Lando Norris reignites F1 title hopes in do-or-die Austrian Grand Prix weekend as Max Verstappen endures nightmare
LANDO NORRIS reignited his title hopes as he bagged pole position in a sizzling qualifying session
at the Austrian Grand Prix
.
It feels like do or die for Norris in the title
race
this weekend, after losing huge ground to his teammate
Oscar
Piastri in
Canada
last time out.
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Lando Norris took a dominant pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix
Credit: Getty
His crash into the back of Piastri left him out of the
race
with three laps to go and the Aussie driver, who finished fourth, increased his lead to the Brit in the
championship
by 22 points, with Verstappen 21 adrift of Norris in third.
Verstappen suffered a nightmare afternoon in his home
race
, finishing in seventh with Red Bull out-qualified by their junior team as
In fairness to the four-time world champ, a yellow flag for Pierre Gasly scuppered Verstappen's final lap in the dying moments.
Hamilton
claimed fourth.
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There was a delay in Q2 due to a red flag after
Ferrari
's Hamilton ran onto the gravel and set fire to a patch of grass at turn 10.
Russell survived the first session by the skin of his
teeth
as he squeezed through in 11th after a big error in the middle sector before ending up in fifth overall.
It was a disaster for Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull's home
race
as he suffered another early exit in Q1 in 18th.
The Japanese driver has been 18th or lower in four of the last five qualifyings, which is a worrying trend.
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His 18th result is also the WORST qualifying position in the
history
of Red Bull on their home turf.
It was an afternoon to forget for ex-Ferrari driver
Lewis Hamilton gives lucky F1 rival a lift home on his private jet
The Spanish Williams driver has now racked up three consecutive Q1 exits this season.
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The 42
42 minutes ago
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'What's to be gained by slating people? It's the easiest thing in the world' - Jack O'Connor
YOU CAN HAVE your 38 All-Ireland titles, but you can never rely on that muscle-memory as much as proving people wrong. And in Kerry, that frequently means your own people. While most counties can count on a fairly partisan media, that's not always been the case with Kerry. And Jack O'Connor in particular. The Dromid man left all in no doubt where the motivation for their nine-point win over Armagh came from. 'Look, one of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong,' he explained. 'We were being portrayed as a one-man team. I saw somebody writing this morning that said the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. 'Now, David is a great player but David will tell you that there was a fair supporting cast there today. We think we have a lot of good footballers but I think sometimes we're being judged on different criteria to other teams.' He continued, 'For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster championship and I didn't see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county. There's a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits down our way let themselves down in that regard.' Asked if criticism from within was something that you sign up for as a Kerry manager – O'Connor did detail the sense of isolation he felt in his first spell in charge in his autobiography 'Keys To The Kingdom'. He wasn't buying it though. 'I'm not giving out about it from my own point of view. I just gave the example that I never hear Dublin's ex-players slating the team,' said O'Connor. 'They're loyal to the group and they're loyal to the county and they give their support. 'What's to be gained by slating people? It's the easiest thing in the world. I'm in the business of building people up. I'm not in the business of knocking people. 'I spent all my life coaching underage school kids, minors, Under-21s, seniors, at every level. I'm in the business of building people, not knocking people.' He added, 'I'd ask people who are knocking that group and knocking people involved with the group to look in the mirror and say, 'What have you contributed? What have you contributed to Kerry football off the field?' Advertisement 'You know what I mean? It's very easy to knock people. Go away and coach a team. Go away and coach a development squad. Go away and coach a minor team. That's how you help Kerry football, not knocking people.' O'Connor drew comparisons with Kerry's run of form this year, until their transformation here, with the 2009 season; when they lost a Munster semi-final replay to Cork before struggling past Longford, Sligo and Antrim before walloping Dublin in the 'startled earwigs' quarter-final and a 17-point win that propelled them onto Sam Maguire success. Shane Ryan celebrates. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO 'Look, when everybody even down in our own county was throwing in the towel with us, I said in the dressing room after the Cavan game, 'Lads, I've been here before where we've been completely written off.' 'And a Kerry team written off in Croke Park are dangerous because it just takes a bit of the heat off. It allows them to play with a kind of freedom and abandon. That's what you saw there today. 