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MONTREAL — World champion Max Verstappen on Friday said a mid-season intervention on safety grounds to solve Formula One’s “porpoising” problems was “a bit of a shame”.

The Red Bull driver led the way as drivers and teams reaction to the idea of a potential rule-change was widely, but not entirely, rejected.

The sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA), on Thursday announced it was intervening with a series of steps on medical grounds to prevent or eliminate “porpoising” and excessive bouncing after several drivers complained bitterly after recent races.

“I think it’s a bit disappointing that again there is a rule change mid-season, I would say,” said the 24-year-old Dutchman.

“It’s not about affecting us more or less than other teams, but it shouldn’t be that one team is complaining a lot and suddenly then they change the ‘regs’ around it.

“I think there are a lot of teams that actually did an amazing job to not have these kind of issues, so it is possible to drive around it.”

His reference to one team suggested he was talking about rivals Mercedes who have struggled badly with their new generation ‘ground effect’ car this year.

“If you raise your car then you won’t have these issues, but you lose performance,” he added, as quoted by Racer.

“But if you can’t design the car properly for that — then that’s your fault. It’s not the regs fault. So, for me it’s a bit of a shame.”

‘Feel rattled’

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate George Russell, together with others including Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri, Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo and Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren warned of potential long-term physical consequences after suffering acute back pain.

Hamilton said he was glad to see the FIA taking action to protect drivers as a priority.

“It’s always interesting seeing people’s perspectives and opinions in different lights,” he told reporters. 

“I think safety is the most important thing. And I think there at least one driver in every team has spoken on it.”

He added Mercedes were trying a range of experiments to solve their performance problems.

“You’ll see today, for example, something relatively extreme,” he explained.

“If it doesn’t work, it’s definitely a lot slower because it’s got less down-force.

“But that’s my role and I take the responsibility seriously — and whilst, yes, it’s not been ideal on some weekends, often setting us back because we lost a session or two, that’s OK, because eventually we’ll get there and I’m proud to be a part of that process.

“I’d like to think I’m the best teammate I’ve ever been — to George, but also to all the engineers and everyone working in the factory.”

Russell said he felt “the vertical loads are far beyond what you’d expect is safe to deal wit”.

Red Bull are one of the few teams not impacted severely by the phenomenon.

Haas team chief Guenther Steiner suggested the mid-season intervention would change the performance “pecking order” of the teams.

“Some of the cars are pretty bad,” he said.

“But there is a solution — just raise the ride height. But then you go slow... and who wants to go slow?

“It’s like, I don’t know how many years ago, in the middle of the season when we had the change of tyres. It’s something like this.

“You change something fundamentally — you could change the pecking order completely again...

“Is that really fair? No. The use of the safety factor... but that could be approached, too — if it is too dangerous, just raise your ride height.”

Contrary to expectations, Russell said he did not think Mercedes wanted a mid-season rule-change.

“I think this is something that everybody thinks Mercedes is sort of pushing for,” he said.

“But from a pure performance side of things, we don’t really want change because if there’s change, you never know if it’s going in your favour or against you.”

He added that it was good to see the FIA considering drivers’ health and safety and taking action to protect them.

“It’s something we have spoken about and we want change, moving forward, because what we went through last weekend in Baku is not sustainable.”

Ricciardo said he had really suffered in Baku.

“It got worse and worse [his back pain],” he said.

“And I sympathise with everyone that’s had it now because it’s bad.

“I genuinely feel rattled. I’m definitely going to help out when people talk about it.”

BOSTON — A dazzling performance from Stephen Curry powered the Golden State Warriors to a seventh NBA Finals crown on Thursday, securing a 103-90 victory over the Boston Celtics to clinch a 4-2 series triumph.

Warriors talisman Curry produced yet another masterpiece with 34 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as Golden State wrapped up their fourth title in eight years to silence Boston’s raucous TD Garden.

