Haas has appointed Laura Mueller as the first female race engineer in Formula 1.

Mueller will be working with French driver Esteban Ocon this year, Haas said on Tuesday.

Race engineer is a very visible role in F1 since they’re on the radio to drivers during races and those messages are broadcast.

Haas was seventh in the constructor standings last year and has a new lineup with Ocon and Ollie Bearman.

Mueller was promoted from her role as performance engineer. The German has been with Haas since 2022.

Tennis

Djokovic defeats Alcaraz to advance in Australian Open >> Novak Djokovic refused to let anything stop his pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam trophy in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Not a problem with his left leg. Not an early deficit. And not the kid across the net, Carlos Alcaraz, who was making things difficult and eyeing his own bit of history.

Djokovic overcame it all, just as he has so often along the way to so many triumphs, moving into the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the 12th time with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Alcaraz in a scintillating showdown Tuesday night between a pair of stars born 16 years apart and at opposite ends of their careers.

“I just wish that this match today was the final,” Djokovic said. “One of the most epic matches I’ve played on this court. On any court.”

College football

Voice of Navy Medhurst dies at 55 >> Pete Medhurst, a longtime radio broadcaster for Navy athletics, has died. He was 55.

Navy’s athletic department, which spoke with Medhurst’s family, announced his death on social media. The Capital Gazette reported in late October that Medhurst was having surgery for a brain tumor.

Medhurst was the voice of Navy football for the past 12 years and had been with the Navy Radio Network since 1997 broadcasting football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball, volleyball, swimming and wrestling. He was the voice of Navy lacrosse for 24 years.

Ohio State backup QB transfers to CAL >> Ohio State backup quarterback Devin Brown is transferring to California.

Brown entered the transfer portal in December but stayed with the Buckeyes through their run to the national championship that ended with a win Monday night over Notre Dame.

The Bears lost starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza to Indiana this offseason, as well as the top two backups, with Chandler Rogers and CJ Harris also entering the portal.

WNBA

Griner to test Free agency >> Brittney Griner is testing the free agent market for the first time in her career.

The All-Star center is taking meetings starting Tuesday with multiple teams, according to her agent. WNBA executives were in Miami for the opening of Unrivaled to talk with Griner and other free agents.

Griner has been a free agent before, but always re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury since she was first drafted by the franchise in 2013 as the No. 1 pick.

“I want to show off my skills for free agency,” Griner said of playing in the new league, which seems to be dominated more by guards and wings then post players.

Soccer

Teen arrested in online abuse of Arsenal’s Havertz wife >> A teenager has been arrested in connection with the online abuse sent to the wife of Arsenal forward Kai Havertz.

Sophia Havertz had publicly shared direct messages sent to her after Arsenal was knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United on Jan. 12.

A 17-year-old boy from St Albans north of London was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications. He was released on bail.

Liverpool first team to make Champions League round of 16 >> Liverpool became the first team to guarantee a place in the last 16 of the new Champions League format by beating Lille 2-1.

Harvey Elliott’s bouncing, deflected shot gave Liverpool its seventh win from seven games, just after 10-man Lille had equalized following Mohamed Salah’s opening goal.

Liverpool needed a point at Anfield to be sure of reaching the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams in the league stage, skipping the playoff round for teams ranked ninth to 24th.

Barcelona win 9 goal thriller in Champions league >> Raphinha scored in stoppage time to complete a rousing comeback as Barcelona beat Benfica in Lisbon despite having been 4-2 down with less than a quarter of an hour remaining.

Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis scored the third-fastest hat trick at the start of a Champions League game, with two of his goals coming after errors by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Barcelona stays second with 18 points from seven games.

NFL

Vikings O’Connell agree to contract extension >> The Minnesota Vikings and coach Kevin O’Connell agreed to terms on a multiyear contract extension following a 14-3 regular season that defied external widespread preseason projections of at least a losing record if not a last-place finish in the NFC North.

The Vikings didn’t disclose terms of the deal, which was reached with one year remaining on O’Connell’s existing contract. In three seasons with the Vikings, the 39-year-old O’Connell is 34-17 in the regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs. Most remarkable in 2024 was the career-best season by quarterback Sam Darnold in his debut with Minnesota, after the Vikings moved on from Kirk Cousins and drafted J.J. McCarthy as his eventual replacement.