ABU DHABI: From the moment that Max Verstappen joined the Red Bull Junior Team in 2014, there was an inevitability that he would one day become Formula One world champion.

That it came in the shape of a sensational last lap sprint in Abu Dhabi on Sunday which toppled seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton from his throne will make it even sweeter to the 24-year-old, the first Dutchman to wear the crown.

“My goal when I was little was to be a Formula One driver,” said Verstappen after the finish in Abu Dhabi.

“You dream of podiums and victories. But when they tell you that you are world champion, it’s incredible.”

The 36-year-old Hamilton has been a sensational champion with Mercedes but Verstappen’s victory suggests the arrival of a new world order.

His pace and talent has long been evident but it is his calmness under pressure and willingness to go toe to toe with a genuine F1 great, even when things got hairy, that has marked out this season’s rise to the top.

At Silverstone, Verstappen ended up in the crash barriers; at Monza he crash-landed his Red Bull on top of the Mercedes. In Saudi Arabia, Hamilton crunched into the back of the Red Bull after Verstappen braked to let him pass.

The incidents on the track have led to a war of words off it. The Dutchman labelled the seven-time world champion a “stupid idiot” while Hamilton accused the young pretender of being “over the limit” in Jeddah.

In Abu Dhabi, Verstappen produced one of the most unlikely wins imaginable with a last lap dash that confounded the experienced Hamilton.

Not once, though, did the challenger take a step back or wilt under the pressure.

“He seems to deal with the pressure better than other people,” said two-time world champion Fernando Alonso earlier in the season.

“Everyone is different, but it seems that for him it is not a big deal.”

Verstappen is used to the spotlight, the pressure and, with already 20 years on the track, is experienced beyond his years as a racing driver.

According to his father Jos Verstappen, who raced in over a hundred Grand Prix between 1994 and 2003, Max first clambered into a go-kart when he was four and a half years old.

“He was keen, watching all my races, he knew what was going on. He was brought up with racing,” Jos told the official F1 podcast Beyond the Grid in 2019.

“I never had to tell him racing lines, he knew.”

In Abu Dhabi, the two shared what Max called a “special” moment. His dad was in no doubt about his son’s achievement.

“I am very proud of him,” said Jos. “Max was the driver this year and he deserved it.”

His father was not the only influence on his early racing career; his mother is Belgian ex-kart driver champion Sophie Kumpen. Her uncle competed in motocross and rally and her cousin Anthony Kumpen raced NASCAR in the United States.

Titles followed and the teenage Verstappen made the step up to Formula Three, winning 10 races in his debut season when he finished third in the championship which was won by Esteban Ocon, a year his senior and now with the F1 Alpine team.

Verstappen would almost certainly have gone on to win the Formula Three title but after one season he made the step up to the biggest stage.

After taking part in practice at the 2014 Japanese GP, he made his F1 debut for Toro Rosso at the Australian GP in in 2015.

Aged just 17 years and 166 days, he was the youngest ever driver in the sport – and still had not passed his regular driving test.

“For me it was never about age,” said Jos. “It was so natural what he was doing. It was impressive. Max is an exciting driver. He’s much better than me.”

That first season saw him take his first points and get involved in his first scrap. A shunt on Romain Grosjean in Monaco saw Verstappen labelled “dangerous” by Williams driver Felipe Massa but he went on to land the FIA’s Rookie of the Year title.

In May 2016, he was promoted to the Red Bull team, replacing Daniil Kvyat, and the results were impressive and immediate. In his first race in Spain, he qualified fourth and then held off Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to become the youngest ever winner, aged 18, in F1.

Vestappen notched six top-five finishes, including four podiums, in his first eight races.

After two seasons as runner-up, he had a better car which at times has enabled him to eviscerate the Mercedes.

“You just knew Max was not going to give it up,” said Red Bull princial Christian Horner on Sunday.

“He had come so far this year and then to see him close it out, become world champion – an amazing feeling.” – AFP

LIVERPOOL: Mohamed Salah scored the only goal as Liverpool spoiled Steven Gerrard’s return to Anfield as Aston Villa manager as the Reds, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United all needed penalties to win on Saturday.

City edged 10-man Wolves 1-0 thanks to Raheem Sterling’s controversial winner, Chelsea required two Jorginho spot-kicks to see off Leeds 3-2 and Cristiano Ronaldo made sure United did not slip up with a 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Norwich.

Gerrard was given a subdued reception at Anfield as the former Liverpool captain faced his old side for the first time in his playing or coaching career.

