Tottenham is attempting to return to the top four while Arsenal hope to extend their lead at 16:30 GMT on Sunday in the north of London derby.
McLaren’s Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Norris leads team-mate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes’ George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend.
The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen.
However, after the race in Las Vegas, it emerged that Norris might be under investigation by race officials, although that has not been confirmed.
Team principal Andrea Stella’s post-race news conference has been delayed and no-one from the team was available to answer media inquiries.
Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races.
“Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn,” said Norris.
“It’s still a good result to get second. I’ve got to congratulate Max and Red Bull.”
The key stories of one of Formula 1’s most high-profile races were:
At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was “not here not to take risks” as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen.
But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman’s attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner.
That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also lost second place to Russell.
Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race.
Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out.
Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10.
Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres.
Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34.
Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack.
He was told to “go and get Max” but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris’ attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined.
Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver’s sixth win of the season – only one behind both McLaren drivers – was taken in emphatic style and and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him.
“It’s still a big gap, we always try and maximise everything we’ve got,” Verstappen said.
Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing.
He trailed Lawson’s team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period.
The Australian ended up behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays.
Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways.”
Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: “Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens.”
Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli’s penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet.
Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton.
The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards.
McLaren’s Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Norris leads team-mate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes’ George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend.
The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen.
However, after the race in Las Vegas, it emerged that Norris might be under investigation by race officials, although that has not been confirmed.
Team principal Andrea Stella’s post-race news conference has been delayed and no-one from the team was available to answer media inquiries.
Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races.
“Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn,” said Norris.
“It’s still a good result to get second. I’ve got to congratulate Max and Red Bull.”
The key stories of one of Formula 1’s most high-profile races were:
At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was “not here not to take risks” as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen.
But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman’s attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner.
That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also lost second place to Russell.
Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race.
Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out.
Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10.
Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres.
Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34.
Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack.
He was told to “go and get Max” but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris’ attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined.
Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver’s sixth win of the season – only one behind both McLaren drivers – was taken in emphatic style and and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him.
“It’s still a big gap, we always try and maximise everything we’ve got,” Verstappen said.
Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing.
He trailed Lawson’s team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period.
The Australian ended up behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays.
Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways.”
Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: “Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens.”
Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli’s penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet.
Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton.
The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards.
McLaren’s Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Norris leads team-mate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes’ George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend.
The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen.
However, after the race in Las Vegas, it emerged that Norris might be under investigation by race officials, although that has not been confirmed.
Team principal Andrea Stella’s post-race news conference has been delayed and no-one from the team was available to answer media inquiries.
Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races.
“Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn,” said Norris.
“It’s still a good result to get second. I’ve got to congratulate Max and Red Bull.”
The key stories of one of Formula 1’s most high-profile races were:
At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was “not here not to take risks” as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen.
But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman’s attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner.
That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also lost second place to Russell.
Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race.
Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out.
Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10.
Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres.
Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34.
Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack.
He was told to “go and get Max” but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris’ attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined.
Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver’s sixth win of the season – only one behind both McLaren drivers – was taken in emphatic style and and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him.
“It’s still a big gap, we always try and maximise everything we’ve got,” Verstappen said.
Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing.
He trailed Lawson’s team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period.
The Australian ended up behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays.
Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways.”
Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: “Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens.”
Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli’s penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet.
Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton.
The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, but Lando Norris of McLaren has a shot at the title thanks to finishing second and extending his lead over Oscar Piastri’s 30-point lead.
After Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who was ahead of the Australian at the chequered flag, added five seconds for jumping the start, Piastri placed fourth.
list of 3 itemsend of list
The podium was secured for Mercedes by George Russell, who was the floodlit race’s winner last year and who, like Norris, made his 150th start.
With only two grands prix and a sprint remaining, Norris has 408 points, while Verstappen, who is four-times world champion, is still mathematically in contention with 366. Piastri has 378 points, with Verstappen having won the race twice.
With McLaren already clinching the constructors’ crown for the second year in a row, Norris finished 20.741 seconds clear of McLaren, who will now now have the opportunity to win his first title in Qatar next weekend.
Verstappen rode to the podium with Terry Crews and Norris Russell in a LEGO pink Cadillac convertible as fireworks over the Strip lit up the sky. “The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking,” Verstappen said.
“A good gap was left at the end.”
Verstappen won the 69th time in his career, and it was Verstappen’s sixth of the season. He also won the 125th podium and eighth time in a row in Red Bull’s partnership with Honda, marking their 150th partnership grand prix.
Verstappen and Norris split up at the start, dropping to third when he ran wide at the first corner and opened the door for the Dutch driver and Russell.
On the 34th of the 50 laps, he reclaimed second place behind Russell, but he struggled to get to the finish line.
He made the joke, “I let Max win.” I allowed him to leave and had a pleasant race. No, he added, “I just braked too late,” giving an expletive from the live television feed that could cause trouble for the British citizen with the governing FIA.