The 34-year-old Curry was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player after the victory — the first time the four-time NBA champion has scooped the award.

“I’m so proud of our group, I thank god every day that I get to play this game with some amazing people,” an emotional Curry said afterwards.

“This is what it’s all about, especially after everything we’ve gone through in the past three years.”

The win completed a dramatic journey back to the pinnacle of the NBA for the Warriors, who just two seasons ago had the worst record in the league as the franchise battled injuries and the departure of key personnel.

“At the beginning of the season nobody thought we’d be here — except everybody on this court right now. It’s surreal,” Curry added.

“We were so far away from it. We hit rock bottom with injuries and the long road of work ahead, trying to fill in the right pieces with the right guys.

“You never take this for granted because you never know when you’ll be back here.” 

Delighted Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted the fourth championship of his Golden State coaching reign had been the most unexpected.

“This might be the most unlikely one,” Kerr said. “But I hang around superstars — and if you hang around superstars, good things happen.”

Boston coach Ime Udoka said his team paid the price for another high turnover count. 

“Once again you look at the numbers,” Udoka said. “Give them 20-plus on turnovers, 20-plus on second chance points. Don’t really give ourselves a chance as far as that.”

Udoka said the Celtics locker room had been “emotional” after the loss.

“It’s going to hurt,” Udoka said. “It will hurt for a while...obviously getting to your ultimate goal and fall a few games short is going to hurt.

“There are a lot of guys in there, very emotional right now.”

Fast start

Curry, an ever-present throughout the highs and lows of the Warriors’ journey since 2015, led a balanced offensive effort as Golden State became just the second visiting team to lift the trophy on Boston’s home court after the 1985 Los Angeles Lakers.

Andrew Wiggins came up with 18 points, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks in a superb all-round display, while veterans Klay Thompson and Draymond Green chipped in with 12 points each. Jordan Poole added 15 from the bench.

Jaylen Brown led the Boston scoring with 34 points while Al Horford added 19 points.

A pulsating game swung decisively in Golden State’s favour during the first two quarters.

The Celtics, trying to force a game seven, had opened with intent, racing into an early 14-2 lead against a Warriors side caught napping.

But Boston’s fast start was the cue for a spectacular burst by Golden State, who tightened their defence to secure key stops and then began to find the target at the other end.

After cutting the Boston lead to six points at 22-16, the Warriors pulled away, with Green, Curry and Poole all rattling in three-pointers to put Golden State into a 27-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Two more Poole three-pointers in the opening moments of the second quarter helped the Warriors sprint into a 15-point lead, up 37-22 after a 21-0 run — the largest run in NBA Finals history.

The Warriors maintained the 15-point advantage up to half-time, leading 54-39 at the break.

Curry ominously looked increasingly comfortable from beyond the arc, and a step back three from 28 feet put the Warriors into a 72-50 lead — a 22-point margin their biggest lead of the night in the third quarter.

But Boston refused to surrender, and Horford brought the Garden crowd to its feet after a layup and a free throw got the Celtics to within nine points of the Warriors at 74-65.

Green settled the Warriors nerves with an ice-cold jumper from 21 feet to help ensure the Warriors would take a double-digit advantage into the final quarter, leading 76-66.

The Celtics again chipped away at the Warriors lead, but every time they got to within single digits, Golden State managed to find a big play to extend their lead.

A key passage came midway through the fourth. A Brown three-pointer shrank the Warriors’ lead to just eight points at 86-78, but Wiggins then rammed in a corner three to make it 89-78 and Green followed with a dunk to put the Warriors 13 clear.

That margin held as the Warriors celebrated their seventh title. 

MONTREAL — Charles Leclerc is expecting another bumpy ride this weekend as he bids to put Ferrari’s reliability problems behind him and re-boot his title challenge at the Canadian Grand Prix. 

