Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted that Sergio Perez had a “shocker of a race” as the Mexican’s inconsistent form continued in Japan. On the weekend where Red Bull secured the 2023 constructors’ title courtesy of Max Verstappen’s 11thwin in 12 races, Perez had a Sunday to forget having qualified fifth on the grid. The Mexican suffered wing damage on the first lap after being sandwiched between Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, before colliding with Kevin Magnussen later in the race as he looked to climb the leaderboard. Perez was given two five-second penalties: one for the incident with Haas driver Magnussen and another after overtaking Fernando Alonso under yellow flag conditions. “It was a shocker of a race for him today,” Horner told Sky F1. “It got off to a bad start where he sort of got concertinaed on the rundown to turn 1, he picked up some front wing damage, then we needed to change the front wing. “He overtook Fernando on the way into the pit lane, then picked up a penalty and then came out and of course, then he dive-bombed one of the Haas’ and so it was just one of those weekends.” However, having originally retired on lap 15, Perez befuddlingly re-entered the race 26 laps later in order to serve his time penalty, meaning it won’t carry over to a grid drop for the next race in Qatar. “The only good thing was were able to serve the penalty here,” Horner added. “So he leaves it here in Japan.” Verstappen can now secure his third world title in the sprint race in Qatar, with Perez trailing his team-mate by 177 points in the world championship. Perez’s lead to Lewis Hamilton in third has also been cut to 33 points. Perez has a contract with Red Bull until the end of the 2024 season, but his inconsistent form this season has prompted the likes of Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and even Liam Lawson to be linked with the second Red Bull seat next year. Read More Christian Horner reveals Max Verstappen ambition ahead of Japan victory Max Verstappen on verge of title as Red Bull clinch constructors’ crown in Japan Lewis Hamilton frustrated by Mercedes strategy in Japanese Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel refused to rule out a return to F1 when questioned about the likelihood of a dramatic comeback. The four-time world champion retired at the end of the 2022 season after two years of frustration at Aston Martin. The finale to his stay in the sport was a far-cry from the glory years, namely with Red Bull with four straight titles from 2010-2013, as well as championship tilts with Ferrari. But Vettel, 36, admits he “can’t exclude” the prospect of a return in the future, when asked by Sky F1’s Martin Brundle whether he would return to the grid in a similar manner to the likes of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. "I can’t say no, because that you don’t know," the German said. "I think it’s something that if you asked all of them, probably some of them would have said ‘no’. And some of them I don’t know, but in the end all of them came back, so I can’t exclude it. "It probably will depend much on when, and obviously it’s not endless, because 36 is not like, ‘yeah in 10 years’ time’. "Maybe I think about it then time has passed but it will depend on the challenge, whatever, but it’s not in my head right now.” A 53-time race winner, Vettel made his F1 debut in 2007 before claiming his first victory at Monza with Toro Rosso in 2008. Yet his last three seasons in the sport – one with Ferrari, two with Aston Martin – saw him finish 13th, 12th and 12th again in the Driver Standings, though did see him take on roles as a climate activist and LGBTQ+ rights campaigner. "I’m enjoying the sort of outlook of the challenge of what to do next,” Vettel added. “It will be the way I see it, the biggest challenge for any racing driver and the biggest challenge for any sportsman, sportswoman, what do you do after? "Because naturally you will be like 30-35, 40-45 - depending on your sport and discipline. And then what? "There’s a lot of life left and life can be great even though you’re not racing, you know, the absolute limit in the fastest car in the world, but you can still do lots of great things that give you great pleasure." Vettel was speaking to Sky ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, where the German won his final race of his F1 career in 2019. Read More Farewell Sebastian Vettel, a four-time F1 champion who stood for something bigger than racing How does Max Verstappen’s win-streak compare to fellow record-holder Sebastian Vettel’s? Alfa Romeo confirm driver line-up for 2024 F1 season F1 Singapore Grand Prix: When is practice on Friday at Marina Bay? Red Bull chief apologises to Sergio Perez over ‘offensive remark’

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Food can bring people comfort in the darkest times, and for Imad Alarnab, this time came when he was stranded as a refugee in Calais for more than two months. A hot plate had been donated, people collected leftovers from supermarkets, and having been a successful chef back in Damascus – with three restaurants, and a string of cafes and juice bars – Alarnab did what he did best, night after night, he cooked. “It was just something I felt like I needed to do, because you get to make a lot of people happy. Especially at that time, they needed something to be happy about,” says the 45-year-old, who would feed as many as 400 people at a time. The overcrowded camp that became known as The Jungle was close by, but Alarnab says it was too terrifying and overcrowded, so he and a group of several other Syrians slept on the steps of a church instead. And it was here he cooked the food of home – adapted, of course, depending on what they had. “To have a decent warm meal – for people whose lives have been on hold, they can’t cross to safety – was a big deal for all of us,” says