Vettel becomes youngest Formula One champion

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Under the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu-Dhabi’s floodlights, German driver Sebastian Vettel added a new Formula One record to his list as youngest winner of the championship at 23 years. On Saturday, Vettel took the title at the final race of this year’s competition.

Starting from pole position, the Red Bull Racing driver led the race right through except during pit stops, when reigning world champion Jenson Button led for a few laps.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso started the race 11 points ahead of Mark Webber. With 25 points for a win, 18 for second and 15 for third, the Spaniard only needed to finish second to secure his third world championship. With a 15-point lag behind Alonso, Sebastian Vettel was third in the championship standings; winning the championship depended on neither Alonso nor Webber finishing on the podium.

A major accident between Michael Schumacher and Vintantonio Liuzzi on the first lap of the race triggered deployment of the safety car. Alonso and Webber were among drivers who decided to make earlier than planned pit stops while racing was resricted. However, they rejoined the track behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov, who proved extremely difficult to overtake. Both remained stuck behind Petrov for the remainder of the race, finishing 7th and 8th respectively to score 6 and 4 points.

Sebastian Vettel went on to win the race ahead of the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, scoring 25 championship points to give a total of 256 – only 4 ahead of Alonso.

Vettel had never previously led this year’s contest. He had to wait until championship favorites Alonso and Webber crossed the finish line in 7th and 8th positions respectively before receiving the news by team radio. With his voice breaking among tears and laughter, Vettel thanked his team for their efforts throughout the season. He won five races from ten pole positions.

Since the start of his F1 career, Vettel’s name has repeatedly entered record books.

In 2007, he replaced an injured Robert Kubica in the United States Grand Prix. Finishing 8th and collecting one championship point; this his first record was youngest driver to score a point in F1.

In 2008, Vettel had the opportunity to race for a full season with Toro Rosso, winning what remains that team’s only race victory. At the Italian Grand Prix, he became the youngest driver to qualify in pole position and youngest race winner.

In 2009, he moved to Red Bull Racing, scoring that team’s first pole position and first race victory. He went on to finish second in the world championship.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Lauren Nelson, 19, sophomore at University of Central Oklahoma, was crowned Miss Oklahoma last night at the Oral Roberts University Mabee Center. Nelson is the youngest contestant to become Miss Oklahoma. She will receive a $16,000 scholarship and represent Oklahoma in the Miss America pageant.

Nelson is the daughter of Mark and Sherrell Nelson of Lawton. Competing for the first time in the Miss Oklahoma pageant; she became qualified for the pageant at the Oklahoma State Fair. In 2004, Nelson was Miss Teen Oklahoma.

Lindsay Miller from Tulsa, Miss Grand Lake, won an $8,000 scholarship for being the first runner-up.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

In early May, Wikinews extended an invitation to Vitaly Filipchenko, an independent candidate in the 2021 New York City mayoral election, set to take place November 2nd, alongside other candidates. Filipchenko answered some questions about his policies and campaign during a phone interview.

Filipchenko, registered on the New York City Campaign Finance Board as Vitaly A. Filipchenko, is the first Russian candidate for New York City mayor, being born in Tomsk, Siberia in 1973, according to news agency Sputnik. He has since naturalised as a United States citizen. According to the web site, Filipchenko has been educated in road construction and maintenance and owns a moving services company; he describes himself on his web site as a “small business owner”. On his web site’s platform page, he says that “[m]y English may not be perfect – but my platform is.”

Incumbent Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio, who won re-election in the 2017 New York City mayoral election by 66.5%, cannot run for a third term under term limits. As of April 28, 22 candidates are currently running, the majority of whom are also Democrats. Ahead of the June Democratic primary for New York City mayor, a poll conducted May 23 and 24 by WPIX and Emerson College of 12 Democratic candidates with a margin of error of 3.2 per cent has former commissioner for the New York City Department of Sanitation Kathryn Garcia and Borough President of Brooklyn Eric Adams leading with 21.1% and 20.1%, respectively.

Monday, April 23, 2012

The UK’s Prince Harry of Wales is to be presented with a humanitarian award for Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership by the Atlantic Council, according to an announcement made by St James’s Palace today.

The recognition is for serving war veterans and the armed forces. He is to receive the award in Washington, D.C. on May 7 at the Atlantic Council’s yearly awards dinner.

Prince Harry means to accept the award on behalf of his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry, an effort established in 2009 that enables the princes to advance their philanthropic aspirations.

“Prince Harry will use the award to pay tribute to British and American veterans’ charities for their achievements in helping to rehabilitate wounded servicemen and women, and to reintegrate those who have served in the armed forces into civilian life,” said a St James’s Palace spokesperson.

Prince Harry also supports other charities including Help for Heroes, Army Benevolent Fund, and Walking With The Wounded. He also helps run Sentebale, an organization that supports underprivileged children in Lesotho, Africa.

Monday, November 12, 2007

In the final of the Konami Cup 2007, Chunichi Dragons battled SK Wyverns again, many Japanese spectators hoped for Dragons to take revenge on Wyverns and win the championship. This was really a intensive match with starting pitchers George Kenneth Rayborn from SK versus Daisuke Yamai.

Even though Byung-kyu Lee hit a 2 runs HR to expand the difference by the 5-2 leading. But Jin-young Lee also hit a 2 runs HR to tie the score with 5-5 at the bottom of 8th.

