Category: Motor Sports

• Australian’s lead in Formula One driver standings slashed to 14 points

• Max Verstappen back in contention after two victories at US Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri remains confident in his Formula One world championship chances after Lando Norris and Max Verstappen slashed the Australian driver’s lead at the United States Grand Prix.

Piastri endured a difficult weekend in Austin, colliding with McLaren teammate Norris in Saturday’s sprint as both were dumped out before managing only fifth in the GP race as Verstappen eased to victory.

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• World champion powers to US Grand Prix win in Austin

• Verstappen now 40 points behind leader Oscar Piastri

Max Verstappen is convinced that he is now very much in the fight for the world championship after his victory at the US Grand Prix. Following a dominant win in Austin the Red Bull driver was adamant he could still yet take his fifth title and was enthused at the chance to do so.

Verstappen won with a flawless drive from pole to flag at the Circuit of the Americas, and in so doing narrowed the gap to the championship leader Oscar Piastri to 40 points. In what is now a three-way title battle Lando Norris, who took second place, is just 14 points off Piastri.

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• Lando Norris overtakes Charles Leclerc to finish second

• Piastri manages fifth with rivals closing in on title lead

Dominant, untouchable and bearing a broad, beaming grin in the Texas sunshine, the transformation in Max Verstappen after he took victory at the US Grand Prix could not have been starker.

The disillusioned and dissatisfied driver who felt his title defence was long over has, against all the odds and indeed his own expectations, restaked his claim as a genuine contender in a deliciously tight Formula One world championship battle. Little wonder there were smiles, Verstappen knows he is back in the fight.

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• Lando Norris is second on grid, Oscar Piastri is sixth

• Max Verstappen won sprint after McLarens collided

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the US Grand Prix with an immense lap for Red Bull at the Circuit of the Americas. However the day was marked by yet another incident between the two world championship contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with the latter crashing into Norris on the opening lap of the sprint race taking them both out and leaving McLaren with yet another headache as to how they manage their drivers.

Verstappen had been all but untouchable throughout qualifying, his lead over Norris in second place was a full three-tenths, an age at the Circuit of the Americas. However in what is an increasingly tense title fight Piastri’s difficult weekend continued as he managed only sixth on the grid. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took third and fifth for Ferrari, with Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth for Mercedes.

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• Tim Mayer hits out over rules surrounding election

• Mohammed Ben Sulayem will be the only candidate

The FIA has been accused of presenting an “illusion of democracy” in an uncompromising broadside from the last remaining challenger to Mohammed Ben Sulayem as he formally announced his attempt to succeed the organisation’s incumbent president was over. Tim Mayer, a former FIA senior steward, also condemned Formula One’s governing body for lacking transparency and threatening the sport’s future.

The 59-year-old American, who was sacked from his FIA role last year, had been standing as a candidate against Ben Sulayem but on Friday in Austin acknowledged the incumbent would run unopposed because of the way FIA electoral regulations are composed.

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Deal reportedly closed for $140m a year, on the heels of worldwide success of Apple-produced Brad Pitt film F1

Apple has landed US broadcast rights to Formula One in a five-year deal that would help the tech giant bolster its streaming service with one of the country’s fastest-growing sports, following the success of its Brad Pitt-starrer F1: The Movie.

The two sides did not disclose the financial details of the deal on Friday. CNBC reported it was for $140m a year, much higher than the $90m the Walt Disney-owned ESPN was paying each season for F1, which it has broadcast since 2018.

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• McLaren driver accepts responsibility for clash with Australian teammate

• Formula One title battle intensifies ahead of United States Grand Prix

Lando Norris will face “consequences” after McLaren held him responsible for the first-lap collision with Oscar Piastri in Singapore.

The title protagonists banged wheels at turn two as Norris barged ahead of Piastri into third, with the Australian complaining bitterly on the team radio.

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• Challenger expected to announce withdrawal on Friday

• Ben Sulayem has been accused of concentrating power

Mohammed Ben Sulayem will stand unopposed for another term as the president of the FIA, motor sport’s governing body. The last remaining candidate is due to pull out on Friday because of an arcane election rule.