“When the guy wins by 20 seconds, it’s because he has just done a better job and they’re a little quicker,” I said.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was sixth, and Carlos Sainz was seventh, while Antonelli came in fifth place. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg finished in the top 10, followed by Isack Hadjar, eighth, and Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, eighth.
After making contact with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who plunged last with a severely damaged car, Piastri dropped from fifth to seventh on the opening lap.
Verstappen rejoined in command after Russell and Norris had already switched to the hard tyre after 20 seconds of being 20 seconds clear of the field on lap 23.
As the Brazilian rookie slammed forcefully into the corner and ran out of road, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Sauber’s Gabriel Borteleto took him out right away.
Between turns one and four, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly activated the virtual safety car for marshals to retrieve debris. Gasly was also a spinner at the start.
After Williams’ Alex Albon and Hamilton collided, the latter racing from 19th and last on the grid to 13th on the opening lap, with the VSC deployed once more to remove debris from the track.
Albon was given a five-second penalty for causing the collision and reprimanded for an offense beginning with a starting procedure.
Quilter Nations Series: England v Argentina
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Date: Sunday, 23 November Kick-off: 16:10 GMT
The baggage is unavoidable.
So Clarin, Argentina’s biggest newspaper, steered straight into it.
In the first two lines of their preview of Sunday’s match, “history, politics, the Falklands War and England’s persistent imperialist views” were all referenced.
The story of a teenage Federico Mendez ironing out England second row Paul Ackford with a blindside haymaker 35 years ago was retold.
On Thursday, Franco Molina threw in another piece of the Anglo-Argentine back story.
“It was a goal, the referee gave it, it was a goal!,” the Argentina second row said, recalling Diego Maradona’s contentious ‘Hand of God’ goal in the 1986 quarter-final meeting at the football World Cup.
But it was all with a smile.
If all that history is being brewed up as pep-talk kerosene, Molina, who spent last season playing for Exeter, hid it well.
For him there was too much to get excited about in the 80 minutes to come, without dredging up the past.
“It is a big game, just because of the context of the international game,” he said.
“It is really special playing at Twickenham.
“It is going to be a really physical game and every English team is tidy in what they do, all the kicks from the field, all the play with the ball in hand.
As an assessment of England, it was pretty accurate.
The hosts are on a roll of 10 straight wins. Like Molina, England fans are pretty excited about Sunday too.
Attack coach Lee Blackett, originally seconded from Bath for the summer tour of the Americas and now in the post permanently, has overseen the past six wins, adding some slickness and variety with ball in hand.
Since his appointment, England have moved the ball more widely, more accurately and more quickly than they did in the first part of this year.
The proportion of attacking phases in which the ball is moved 20 metres laterally from the previous breakdown has nearly doubled.
While England have kicked slightly less during Blackett’s time in the set-up, the proportion in which they have contested the regather with the opposition has more than trebled.
There is a caveat to this.
It is easier to play high tempo, ambitious rugby on a summer tour and against southern hemisphere opposition than in the depths of a Six Nations dogfight.
But, after beating the All Blacks in style and comfort, it is impossible to deny England have taken a big step forward during 2025.
They are playing with more confidence, flow and consistency, using the depth built in the absence of their British and Irish Lions this summer to outlast teams in the final 20 minutes if they cannot outplay them in the first hour.
This weekend, Blackett will be attempting to coax more of the same from a rejigged backline.
Max Ojomoh, who he worked with at Bath, wins his second cap at inside centre.
Elliot Daly and Henry Slade return as starters to both win their 74th caps, with the versatile Saracens back having fallen foul of injury and Slade having been out of favour since the summer tour.
In the forwards, Asher Opoku-Fordjour makes his second Test start.
If the personnel changes and upward trajectory continue, it will complete a hugely promising 2025 and add more options and intrigue to Borthwick’s hand.
But a year bookended by defeats is also a real possibility for the hosts.
Molina reckons Argentina need an 80-minute performance at Allianz Stadium.
Last weekend, they were connected and precise for about half an hour, but that was still enough to sweep back from 21 points down and beat Scotland at Murrayfield.
In September, an hour’s dominance did for Australia in Sydney.
This Argentina team have bona fide stars, a passionate heart and the ability to beat anyone if they get into their groove.
France-based stars Marcos Kremer and Juan Cruz Mallia, who missed the two Test defeats by England in July, are back in harness, while eight of the starting XV are established Prem performers.
“Argentina are a quality side – I play with a number of them, they are extremely talented,” said England captain Maro Itoje.
“We have seen what they have done in the Rugby Championship and they beat us here a couple of years ago [2022’s 30-29 defeat].
“We know their danger and quality and they can definitely hurt us.”
England’s vulnerabilities are shrinking though.