As Formula One returns to the challenging Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the first time in three years, it will be the 24-year-old Monegasque under most pressure — and probably with much sympathy from a knowledgeable crowd — as he seeks to end a recent run of cruel luck.

Despite taking pole position at the last four races, Leclerc has not won since the third race of the season in Melbourne, six races ago. 

Engine failures and strategy mistakes have seen his early lead in the championship become a 34-point deficit.

World champion Max Verstappen, who led Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez home in a commanding one-two in Baku last Sunday, has five wins and 150 points.

He leads Perez, who won in Monaco, on 129 and the luckless Leclerc, winner of the two other races this year, on 116. 

Leclerc is set to take a new power unit this Sunday.

After eight successive points finishes, Mercedes new boy George Russell is fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who has also endured the Italian team’s reliability difficulties.

Another successful weekend for Red Bull could put them in a dominant position in both championships, but team chief Christian Horner warned against complacency and forecast that Ferrari will bounce back into contention.

“They have a very fast car,” he said. “Certainly on a Saturday. On Sundays, we have been their equal this year, at most races. And they will sort their problems out — I’ve no doubt about that.

“There is a long way to go and we’ve seen big swings in points over the last four or five races. It shows how quickly things can turn.”

‘Sore and bruised’

Like Leclerc, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will also be seeking a revival at a circuit where he has won a record seven times, having claimed his maiden race victory at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007.

He confirmed this week that despite the acute back pain he suffered on his way to fourth Sunday, he is ready to race again on another notoriously fast and often bumpy circuit.

The seven-time champion is sixth behind Sainz in the title race on 62 points and without a win this season, but has pledged to battle on.

“Sunday was tough and I had some problems sleeping, but have woken up feeling positive,” he said in a social media post. 

“Back is a little sore and bruised, but nothing serious, thankfully.”

He added that he had had acupuncture and physio to ease the problem, exacerbated by the violent “porpoising” and bouncing of his car. 

“We have to keep fighting,” he added. “I’ll be there this weekend — I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Hamilton’s complaints about ‘porpoising’ were supported by many drivers following last Sunday’s contest, including Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri, Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. 

All want to see action taken to reform the radical aerodynamic rules on health and safety grounds.

Horner risked much wrath and controversy by suggesting that Mercedes had sought to make a big issue of the problems as “part of the game” as quoted by The Race.

Russell responded by rejecting Horner’s claims. 

“You’ve either got porpoising and the car is hitting the ground or you have to run the car millimetres above the ground and you’re smashing the bumps. 

“So, whichever way you’ve got it, it’s not great for anyone. Something will happen. There’s no doubt about it.”

AMMAN — The national football team is back home after securing qualification to the 2023 Asian Cup.

Team officials and the Jordan Football Association now have to assess the team’s readiness for Asia’s top football event which will be held in 2023. Jordan has now reached the Asian Cup five times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972. The highlight was at the 13th Asian Cup in 2004, when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Currently ranked 91st in FIFA Rankings, Jordan had a relatively easy draw in the qualifying Group A, and managed to beat 168th ranked Nepal 2-0 before overcoming 159th ranked Indonesia 1-0 and 146th ranked hosts Kuwait 3-0 in the third match. 

The top team in addition to the top five second- placed teams moved on to the finals.

Jordan joined Palestine, Uzbekistan, India, Bahrain and Tajikistan who moved as group leaders and were joined by Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan.

Hamad has now guided Jordan through the stage of qualifying to the 2023 Asian Cup, after the team had an early exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers under Belgian Vital Borkelmans.

Veteran coach Issa Turk said the team played a very good match against Kuwait, which has a track record of being a competitive, stronger side among Asian teams. “I think there is considerable improvement in the line-up and there should be a concerted effort to be fully prepared for the Cup,” he added.