'Maybe it was very tough for Armagh. Our mantra this morning was, 'We have to flip the script. The script has been written that Armagh have this game won and we have to flip that script.' 'Every breaking ball you win, every turnover you win, every score you get is a chip off the block there and it's a way of flipping that script. We did it block by block.' How best to describe their purple patch? Let's go for the raw data. From the 43rd minute to the 56th minute, Armagh had 14 kickouts. They won three of them. 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Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO He added, 'I don't think too many people outside the camp saw that performance there. But we were very, very determined. There was ferocious determination in the camp that we weren't going to let the season fizzle out after the Meath game. Related Reads Kerry knock Armagh off their perch as they dump champions out of race for Sam 'We're probably the only group in the country that thought we could make it this far' Tyrone take major step, dominant Donegal, Monaghan's second-half struggles 'It may have been difficult for Armagh not to listen to the outside noise where we were being written off and they were being written up. We know we have players who can perform here. 'The game Seán O'Shea had there, when that was a game in the first half and halfway through the second half, that man put in some display. I don't know what he finished up with. But him and David, David was really good again. 'Paudie coming in at half-time, he's a high-calibre player and it just gave everybody a lift. Once he got the ball in his hands, you knew he was going to do something with it. 'It's funny the way things happen. But we were fairly sure leaving the hotel this morning that we were going to give this a real rattle. We just need to steady up now and get our feet back on the ground. 'It's a big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week. But obviously the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. 'They've seen it happen before. They saw it happen in 2006, they saw it happen in 2009. Kerry is a proud county and we weren't going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight. We saw that fight out there today.' So now for Tyrone. No lack of motivation there. It would appear Paul Geaney is not far off a return. Tony Brosnan and Diarmuid O'Connor too. Tom O'Sullivan had to leave the field injured. That will all become clear in the early part of the week. All eyes will now be turned on the Kerry pundits on the week ahead. * Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jack O'Connor: "We are judged on different criteria to other teams"
Jack O'Connor has broadsided ex-Kerry players and pundits, accusing them of writing the county off in their All-Ireland quarter-final victory against Armagh. Speaking after the Kingdom's 0-32 to 1-21 win against the All-Ireland champions, the Kerry manager said "One of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong. We were being portrayed as a one man team. "I saw somebody writing this morning that the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. David is a great player but David would tell you that there was a fair support cast out today. "We think we have a lot of good footballers but I think sometimes we are being judged on different criteria to other teams. "For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster Championship. I didn't see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county. "There was a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits let themselves down in that regard." Concluding the interview, O'Connor said: "I'm not giving out about it from my own point of view. I just gave the example that I never hear Dublin's ex-players slating the team. "They're loyal to the group and they're loyal to the county and they give their support. What's to be gained by slating people? It's the easiest thing in the world. I'm in the business of building people up. I'm not in the business of knocking people. "I spent all my life coaching underage school kids, minors, Under-21s, seniors, at every level. I'm in the business of building people, not knocking people. I'd ask people who are knocking that group and knocking people involved with the group to look in the mirror and say, 'What have you contributed? What have you contributed to Kerry football off the field?' You know what I mean? "It's very easy to knock people. Go away and coach a team. Go away and coach a development squad. Go away and coach a minor team. That's how you help Kerry football, not knocking people." When asked on Kerry running riot in the second half, racking up fourteen unanswered points, three of which came from two-pointers, O'Connor said: "We just got to grips with the Armagh kickout and that's where we got the stranglehold and drove on from there. Whatever the boys said to themselves at half-time inside the dressing room, they were fierce determined. "We felt we played well in the first half but gave away a very bad goal that brought Armagh back into it. But we thought we were playing well. We thought we were getting pockets of space to kick scores. I think the introduction of Paudie Clifford at half-time just gave everybody a lift because we know the calibre of a player Paudie is. "Him and Micheál Burns really lifted the team. Joe O'Connor going to midfield halfway through the second half