Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/478858
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 MARCH 2015 Sport 37 FORMULA 1 Hannah Pace conquers the 7th Mediofondo Citta di Scicli UP and coming triathlete Hannah Pace, racing for local club The Cy- clist, has just recently won the sev- enth International Mediofondo Citta di Scicli in neighbouring Sicily. The 80 kilometre cycling road race forms part of the 2015 Coppa Sicilia and consisted of a mass start race, in which 281 cyclists took part. The route saw cyclists gain an elevation of just over 1,000 metres. Pace com- pleted the distance in two hours and twenty minutes, averaging a speed of 34 kilometres per hour. Pace made it to the podium in first place with an approximate five minute gap be- tween her and the second placed fe- male cyclist. "This race was the first interna- tional experience in a mass start cycling race. Admittedly it was quite a rocky start, but I worked towards putting myself into a group and maintain the momentum to keep with that group until the end," said Pace. "The race was a very positive learn- ing curve for me, especially due to the large number of participants and the difference between local races which tend to be in loops ¬– these two factors are not something we are used to in Malta, but I am very pleased with my performance over- all." Pace's strong performance augurs well for her forthcoming commit- ments at the Tour ta' Malta which will be held between 25-29 March. Hannah Pace's participation in the International Mediofondo Citta di Scicli was made possible through the assistance of Garmin, represented locally by Medcomms Malta, cfra- grances and supported by Mochika. Hamilton storms to first pole of season World champion Lewis Hamilton will begin his 2015 title defence from pole position after comfortably eclipsing Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg in Saturday's qualifying session in Australia THE Silver Arrows dominated as expected, but it was incredibly close behind them as Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull vied for posi- tion. Felipe Massa ultimately won the battle to be best of the rest, the Williams man just edging Fer- rari's Sebastian Vettel for third. Q1 was dominated by the Mer- cedes, with Hamilton fastest on 1m 28.586s from Rosberg on 1m 28.906s, both on the medium tyres. Massa got closest with 1m 29.246s on the softs. McLaren's session was a world of pain in contrast. With Marus- sia failing to run, as expected, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnus- sen will start from the final row of the grid, with Button beating his team mate with 1m 31.422s to 1m 32.037s - although his best on the softs was 2.8s off Hamilton's medium-tyre pace. For the Anglo- Japanese alliance, things can only get better. Sauber lost Marcus Ericsson in Q1, the Swede eliminated on 1m 31.376s, but almost made it into Q3 with Felipe Nasr. The Brazil- ian ultimately missed out by less than one tenth of a second, his 1m 28.800s good enough to edge Max Verstappen's 1m 28.868s. The Dutchman suffered a massive wobble exiting Turn 5, although he did make a great save when many rookies might not have suc- ceeded in collecting the car. Daniil Kv yat, hampered by an engine problem in FP3, was only 13th on 1m 29.070s in the second Red Bull, as the incredibly well- matched Force India drivers were 14th and 15th with Nico Hulken- berg on 1m 29.208s from Sergio Perez on 1m 29.209s. Thus the gap between 10th and 15th places was only half a second. Vettel clung to third right until the last moment, when Massa re- ally got the hammer down for Wil- liams to beat him with 1m 27.718s. Behind them, Kimi Raikkonen used a fresher set of soft Pirellis to improve to 1m 29.790s for fifth, while Valtteri Bottas made an in- credible save from a mistake at the final corner that limited him to 1m 28.087s and sixth. After all his problems Daniel Ricciardo underlined his talent with seventh place for Red Bull on 1m 28.329s, giving him a share of the fourth row alongside im- pressive rookie stablemate Carlos Sainz Junior, who took his Toro Rosso round in 1m 28.510s. Confirming that they are back on track following a miserable 2014, Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were ninth and 10th on 1m 28.560s and 1m 29.480s respectively. Thus the grid for the first race of the season reads: Hamilton, Ros- berg; Massa, Vettel; Raikkonen, Bottas; Ricciardo, Sainz; Gros- jean, Maldonado; Nasr, Verstap- pen; Kv yat, Hulkenberg; Perez, Ericsson; Button, Magnussen. Q3 began with Hamilton laying down an imposing marker of 1m 26.419s and Rosberg leaving him- self everything to do after running wide at Turn 15. At that point Vettel was a pro- visional second, but he was ul- timately bumped down to third as Rosberg recovered with 1m 26.921s on his final run. Hamilton though slammed home his advan- tage by improving on his own final effort, which produced a majestic 1m 26.327s. Lewis Hamilton