipment.”

“Metallic objects, such as jewelry in contact with the skin can reduce heat transmission protection and thus may increase the risk of burn injuries in the event of a fire,” the FIA wrote. “The wearing of jewelry during the competition can hinder both medical interventions as well as subsequent diagnosis and treatment should it be required following an accident.”

The FIA said jewelry can snag during emergency removal from a car, and can also complicate or delay medical imaging.

“In the worst case, the presence of jewelry during imaging may cause further injury,” the FIA wrote. “Jewelry in and/or around the airway can pose specific additional risks should it become dislodged during an accident and either ingested or inhaled.”

• John Hunter Nemechek took the lead with 24 laps to go, then held off Carson Hocevar in overtime to win the NASCAR Truck Series event at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Report: Chelsea buyers include Dodgers owner

Chelsea Football Club said it agreed to terms with a consortium led by Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and backed by Clearlake Capital over the acquisition of the English

Premier League team.

“The sale is expected to complete in late May subject to all necessary regulatory approvals. More details will be provided at that time,” the club said in a statement.

Alcaraz beats his idol, Nadal, in Madrid

This time, the Spaniard being celebrated on center court wasn’t Rafael Nadal.

The loud cheers from spectators at the Caja Mágica in Madrid were, instead, directed at the teenage sensation considered the Spanish successor to the all-time great Nadal.

In a clash of generations, Carlos Alcaraz, 19, overcame an injury to defeat his idol 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 in the Madrid Open quarterfinals.

The teen recovered from a bad ankle twist early in the second set to earn his first victory against Nadal, marking what could be the beginning of a change of guard in Spanish tennis.

“It’s obvious there’s (a change in guard),” Nadal said. “He turned 19 yesterday, I’m almost 36 years old. If (the change) begins today or not, we will find out in the next months. I’m happy for him. He was better than me in several aspects of the game.”

Alcaraz was emotional afterward.

“It means a lot to me to beat Rafa, to beat the best player in the history on clay,” he said. “This is the result of all the hard work I’ve done.”

It was Nadal’s first loss to a Spaniard in six years, since to Fernando Verdasco at the 2016 Australian Open. He had a 138-21 record against his countrymen before facing Alcaraz for a third time.

The ninth-ranked Alcaraz is the youngest ever semifinalist in Madrid. He will next face top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who eased past Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-4.

The other semifinal will be between Stefanos Tsitsipas and defending champion Alexander Zverev. The fourth-seeded Tsitsipas defeated Andrey Rublev 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, while the secondseeded Zverev beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-5.

Secret Oath captures Kentucky Oaks

Secret Oath charged from the pack to grab the lead from Yuugiri and off favorite Nest by two lengths in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, giving 86-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas his fifth Oaks win and first since 1990.

• Less than three months after Beijing hosted the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the Olympic Council of Asia said that this year’s Asian Games in China are being postponed because of concerns about the spreading omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country.

• Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed off on legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in female college sports.