Tim Mayer, a former FIA senior steward with 15 years in the role until he was sacked last November, was one of three candidates who had announced they would oppose Ben Sulayem, alongside the former racing driver Laura Villars and the Belgian journalist Virginie Philpott.

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• Team to stick by driver pairing before regulation change

• Wolff remains keen on signing Dutch world champion

George Russell will remain with Mercedes for next season after the Formula One team confirmed they would be sticking with their drivers in 2026. However, the length of the contracts signed by the Briton and his teammate Kimi Antonelli has not been specified, potentially leaving the Formula One team open to once more pursue Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for 2027.

The long-expected decision comes after a protracted period of negotiation with Russell, as Mercedes seeks stability going into the new regulations of 2026. The 27-year-old British driver has five wins in eight seasons in F1, including victory in Singapore, helping propel Mercedes into a fight for second in the world championship with Ferrari and Red Bull.

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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri argued over events in Singapore and their team have to be careful it doesn’t continue in the title run-in

McLaren and Formula One could do with anything decisive in the championship battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided on the track and without reference to the pit wall as the title run-in begins at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and tense debriefs dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. Norris was almost certainly more than aware of the historical context of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight with the Australian, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s most famous sentiments was lost on no one but the incident that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature to those that defined the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

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• Oscar Piastri furious with Lando Norris for risky overtake

• Singapore result reduces championship lead to 22 points

The way in which McLaren manage Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, after the pair clashed again at the Singapore Grand Prix, is now crucial to avoid the drivers losing trust in the team’s approach on the title run-in, the team principal, Andrea Stella, has acknowledged.

The team will conduct an extensive review of their decision-making during the race at the Marina Bay circuit where Norris barged into his teammate while overtaking him in the opening corners.

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• Briton says there was ‘big gap’ for first-lap overtake

• ‘I misjudged it a little bit, but that’s racing,’ claims Norris

Lando Norris delivered an uncompromising riposte to the complaints of his angry McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri after the pair clashed at the Singapore Grand Prix, declaring that anyone who would not attempt a similar overtake “should not be in Formula One”.

The race at the Marina Bay circuit was won for Mercedes by George Russell but was marked by the incident in the opening corners, where Norris attacked Piastri and banged into his teammate in doing so after he had clipped the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in front.

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• Mercedes driver triumphs as McLaren take team title

• Verstappen second, Norris third, Piastri fourth

George Russell won the Singapore Grand Prix with a dominant drive from pole to flag for Mercedes, but behind him the world championship title fight between McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri reached a flashpoint that has long been threatened. Piastri was furious with his teammate and his team after Norris barged past him at the start and the pair finished third and fourth behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Russell drove a confident, consummate race for Mercedes, a deserved win, his first in Singapore. Leading from lights out he did not put a foot wrong at the Marina Bay circuit as he delivered his second victory of the year and once more made a strong case for his contract negotiations with the team.

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• Rejuvenated Mercedes driver takes top spot by 0.182sec

• Norris accused of impeding Dutchman’s flying lap

George Russell is in talks to extend his contract with Mercedes, but could surely do no more to make his case than a magnificent lap on Saturday to claim pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was beaten into second, but the world champion was aggrieved that he had been denied by Lando Norris, complaining of being obstructed by the McLaren driver.

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With just seven races left, drivers must cut out errors and any extra pressure, says seven-time winner Lewis Hamilton

Were it not already a sweltering sauna in Singapore, the increasing intensity of this season’s Formula One world championship would be enough to make all but the most stoic competitor wilt. Withstanding the pressure may yet prove the difference between McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as the title battle ratchets up with every race.

Including this weekend’s meeting in Singapore at the Marina Bay circuit, seven grands prix remain and the championship is finely poised. Piastri leads his teammate by 25 points. Both are free to race each other and with Max Verstappen still a distant 69 in arrears, it is a head-to-head battle, with little to choose between them.

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