Category Sports News

The United States Grand Prix is the second race in succession to be declared a “heat hazard” under Formula 1’s rules.

Temperatures at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, are forecast to be more than 31C during both the sprint race on Saturday and the grand prix on Sunday.

This triggers a heat index which governing body the FIA uses to define potentially dangerous conditions for drivers.

The temperatures are out of the ordinary for the US Grand Prix – Texas is going through a mid-October heatwave that is making conditions more akin to summer than autumn.

For this season, the cooling vests are optional, and some drivers, such as four-time world champion Max Verstappen, do not like them because they consider them uncomfortable and flawed.

Williams driver Alex Albon said it was a “polarising subject”, between “the old-school and new-school mentality”, but that the cooling vest was “a good thing”.

Referencing the Singapore Grand Prix on 5 October, he added: “As a team we’ve done a really good job with the cooling system. It works well on our car, it’s comfortable. The first 20 laps of the race I was actually cold rather than hot, which was definitely a new thing for me.

“In a weird way I think we see it as an advantage as a team because if we’ve got drivers that are fresher at the end of the race then surely that’s performance.

“It’s not actually driver fitness-related when you’re talking about heat hazards. There’s a lot of science behind it. It’s generally just a risk, the heat that we’re getting subjected to.”

But Albon said he did not know whether the system would be necessary in Austin this weekend.

“Humidity is always a struggling factor,” Albon said. “Getting your skin to breathe with all the fireproofs that we have on our car and all these kind of things.

“When it’s dry heat, and this doesn’t feel that humid out there at the moment, it’s relatively comfortable for us.”

Mercedes driver George Russell wore the vest when he won in Singapore in hot and humid conditions on 5 October.

If the driver chooses not to wear the vest, his car must carry 500 grams of ballast to compensate for the weight of the system so he does not gain a competitive advantage.

The system, which teams can make to their individual designs, typically features a liquid such as glycol pumped through a tank of dry ice and through the driver’s fireproof top.

Sumo wrestling has returned to London for the first time in over three decades, kicking off a five-day Grand Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The highly anticipated return of Japan’s iconic national sport has brought old and new fans alike to the same venue that hosted it in 1991.

Hosts James Richardson and Hiro Morita welcomed people in the auditorium on Monday with an introduction to sumo’s basic rules and rituals.

Centre stage is the dohyo, an elevated ring built over the last week by Japanese and local experts with carefully sourced soil and clay.

There were huge cheers when some of the fan favourites, like 33-year-old Ura and 21-year-old Ukrainian sensation Aonishiki, walked onto the dohyo in their colourful kensho-mawashi, silk aprons worn during the entering ceremony.

The bouts started with a couple of spectacular tsuridashi (frontal lifts out) with rikishi picking up their opponents and moving them out of the ring.

Some spirited bouts followed, often cheered loudly by the crowd, clearly not just made up of curious first-timers. Thousands of fans shouted their favourite rikishi’s names, held banners and towels, and proudly wore sumo accessories.

The first night of action ended with the two Yokozuna Grand Champions, Hoshoryu and Onosato, defeating their opponents. A bow-twirling ceremony concluded day one, leaving fans in the auditorium and viewers at home captivated.

Grassroots clubs have the power to “change the country” and address the on-going issue of extreme weather making it more difficult to be physically active, according to Sport England.

The latest figures from the funding agency shows nearly two-thirds of adults and children are doing less activity as a result of extreme weather in the past 12 months.

Since 2023, £47.5m worth funding has been made available to help sports clubs become more sustainable and adapt to climate-driven disruption.

“We know that 120,000 grassroots football matches were called off last year, simply because of flooded pitches. This problem is real, and our problem is our own adaptability,” Sport England’s chair Chris Boardman told BBC Sport.

Physical inactivity associated with one in six deaths in the UK, according to Government data.

“It’s absolutely huge for society,” Boardman adds.

“Both in financial terms, for the economy and people’s quality of life. A lot of that is exacerbated by extreme weather which we know is just getting worse.”

A recent report by the Met Office warned that extreme weather events are the ‘new normal’ for the UK.

Many clubs have already adopted an action plan as a result of climate impact.

Whalley Range Cricket Club in Manchester have planted native trees beyond the boundary rope to better soak up excess water caused by flooding, while Oxford Harlequins RFC were awarded a £15,000 grant from Sport England to enhance the resilience of their surroundings, ensuring players can continue playing rugby despite extreme weather.

Boardman said: “People have to believe that there’s something that they can do. And the beauty of sport is that there’s 150,000 local clubs and community groups spread across the country.

“If all of them take small actions then that aggregates into real change. That’s the superpower.”

Sport England is also announcing the introduction of a new Sustainability Rating System to help organisations track their progress and get from a ‘starting’ state, through a ‘sustainable’ phase and ultimately to a ‘regenerative’ position.