Other observers allude to the fact Hamad should enlist younger players and revitalise the national squad. The past week saw Jordan’s younger squad eliminated from Round 1 at the 5th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship, after they lost to Australia 1-0, beat Kuwait 1-0 and tied Iraq 1-1. The squad’s top two players were on duty with the senior team, a note that demonstrates the need for close coordination and planning for all national team line-ups. 

It was the 5th time for Jordan in the AFC U23 Championship. In 2014 they finished third, in 2016 reached the quarter-finals, in 2018 they were knocked out of Round 1 and reached the quarter-finals in 2020.

PARIS — England suffered its heaviest home defeat in nearly 100 years on Tuesday as Gareth Southgate’s side went down 4-0 to Hungary in the UEFA Nations League, while it was also a night to forget for Italy as it lost 5-2 in Germany.

Not since a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Scotland’s “Wembley Wizards” in 1928 had England been beaten by four goals at home, but they were torn apart by Hungary in Wolverhampton and are now in real danger of being relegated from League A to the less glamorous second tier of European international football.

Hungary had already beaten England 1-0 in Budapest 10 days ago and it went in front in the 16th minute at Molineux as Freiburg forward Roland Sallai controlled the ball on his thigh and volleyed in after a free-kick was nodded down. 

Sallai scored again 20 minutes from time before England collapsed, with Zsolt Nagy making it 3-0 from an emphatic strike. 

Home defender John Stones was sent off and then substitute Daniel Gazdag wrapped up a famous Hungarian triumph with a cool finish over goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Remarkably, Hungary is the first team to score four goals in an away match against England since the Hungarians themselves, with Ferenc Puskas starring, won 6-3 at Wembley in 1953. 

England has just two points from four games and defeat in its next match in Italy in September would condemn them to relegation to League B. 

“It was a night to forget but we’ve got to take it on the chin. We’ve got to move forward,” said England captain Harry Kane. 

“We are preparing for a big World Cup and that’s the most important thing. We’ll learn a lot from this camp.” 

Hungary is top of League A, Group 3, a point above Germany which leapfrogged Italy thanks to the thumping win over Roberto Mancini’s experimental side in Moenchengladbach. 

Joshua Kimmich’s close-range finish gave Germany an early lead and they doubled their advantage thanks to Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty in first-half stoppage time. 

Thomas Mueller fired in the third after the restart before Serge Gnabry set up Timo Werner to score two quick-fire goals midway through the second half. 

Italy had not conceded five goals in a game since a 6-1 defeat in Yugoslavia in 1957. The visitors pulled one back when 18-year-old FC Zurich striker Wilfried Gnonto scored 12 minutes from the end to become Italy’s youngest ever goal-scorer. 

Alessandro Bastoni then further reduced the deficit in injury time but the result still allowed Germany to match their biggest ever win over Italy, recorded in 1939. 

“If we play like we did today, many teams will have a hard time against us,” said Gundogan.  

Depay downs Wales

Meanwhile The Netherlands remain clear at the top of League A, Group 4 after beating Wales 3-2 in a dramatic finish in Rotterdam. 

Goals from Noa Lang and Cody Gakpo had the Dutch 2-0 up midway through the first half, but Brennan Johnson rapidly pulled one back.

Gareth Bale then appeared to have salvaged a point for Wales when he converted a stoppage-time penalty, only for Memphis Depay to sweep in a 93rd-minute winner for the Dutch. 

The Netherlands is three points ahead of Belgium, who won 1-0 against Poland in Warsaw thanks to Michy Batshuayi’s early header. 

Wales is bottom of the group is just one point from four games this month, when its focus was on qualifying for the World Cup. 

In League B, Ukraine came from behind to draw 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland in the Polish city of Lodz, with Artem Dovbyk equalising after Nathan Collins had opened the scoring in style. 

Ukraine is top of Group 1, a point ahead of Scotland who won 4-1 in Armenia with Stuart Armstrong scoring a brace before John McGinn and Che Adams added further goals and the hosts finished with nine men. 

