Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/449474
21 FORMULA One Management (FOM) detailed the start times for the 20 race season in a document sent to participants and broadcasters and seen by Reuters. Australia's will start at 1600 lo- cal, although Saturday qualifying remains at 1700, while Malaysia is brought forward to 1500. China, Ja- pan and Russia will all start at 1400 local. Mexico, which is returning to the calendar for the first time since 1992, was handed a 1300 local start time. French driver Bianchi suffered se- vere brain injuries at Suzuka when he skidded off track, in fading light and heavy rain, and collided with a recovery tractor. He remains in hos- pital in France in critical condition. The governing International Auto- mobile Federation (FIA) set up an ac- cident panel to investigate the crash and one of its recommendations, in a report published last month, was for earlier starts. "It is proposed that a regulation or guideline be established such that the start time of an event shall not be less than four hours before either sunset or dusk, except in the case of night races," it said. Formula One has floodlit races in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain and the trend has been for later starts in Asia to boost television viewing figures in Europe. Malaysian circuit boss Razlan Ra- zali told Reuters last week that he would welcome an earlier start for a race that has been affected by late afternoon tropical downpours in the past. "We said if you want to go back to three PM, we fully support it," he said. Qualifying for the race at Sepang will start at 1700 local, however. Melbourne organisers had sound- ed less keen on the time change, with Australian Grand Prix chief execu- tive Andrew Westacott expressing his reluctance in the Herald Sun newspaper last week. "The race time will remain at five PM as per agreement with the AGPC and Formula One Manage- ment, which means Melbourne, as the opening race of the season, airs in Asia at lunchtime and Europe at breakfast," he said then. Russia's earlier start comes after talk last year of the race in Sochi switching to a floodlit night format. TENNIS Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 JANUARY 2015 FORMULA 1 Five Formula 1 races to start one hour earlier The start times of five Grands Prix have been brought forward by an hour for the 2015 season TOP seeds Novak Djokovic and Ser- ena Williams stuck to the Australian Open script with fairly routine victo- ries on Tuesday, while men's cham- pion Stan Wawrinka and two-time winner Victoria Azarenka joined them in the second round. The tournament had been turned on its head on the first day with eight women's seeds, notably fifth ranked Ana Ivanovic, crashing out in the first round. Yesterday's matches went mostly as expected, however, with Djoko- vic barely troubled while Serena had some issues in the second set against players ranked more than 100 places below them. Bidding to become the second man to win five Australian Open titles and touted by pundits and fellow players as the player to beat, Djokovic put in just enough effort to beat Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene 6-3 6-2 6-4 in a shade under two hours. "For a first round performance it was pretty good," said Djokovic, who has been dogged by a virus this month. "Still need to work on some things. I'm still developing my game so I'm glad to go through. "It has been a rough two weeks health-wise but I'm getting there." Serena was at her ambivalently ar- rogant best in the first set, appearing to barely acknowledge Alison Van Utyvanck's presence as she swatted aside the Belgian 6-0 in 21 minutes and then jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second. Such was her dominance a 'double- bagel' appeared on the cards before the 20-year-old found her rhythm and range and forced the 18-times grand slam winner into a match, which caused some frustrations for the American before she ran out a 6-0 6-4 winner. "As always, I had the jitters go- ing out in the first match of a grand slam," she said. "It's never super easy to be the one that everyone wants to beat. "So I always have to be a little bit above. But I felt okay (and) I definite- ly think I can improve a tremendous amount." Despite taking a fall early in his match, Wawrinka was equally com- fortable against Marsel Ilhan, the on- ly Turkish man to have made a grand slam main draw. "First grand slam is never easy, but I'm happy the way I played," the Swiss told reporters. "I play some good ten- nis and I have confidence with my game in general." Kei Nishikori also had few prob- lems, enjoying a 6-4 7-6 6-2 victory over former top-10 player Nicolas Al- magro, who is on the comeback trail after foot surgery last June. Eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic also advanced, 7-6(3) 7-6(3) 6-3 over qualifier Illya Marchenko, though he admitted his laconic de- meanour on court hides a tangled mess of high strung nerves and per- sonal demons. "Everything bothers me deep down," a smiling Raonic said after his 28th ace sealed the win over the 144th-ranked Ukrainian. "Every- thing. I'm not that relaxed." Twice champion Victoria Azaren- ka, unseeded after an injury-ravaged 2014, proved she was a dangerous floater in the draw as she got back to her banshee-screeching best, raising the decibel levels on Hisense Arena in a 6-3 6-2 win over American Sloane Stephens. "Being an unseeded player, it's not a surprise that I have a tough draw or tough opponents in the early round," she said. "I just need to go through that." The tournament does not get any easier for Azarenka with a second round clash against former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, who eventually outfought American teenager Taylor Townsend 7-6(1) 6-2. "It's going to be tough, she's won here before (and) not the easiest on paper," Wozniacki said of the second round clash. "But at the same time... whether you have to beat her in the second round or fourth round, whatever, doesn't matter if you want to win the tournament." Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic march on in Melbourne Novak Djokovic Serena Williams