The key innings took place at the 9th inning, Hirokazu Ibata (Dragons) hit a key run back to make their team lead with 6-5. Finally, the relief pitcher Hitoki Iwase successfully shut down SK’s offense and tied the score to the end to win the champion.

With the winning hit at this game, and 4 hits with 7 RBIs in the Konami Cup Asia Series 2007, Hirokazu Ibata was finally chosen to be the MVP.

After this game, Chunichi Dragons coach Hiromitsu Ochiai remarked: “Even though we ever lose to SK Wyverns, but participants in this year proved their actual strength more than last year. In this game, after we led with 6-5, Hitoki Iwase told me he want to pitch at the bottom of 9th inning, then I accepted, he promised his wish and finally helped us win the champion. I’ll not forget the contributions by Ibata and Iwase.”

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Chinese officials have said that their country’s exports surged last December to edge out Germany as the world’s biggest exporter.

The official Xinhua news agency reported today that figures from the General Administration for Customs showed that exports jumped 17.7% in December from a year earlier. Over the whole of 2009 total Chinese exports reached US$1.2 trillion, above Germany’s forecast $1.17 trillion.

Huang Guohua, a statistics official with the customs administration, said the December exports rebound was an important turning point for China’s export sector. He commented that the jump was an indication that exporters have emerged from their downslide.

“We can say that China’s export enterprises have completely emerged from their all-time low in exports,” he said.

However, although China overtook Germany in exports, China’s total foreign trade — both exports and imports — fell 13.9% last year.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Currently, there are blackouts, heavy rain, and high winds in British Columbia. Over 220,000 BC Hydro customers have no power. Buildings have already collapsed and trees have been knowed down. Five Vancouver rivers were in danger of flooding, which rain fell at 10 mm an hour for more than six hours at midday.

The steel frame of a four-storey building under construction in Vancouver collapsed. Construction workers escaped injury, luckily they were on a coffee break at the time of the incident. The steel frame crushed cars in a parking lot and missed a truck driver.

Citizens had to evacuate a subdivision of 30 homes. The winds smashed trees into houses in West Vancouver.

“We have some real fears here with electrical problems,” said Captain Rob Jones Cook of the Vancouver Fire Department. “This is impinging on electrical poles and lamp standards. We also have hydro bus lines running down two sides of the building.” The Vancouver Fire Department says they have no idea as to why the building collapsed.

Winds are gusting at more than 100 kilometres an hour (62 mph) in some areas and rainfall amounts of 50 to 130 millimetres.

According BC Hydro spokeswoman Elisha Moreno, the hardest-hit areas are Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Mission, B.C. “We’re trying to be optimistic and hoping it’s by end of day today, but there may very well be customers that are into the early-morning hours before restoration,” Moreno said.

Extensive ferry cancellations, road closures, and massive power outages are in effect until the storm ends.

The RCMP have advised people to stay home and off the highway.

The same heavy weather has also affected nearby Washington State, USA.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen won the FIA Formula-1 2007 ING Australian Grand Prix on the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. More precisely he made a hat-trick of wins dating back to 2005.

Both McLaren–Mercedes drivers appear to be his major rivals for the new season as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton made a double finishing 2nd and 3rd consequently, with Hamilton on his debut race.

Nick Heidfeld, driving for BMW Sauber, had a promising start and stayed with Kimi for the first part of the race, but his early first pit-stop pushed him back to the 4th place, while his Polish teammate Robert Kubica retired due to technical problems towards the end of the race.

Felipe Massa was penalized for the engine change after his previous engine failed during qualification, but showed a good pace and for the dying laps of the race pushed hard on Renault driver Giancarlo Fisicella. The few overtaking attempts were not successful enough and so Filipe saw the checkered flag behind Giancarlo on the six place.

7th, 8th and 9th places fell to Nico Rosberg driving for Williams with Toyota engines and both Toyota drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli.

The top 10 was closed by Renault rookie Heikki Kovalainen who made numerous driving errors in the closing stages of the race.

The 2007 Formula-1 season from now appears to be a highly competitive season after Michael Schumacher retired from the sport at the end of the 2006 season.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Caroline Kennedy, considered to be among the front-runners for the United States Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, yesterday withdrew her name from consideration for the seat. New York state Governor David Paterson had been reported as intending to name her as Clinton’s replacement this Saturday.

Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, issued a statement at midnight saying she had quit her bid because of “personal reasons”.

A close associate of Kennedy, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that the decision was not related to the recent health issues of Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Caroline Kennedy’s uncle. The senator suffered a seizure Tuesday while attending a luncheon with the newly inaugurated U.S. President Barack Obama in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. He was rushed out of the event in a wheelchair and taken for treatment to Washington Hospital, where he remains. In May 2008 he was diagnosed with brain cancer, which required an operation.

The New York Post has reported that Kennedy withdrew her bid because Paterson was not going to choose her for the position. Citing the anonymous source, the Post said that “her poor performances in media interviews and in private sessions with various officials” is Paterson’s reason for not appointing her to the position. Paterson will reportedly make his decision by Saturday, January 26.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is the highest-profile candidate still up for consideration for the last two years of Clinton’s term. Cuomo, who has not commented on this recent turn of events, was the housing secretary during former President Bill Clinton‘s time in office, and in his current role as attorney general has overseen nation-wide reforms for student loans and participated in limiting Wall Street corporate spending.