Edin Dzeko netted twice for Bosnia and Herzegovina in its 3-2 defeat of Finland in Group 3.

SAN FRANCISCO — Andrew Wiggins scored 26 points as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Boston Celtics 104-94 to move within one win of a seventh NBA championship crown on Monday.

With Stephen Curry having a rare off-night after his 43-point game four heroics, Wiggins seized control to lead a balanced Golden State offensive effort which leaves the Warriors 3-2 up in the best-of-seven series.

Wiggins delivered a huge performance at both ends of the Warriors’ Chase Centre court, shooting 12-of-23, while hauling in 13 rebounds with two steals and a block.

The Warriors can clinch the championship when the series heads back to Boston for game six on Thursday.

“We have two cracks at getting one win, but we also know how difficult it’s going to be,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

“Nobody’s celebrating but we are excited to be in this spot and we want to take advantage of it.”

Kerr led the tributes for Wiggins, the Canadian former No.1 draft pick who has steadily become an integral part of the Warriors set-up since joining the franchise two years ago.

“He loves the challenge. He loves the competition. And he’s found such a crucial role on our team, and I think that empowers him,” Kerr said. “He knows how much we need him, so he’s been fantastic.”

Wiggins led the Warriors scorers while Klay Thompson provided support with 21 points including five three-pointers. Gary Payton II (15 points) and Jordan Poole (14) both made double-digits from the bench.

Curry, the Warriors’ talisman and front-runner for NBA Finals MVP, chipped in with 16 points but shot only 7-of-22 from the field, going 0/9 from three-point distance.

It was the first time in Curry’s playoff career he has failed to score a three-pointer and the first time he has drawn a blank from beyond the arc in any NBA game since 2018.

“I think Steph was probably due for a game like this,” Kerr said. “But we’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of depth that can make up for that, and the guys did a good job of that tonight.”

Warriors star Draymond Green, who had an improved performance despite fouling out in the fourth quarter, said Curry’s display was good news for Golden State.

“He’s going to be livid going into game six, and that’s exactly what we need,” Green said.

Jayson Tatum led Boston’s scorers with 27 points while Marcus Smart added 20 and Jaylen Brown 18.

But the Celtics, who effectively marked Curry out of the game for long periods, were left ruing another high turnover count of 18 compared to just six from Golden State.

Boston had threatened to produce a repeat of their stunning game one win in San Francisco during a rampant third quarter display in which they outscored the Warriors 35-24 before fading in the fourth quarter.

Celtics coach Ime Udoka lamented his team’s inconsistent form from one quarter to the next. 

“That’s the thing — [what] we’re not having throughout a full game is consistent efforts, sustained effort, more so offensively than anything,” Udoka said. 

“That’s the part where we got to have carryover, not only game to game but quarter to quarter, where we saw it happened in the third but not the fourth.”

Boston’s electrifying burst of second-half scoring wiped out a 12-point Warriors advantage after the first two quarters.

After a superb Golden State defensive performance in the first half, Boston had been restricted to just 39 points to trail 51-39 at the break.

But the Celtics flipped the switch after the interval, erasing Golden State’s advantage in a matter of minutes with back-to-back Tatum three-pointers to get within two at 51-49.

Smart drained another three soon afterwards to tie the game at 55-55 before Al Horford rained in another triple — Boston’s eighth straight three-pointer — to give the Celtics their first lead of the game at 58-55.

Boston would go on to lead by five points at 66-61 — a 17-point turnaround from half-time — but the Warriors dug deep to respond.

Poole’s buzzer-beating three-pointer put the Warriors ahead 75-74 heading into the final period.

The Warriors regrouped in the fourth quarter, Wiggins driving home a layup to launch an unanswered 10-0 run by the home team that gave Golden State a hefty 11-point advantage at 85-74.

From there the Warriors never looked like surrendering the initiative and Wiggins would go on to score 10 points as the Warriors slammed the door to close out a deserved win.