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MW 7 June 2017

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21 Sport FORMULA 1 SNOOKER FOOTBALL maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 JUNE 2017 Mercedes say Ferrari are favourites to win this year's F1 championship Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes team have said Ferrari are now the favourites to win this year's Formula One championship HAMILTON, chasing a fourth world title, heads into the seventh round of the championship in Canada - a grand prix he has won on five occa- sions - 25 points adrift of Sebastian Vettel who is a favourite to clinch the crown. Mercedes, winners of the last three constructors' championships, are also 17 points behind Ferrari in this season's fight for the team title. Vettel led home a Ferrari one-two ahead of team-mate Kimi Raik- konen at the last round in Mona- co, while Hamilton managed only seventh following a disappointing weekend for the Briton. "It's painful, but we are not the favourites for this year's champion- ship," Totto Wolff (pictured) said. "At the moment it's Ferrari. "They have a very strong package and we need to rise to the challenge to prove once again that we are the team to beat. There are still 14 rac- es left and everything is completely open. "We're looking forward to Mon- treal and the chance to bounce back with a strong result and hopefully producing valuable answers to some tough questions in the process." Ferrari were accused of manipu- lating the result at Monaco in fa- vour of Vettel after the German comfortably passed team-mate Raikkonen in the only round of pit stops. Indeed Hamilton claimed after the race that it was the clearest evidence yet that Vettel holds the number one status within the Ital- ian team. Vettel is 62 points clear of Raik- konen while Hamilton and his Mer- cedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas are separated by 29 points. Wolff insisted Mercedes will not adopt team orders. "We have two excellent drivers and we will hold true to our phi- losophy of letting them race each other to drive the team forward, even if sometimes it can be difficult because you can't always have the one who is ahead in the champion- ship winning," Wolff said. "I'm expecting an interesting weekend in Canada. It could be a tricky race for us in terms of the layout of the track. But, equally, it's a circuit that suits both of our driv- ers. "Lewis has won a number of times in the past and Valtteri has always gone strongly there for Williams. It will be about doing our homework right to give the drivers the car they need to succeed. "We've had bruising weekends before and it's about showing resil- ience and getting up after falling. We know that this season is a mara- thon, not a sprint." Totto Wolff Mark Selby named snooker player of the year WORLD champion Mark Selby capped his triumphant cam- paign by landing three more accolades at snooker's end-of- season awards ceremony. Three days after he beat John Higgins in the Crucible final to land a third career World Championship and fifth rank- ing title in 2016/17, Selby was named player of the year, jour- nalists' player of the year and fans' player of the year at the World Snooker Awards. Selby took the acclaim at the event held at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Performance of the year went to veteran Anthony Hamilton for his surprise German Mas- ters victory, when at the age of 45 he landed his first ranking title. Mark King took the prize for the year's magic moment after his emotional speech when winning the Northern Ireland Open in November, a first ma- jor title in a 25-year career. Rookie of the year went to Chinese 17-year-old Yan Bingtao, who qualified for the World Championship and lost a close first-round match to Shaun Murphy. Hall of fame honours went to six-time Crucible runner-up Jimmy White and commenta- tor Clive Everton. Mark Selby GERMAN Cup winners Borussia Dortmund named Peter Bosz as coach from Ajax Amsterdam on a two-year deal to succeed the sacked Thomas Tuchel, the club said on Tuesday. Dortmund, who finished third in the Bundesliga and will com- pete in next season's Champi- ons League group stage, sacked Tuchel three days after winning the German Cup on May 27. Tuchel had a public row with club bosses over playing a Cham- pions League game the day after a bomb attack on the team bus in April. Bosz, a 53-year-old former Dutch international, steered Ajax to the Europa League final this season where they lost to Manchester United, and was ex- pected to stay on before his sud- den move to Germany. "The talk with (club bosses) convinced me that this should be the next step. I was convinced we can work well together. With respect and quality," Bosz said at his official presentation. His move came as a surprise for Dutch fans with local media reporting a difference of opinion between Bosz and his assistant and other Ajax coaching staff. "I am almost 20 years a coach and Ajax was a year. For me this is a great opportunity and I want to look ahead, not into the past," Bosz said, refusing to comment on the reports. He enjoys playing a similar at- tacking football popular in Dort- mund, and finished second in the Dutch top league in his first and only season at Ajax. "Why Peter Bosz? We are con- vinced the type of football his teams play is not so dissimilar to how we want our team here in Dortmund to play," Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc said. "Attacking football, fresh, going forward. But with good posses- sion football and counter-press- ing." Dutchman Bosz succeeds Tuchel at helm of Borussia Dortmund Peter Bosz

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