“I had to accept it was going to be emotional for me and my family,“ said Gerrard. “For me, it was trying to control that, trying to control the outside noise and be respectful to Aston Villa.”

Villa were largely outplayed, but stayed in the game thanks to a combination of dogged defending, good goalkeeping from Emiliano Martinez and a couple of calls in their favour from referee Stuart Attwell, who dismissed two first-half appeals for a Liverpool penalty.

However, Gerrard’s men did not escape for a third time when Tyrone Mings pulled down Salah inside the box 25 minutes from time.

Salah smashed home his 21st goal in 22 games this season to ensure Liverpool remain just one point behind City at the top of the table.

“The first 75 minutes was incredible football,“ said Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. “We played in the spaces we wanted to play but we did not finish the situations which is tricky.”

‘Crazy decision’

City had fortune on their side to see off Wolves thanks to Sterling’s 100th Premier League goal.

Wolves boss Bruno Lage was furious as Raul Jimenez was dismissed for two quickfire yellow cards before half-time.

The Mexican was booked for a trip of Rodrigo and then sent off for preventing the Spaniard taking a quick free-kick.

“The first yellow card is a crazy decision for me, in my opinion. A hard decision to accept,“ said Lage.

The visitors’ anger was compounded by the origin of the winning goal as Joao Moutinho was judged to have handled Bernardo Silva’s cross despite the ball appearing to come off the Portuguese midfielder’s body onto his upper arm.

Sterling showed no mercy as he coolly slotted home from the spot to bring up his century of Premier League goals.

Jorginho saves Chelsea

Chelsea needed late drama at Stamford Bridge to prevent their title challenge stumbling for the fourth time in six games.

Leeds took the lead through a penalty of their own, converted by Raphinha.

Mason Mount levelled for the European champions and order seemed to have been restored when Jorginho slotted home the first of his two spot-kicks just before the hour mark.

However, an injury-ravaged Leeds hit back once more when teenager Joe Gelhardt came off the bench to level with his first touch seven minutes from time.

But four minutes into stoppage time a third penalty of the game was awarded for Mateusz Klich’s challenge on Antonio Rudiger.

Jorginho has missed a number of high-profile penalties for Italy of late, but is yet to miss for his club this season and converted to keep Chelsea just two points off the top.

“We needed this win desperately, for the belief, for the mood and for the atmosphere,“ said Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.

United were also bailed out by Ronaldo’s penalty 15 minutes from time and a string of saves from David de Gea to maintain Ralf Rangnick’s 100 percent start as interim manager in the Premier League.

The Red Devils moved level on points with fourth-placed West Ham after riding their luck at Carrow Road as De Gea denied Teemu Pukki and Ozan Kabak either side of Ronaldo’s thumping finish from the spot.

Arsenal are one point behind United after shrugging off the absence of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang due to a disciplinary issue to ease past Southampton 3-0.

Aubameyang was not included in Mikel Arteta’s squad after reportedly missing training on Friday.

The Gunners comfortably bounced back to winning ways thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel. — AFP

WASHINGTON: The conservative-leaning US Supreme Court refused on Friday to block a Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks, but left the door open for abortion providers to challenge the law in lower courts.

Anti-abortion groups welcomed the ruling, which did not address the constitutionality of the Texas law, while abortion rights advocates expressed concern.

“Today’s decision is not okay,“ said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, which operates the Texas abortion clinics that filed suit against the law. “It is unjust, cruel, and inhumane.”

President Joe Biden said he was “very concerned” that the Supreme Court allowed the Texas law to stand and reiterated his commitment to abortion rights.

“I will always stand with women to protect and defend their long-recognized, constitutional right,“ the president said in a statement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called it a “huge win” while Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, welcomed the fact that the Texas law will remain in force for now.

“We celebrate that the Texas Heartbeat Act will remain in effect, saving the lives of unborn children and protecting mothers while litigation continues in lower courts,“ Dannenfelser said in a statement.

The Texas ruling comes 10 days after the conservative majority on the court indicated in another case that they may be inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that held that access to abortion is a constitutional right.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 1 about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, and the court’s conservative wing -- which includes three justices nominated by Donald Trump -- appeared ready to uphold the law and perhaps even go further and overturn Roe.

The court is to render a decision in the Mississippi case by June.

‘Chilling effect’

The Texas law bans abortion after six weeks, when a heartbeat can be detected but before many women even know they are pregnant, and is the most restrictive law passed in the United States since abortion was made a constitutional right nearly five decades ago.

Without ruling on the merits of the Texas law, eight of the nine justices on the court agreed that lawsuits filed by abortion providers against the law may proceed in federal court. Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed.

Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, sided with the three liberal justices in expressing concerns about the Texas law and the way it has been framed to avoid judicial review.

“Given the ongoing chilling effect of the state law, the District Court should resolve this litigation and enter appropriate relief without delay,“ Roberts wrote.

“The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake.”

Laws restricting abortion have been passed in multiple Republican-led states but struck down by the courts for violating Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, typically around 22 to 24 weeks.

Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8) differs from other efforts in that it attempts to insulate the state by giving members of the public the right to sue doctors who perform abortions -- or anyone who helps facilitate them -- once a heartbeat in the womb is detected.

They can be rewarded with $10,000 for initiating civil suits that land in court, prompting criticism that the state is encouraging people to take the law into their own hands.

Many clinics in Texas -- fearful of potentially ruinous lawsuits -- have closed their doors, and the number of abortions in the state fell to 2,100 in September from 4,300 a year earlier, according to a University of Texas study.

‘Madness’

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in an opinion joined by the other two liberal justices, said the court should have stepped in and blocked the Texas law.

“The Court should have put an end to this madness months ago, before SB8 first went into effect,“ Sotomayor wrote. “It failed to do so then, and it fails again today.”

“The law has threatened abortion care providers with the prospect of essentially unlimited suits for damages, brought anywhere in Texas by private bounty hunters,“ she said.

Public opinion polls have found most Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

But a segment of the population, particularly on the religious right, has never accepted the Roe v. Wade ruling and campaigned to have it overturned. — AFP

LIVERPOOL: The world’s wealthiest democracies will on Saturday seek to present a united front against Russian aggression toward Ukraine when Britain hosts a meeting of foreign ministers in the northern English city of Liverpool.

The G7 meeting, attended in person by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts from France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada, comes amid international concern Russia could invade Ukraine. Russia denies planning any attack.

“What we have to do is deter Russia from taking that course of action,“ British foreign minister Liz Truss told reporters ahead of the talks.

“What the G7 meeting this weekend .. is about, is about a show of unity between like-minded major economies, that we are going to absolutely be strong in our stance against aggression, against aggression with respect to Ukraine.”

Ukraine is at the centre of a crisis in East-West relations as it accuses Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops in preparation for a possible large-scale military offensive.

Russia accuses Ukraine and the United States of destabilising behaviour, and has said it needs security guarantees for its own protection.

Age of introspection

Britain, as current chair of the G7, is calling for its members to be more strident in their defence of what it calls “the free world”.

Earlier this week Truss said the “age of introspection” for the West was over and it needed to wake up to the dangers of rival ideologies. She has highlighted the economic risks of Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and the wider security threat posed by Chinese technology as examples.

The G7 meeting is also expected to result in a joint call for Iran to moderate its nuclear programme and grasp the opportunity of ongoing talks in Vienna to revive a multilateral agreement on its nuclear development.

Germany, which takes over the rotating G7 leadership from Britain next year, is expected to set out its programme for 2022 at the meeting. Ministers from the European Union, Australia, South Korea and India will take part in some sessions as guests of the G7, along with representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). — Reuters

BRASILIA: Brazil’s health ministry said its website was hit on Friday by a hacker attack that took several systems down, including one with information about the national immunization program and another used to issue digital vaccination certificates.

The government put off for a week implementing new health requirements for travelers arriving in Brazil due to the attack.

“The health ministry reports that in the early hours of Friday it suffered an incident that temporarily compromised some of its systems ... which are currently unavailable,“ it said in a statement.

Police said they were investigating the attack.

The alleged hackers, calling themselves Lapsus$ Group” posted a message on the website saying that internal data had been copied and deleted. “Contact us if you want the data back,“ it said, in an apparent ransomware attack.

The message, which included e-mail and Telegram contact info, had been removed by Friday afternoon, but the web page was still down, while user data in the ConectSUS app that provides Brazilians with vaccination certificates had disappeared.

The ministry said it was working to restore its systems. At a news conference, Deputy Health Minister Rodrigo Cruz said access to the vaccination data had still not been recovered by Friday evening. Cruz said it was too early to say whether the data had been lost.

Under measures decided on Tuesday after President Jair Bolsonaro opposed the use of a vaccine passport, unvaccinated travelers arriving in Brazil will have to quarantine for five days and be tested for Covid-19.

The requirement was due to start on Saturday, but the government said that will be postponed for a week as vaccination data was not accessible online following the attack.

Covid-19 tracing forms for arriving airline passengers were still available on health regulator Anvisa’s website, which was not targeted. — Reuters