Sebastian Vettel wins Canada GP, regains F1 leadership
Montreal, June 11 : Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel dominated the Canadian Grand Prix here to retake the championship lead as Lewis Hamilton could finish only fifth for Mercedes.
Vettel converted pole position into a lead at the first corner and was never headed as he kept Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas at arm's length throughout the race, the BBC reported.
The German achieved his 50th victory in the Formula One World Championship on Sunday and also regained, by a single point, the F1 leadership.
Vettel, already four-time world champion (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013), won from pole position at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, where he steered to an undeniable victory.
Sunday's victory is his third victory in 2018, after Australia and Bahrain, and his second in Canada, where he also won in 2013, at the helm of a Red Bull.
The driver from the small German town of Heppenheim rider won the race ahead of Finn Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) and the two Red Bull Racing drivers, Dutchman Max Verstappen and Australian Daniel Ricciardo.
Lewis Hamilton, a six-time winner in Montreal and aiming to equal the record of seven set by Germany's Michael Schumacher, could only finish fifth, depriving him of the championship lead by just one point. Vettel now has 121 points, Efe news reported.
Sebastian Vettel took advantage of his privileged position on the grid to reach the first corner in the lead, while behind him Bottas stopped Verstappen's frantic attack by taking second place.
The first lap had to be neutralised with the safety car after an accident between the Canadian Lance Stroll (Williams) and the New Zealander Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso), which ended without penalties for either of them.
Nothing changed during the restart. Vettel went on first and little by little he set a pace that his rivals were unable to keep up. He crossed the finish line with a clear advantage.
The World Championship resumes with the Grand Prix of France from June 22 to 24 at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet.
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Siddaramaiah in 'helpless situation', under some 'compulsion', claims Cong MLA Rajanna
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Bengaluru (PTI): Amid claims that Siddaramaiah's confidants are being targeted within the ruling Congress in Karnataka, following recent actions against some party leaders, senior MLA K N Rajanna on Friday alleged that the chief minister is "helpless" and under some "compulsion" as he is not standing up to defend his people.
The comments from the former minister, who is considered close to Siddaramaiah, came after Congress took action against some of its minority community leaders--considered close to the CM--following allegations of an internal conspiracy against the party candidate in the Davanagere South bypoll held on April 9.
Rajanna himself was sacked from the Ministry last August on the instructions of the party high command, following his alleged comments criticising top party leader Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" charge.
"There will be vested interests in the party who will try to conspire against those who have been loyal to the party and want the party to grow for the welfare of the people. Nothing can be done about it. What we expect from our chief minister is that when such a situation arises, he should stand strong, but he is not standing and that is a sad thing," Rajanna said in response to a question whether Siddaramaiah's followers were being targeted in Congress.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "... I don't know what his thinking is. But we did not expect such a helpless situation from Siddaramaiah."
When asked who had made Siddaramaiah helpless, the former minister said, "I won't say who, you understand it yourself."
"People are saying that those close to Siddaramaiah are being targeted...I don't know what compulsions Siddaramaiah has. If he tells, we can know, but he won't say. I don't know under what compulsion he is following this neutrality," he said, adding that the CM is helpless and a person becomes "helpless" when his/her voice shrinks.
The Congress recently suspended MLC K Abdul Jabbar from the party's primary membership and relieved another MLC Naseer Ahmed from the post of chief minister's political secretary. This action came after a group of Muslim leaders accused members of their own party of "conspiracy" to defeat the official candidate in Davanagere South.
Following the action against Jabbar and Naseer Ahmed, speculation is that Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan may also face action during the next cabinet rejig, as these three wanted a Muslim to get the bypoll ticket in Davanagere South, which the party gave to the late MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa's grandson Samarth Mallikarjun. They also did not actively participate in campaigning.
Citing a Kannada saying that there is no punishment for the mistakes committed by the King, Rajanna, in what seemed to be a veiled dig at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, asked, "Does sharing a stage with a person (referring to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev) who said, 'Who is Rahul Gandhi? I don't know,' not amount to indiscipline?"
Referring to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge's statement on whether poverty could be ended by taking a dip in the Ganga at Prayagraj, he said, "...but this person (again referring to Shivakumar) goes there and compliments UP CM Yogi Adityanath for arrangements made for the Kumbh Mela. He also goes to Ambani family marriage, while Rahul Gandhi did not even accept the invitation."
"I'm not saying that action should be taken against this person too, but the party will have to observe these things also," he added.
Rajanna further pointed out that no action was taken when veteran Congress leader and late MLA from Davanagere South Shamanur Shivashankarappa made a speech seeking votes for BJP candidate B Y Raghavandra during Shivamogga Lok Sabha polls, and asked if this did not amount to indiscipline.
"The same people were at the helm then (referring to Shivakumar as KPCC chief), even a verbal warning was not given to him (Shivashankarappa)," he said, adding that, similarly no action was taken when Samarth Shamanur filed his nomination in Davanagere South before the party announced its candidate for Davanagere South-- that was also an act of indiscipline.
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