gave us a big lift as well because Joe had been a little bit peripheral on the wing and he had a big influence when he went to midfield. Some days, stuff like that works for you. Today was that day." He felt the team had learned from their previous games, with a defeat to Meath forcing them to play Cavan in the preliminary quarter-finals. He said: "We were fairly sure that the performance above in Tullamore was not us. We were missing some key players that day and things just went awry on us and the game slipped away. Plus, Meath are a good team. They showed that out there today. I think it was a combination of us not being up to scratch and Meath playing very well and showing the calibre of a team they are. "But we were fairly sure that wasn't the real Kerry. Maybe we were trying to lull ye all into a false sense of whatever. It worked anyway." The Kerry boss was happy with the lack of faith in his Kerry side, saying it was an advantage for his charges. He explained: "I don't think too many people outside the camp saw that performance there. But we were very, very determined. There was ferocious determination in the camp that we weren't going to let the season fizzle out after the Meath game. It may have been difficult for Armagh not to listen to the outside noise where we were being written off and they were being written up. We know we have players who can perform here. The game Seán O'Shea had there, when that was a game in the first half and halfway through the second half, that man put in some display. "I don't know what he finished up with. But him and David, David was really good again. Paudie coming in at half-time, he's a high-calibre player and it just gave everybody a lift. Once he got the ball in his hands, you knew he was going to do something with it. It's funny the way things happen. "But we were fairly sure leaving the hotel this morning that we were going to give this a real rattle. We just need to steady up now and get our feet back on the ground. It's a big performance and a big Kerry support came up and backed the team, which is great. We love seeing that because a lot of people had us written off during the week. "But obviously the supporters felt there was another kick in the team. They've seen it happen before. They saw it happen in 2006, they saw it happen in 2009. Kerry is a proud county and we weren't going to fizzle out of the Championship without a hell of a fight. We saw that fight out there today." Kerry lost Tom O'Sullivan to injury in the first half, but O'Connor was pleased with his depth off the bench. "Of course we were very disappointed to lose Tom and obviously he'll be in a race against time now. But that young fella from the Crokes there, Evan Looney, has been chomping at the bit in training and he acquitted himself very well. He won a vital kick out below under the Hill there when we needed to get our hands on the ball. "But fellas stepped up. Micheál Burns had the game of his life when he came on there. He didn't play last weekend and he came on there today and showed that he's a big player for us." The return of Paudie Clifford for a full half of football was a big positive for Kerry, as is the imminent return of more players from the treatment table. "Look, they need a bit of time. Paul Geaney was close today but we'd only have thrown him in if the game was going away from us, a bit like Dublin did with Con O'Callaghan last night. He's nearly there but not quite. The heart-warming thing for us was the way Paudie performed. As late as last Tuesday, it was touch-and-go that he'd be able to play but he just turned the corner. The physios did great work with him. He turned the corner during the week. "[Diarmuid O'Connor and Tony Brosnan] are not a million miles away so we'll assess it during the week and hope to be coming with a strong hand in two weeks." Sean O'Shea had a massive game in Croker, scoring 0-12 in all, but O'Connor was more pleased with his leadership on the pitch. He said: "He's just such a genuine young fella and just the way he speaks and the way he commands the dressing room. David is a one-off and he's just a massive talent. "But Seánie is just a very mature young fella who commands the room and commands the group. We missed him more than anyone in the Meath game when he wasn't there. Not alone does he play well himself, he just commands the boys around him. "He's the leader on the field. Taking nothing away from any of the rest of them, Gavin White or anything, Gavin was fantastic today, but Seánie is on a different level as regards leadership. He's the spiritual leader of that group." O'Connor explained that his message to the Kerry side was to "flip the script". "Look, when everybody even down in our own county was throwing in the towel with us, I said in the dressing room after the Cavan game, 'Lads, I've been here before where we've been completely written off.' And a Kerry team written off in Croke Park are dangerous because it just takes a bit of the heat off. It allows them to play with a kind of freedom and abandon. "That's what you saw there today. Maybe it was very tough for Armagh. Our mantra this morning was we have to flip the script. The script has been written that Armagh have this game won and we have to flip that script. "Every breaking ball you win, every turnover you win, every score you get is a chip off the block there and it's a way of flipping that script. We did it block by block."