the father-of-three. In fact, it was the first time he’d cooked for lots of people since all of his businesses were bombed within a week in 2012, in the country’s civil war, and this was the moment hope returned. “I think it restored all of the faith that things could, and would, get better,” Alarnab writes in his debut cookbook, Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. By July 2015, he’d made the painful decision to leave his wife and three daughters in Damascus to make the treacherous journey via Lebanon, Greece and North Macedonia, to the UK, where they had relatives. With his children too young to make the journey, the family planned to join once he’d been granted asylum. “If I had any other choice, I would have definitely taken it. [Fleeing] wasn’t the easiest but it was somehow the safest,” he says. “When I was in Syria during the war, people were saying, ‘It’s not safe to go out of the house because maybe you’re going to die’. But I needed to feed my family, if I stayed in the house they would die from hunger. There’s no good choice or bad choice, but maybe it’s the only one you can make. “When I was leaving Damascus, my oldest daughter made me promise I would see her within one year. I said, ‘Yes, I promise,’ but I wasn’t really sure if I was going to keep that promise or not.” And during the three months before he reached the UK – walking hundreds of miles on foot, on train, in the back of cars, on push bike, at the mercy of smugglers, with false IDs and the kindness of strangers – there were moments of doubt, like when he was crammed in the back of a lorry in Turkey for seven hours. “There were about 95 of us, I felt it was a stupid decision, risking my life so much. I believe the driver was so scared, or maybe drunk – the speed was absolutely scary. I thought we were not going to make it.” His journey ended eventually by using a fake passport to cross the Channel in October 2015 (the moving, often harrowing, story is weaved through his new cookbook), and first finding work illegally in a car wash, where he also slept as an overnight security guard, sending money home. After his family were able to emigrate (just under the year he’d promised his daughter) someone introduced him to the Cook For Syria scheme – and soon he was hosting super clubs at his house. By May 2021, he’d opened his London restaurant, Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. His first cookbook is a combination of dishes served up at the restaurant and his late mother’s recipes. “Almost every single dish is somehow related to my mother – I keep seeking her approval in everything I do in life, but especially with cooking,” he says. It was his mum, Summer, who first taught him to cook. “Even if you create your own recipes, somehow you will [always] be inspired by your first teacher”. She died very suddenly while Alarnab was living alone in a caravan in west London. Syrian food at its heart is “simple, first of all, and affordable for everyone”, he says. “We use a lot of mild spices, not very hot spices.” They’re mostly things you’ll know; “cumin, mint, garlic, nothing really special about it. [but] you put it together in a special way”. Middle Eastern in identity, much of it might feel familiar; tabbouleh, hummus, baklawa; while traditional dishes include buttered halibut, jaj bailfurn (grilled chicken thighs) and kippeh (lamb and bulgur wheat dumplings). Lunch is typically a feast of many dishes. “We’re a family of five and we never ever have one dish for lunch,” says Alarnab. “And we don’t throw anything away.” Before the war – which began as an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 but has since involved a complex number of groups fighting one another, including so-called Islamic State, leaving at least 11 million people displaced – Alarnab was one of the lucky ones, he says. “We had a comfortable life, but most people in Syria were suffering. When you have a dictatorship for more than 50 years, of course people will be suffering. You cannot explain life without freedom to someone who’s lived all of their life with it. “People keep asking me silly questions – ‘Why did you have to go to 10 different countries to come to the UK? You could just get a plane ticket straight from Lebanon to Heathrow’. No, it doesn’t work like that. As a Syrian, my passport takes me to three countries – war zone countries. Even if I wanted to go to every country supporting Assad, I’d still need a visa.” Once the fighting started, food, that once brought him so much joy, lost all meaning. “I don’t know how to describe it, but the food tasted like blood. I know it’s disgusting, but nothing tasted the same. When you live in fear for your family, when your daughters are not safe to go to school, food will taste [bad], nothing can make you happy.” Cooking Syrian food now makes him feel “connected” to his home country, of course, “but it also makes me feel part of this unique community in the UK”. Arriving in London, he says: “I felt safe, I felt ‘I can be different, I can be myself, no one cares’. Everyone’s so different, it makes all of us lookalike.” Even after starting from scratch in a new country after losing everything, with a highly-acclaimed restaurant and now a cookbook, he’s most proud of his daughters. His eldest is studying at Warwick University after gaining straight As, his middle child is a talented artist. “The youngest [13] is the naughty one still,” he laughs. “But you can feel they appreciate their life – they are so happy about it.” ‘Imad’s Syrian Kitchen’ by Imad Alarnab (HQ; £26). Read More The National Portrait Gallery’s new restaurant is fabulous upgrade The dish that defines me: Alex Outhwaite’s Vietnamese bun cha 3 TikTok-approved recipes for picnic season It’s easier to make baklava at home than you might think Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes Pinch of Nom: Healthy eating doesn’t have to cost the earth