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Lewis Hamilton fears Mercedes could lose second spot to Ferrari in the constructors’ championship after he admitted it will be a scramble to qualify in the top 10 for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped practice at the Yas Marina Circuit, seeing off McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.043 seconds, with world champion Max Verstappen third. But George Russell and Hamilton finished only sixth and eighth respectively for Mercedes, with the latter half a second behind Leclerc. Mercedes, who are facing up to their first winless season since 2011, hold only a four-point lead over Ferrari heading into Sunday’s finale in the desert. And Hamilton said: “It was not the greatest of days. We have had difficult qualifying sessions this year, and getting out of Q1 and into Q2 has always been a tough battle, and getting into Q3 is a challenge. “The work tomorrow is to try and get into Q3. But it is going to be close.” Hamilton completed only four timed laps on Friday. He made way for the team’s Danish junior driver Frederik Vesti in the opening running, before a combined 30-minute delay wiped out half of the one-hour second session after Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg both crashed out. Russell fared better than Hamilton, but he still finished three tenths behind Leclerc. However, it was not a day without incident for Ferrari following Sainz’s crash. A week after a loose drain cover tore through his Ferrari in Las Vegas, Sainz was in the wars again, but on this occasion it was through driver error. Sainz – who appeared to be put off by another car arriving from the pits – lost control of his machine through turn three and ended up in the barrier. Although the Spaniard was unharmed in the high-speed smash after just eight and a half minutes, he sustained significant damage to his car, with the sidepods, floor, rear suspension and front wing of his Ferrari all destroyed. Sainz’s impact also left the barrier in a mess, and a 22-minute delay ensued as the tyre wall was repaired. But only moments after the running restarted, the red flag was out again – this time after Nico Hulkenberg crashed on the exit of turn one. On cold tyres, the German was too hasty on the throttle, sliding into the barrier before pulling up in his wounded machine. The stoppages arrived as a blow to half the grid who sat out the opening session as 10 rookie drivers – including three Britons – were earlier blooded at the Yas Marina Circuit. British drivers Zak O’Sullivan, 18, and Jake Dennis, 28, made their Formula One weekend debuts for Williams and Red Bull respectively, while Ollie Bearman, 18, who in Mexico became the youngest debutant from Britain at a Grand Prix, was handed his second practice appearance by Haas. Dennis, in Verstappen’s Red Bull machine which Hamilton has described as the fastest ever seen in F1, finished 16th of the 20 runners, 1.1 secs off the pace. O’Sullivan was 18th – seven tenths behind Williams’ Logan Sargeant – with Bearman 20th and last, albeit only a tenth slower than Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas.

Formula One’s governing body has launched an investigation following another near-miss in the pit-lane at Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix. A week after Esteban Ocon almost collided with a cluster of individuals in Azerbaijan, footage has emerged of an official – understood to be a volunteer marshal – walking in front of Lando Norris as the British driver entered the pits in his McLaren. The incident on lap five of the 57-lap race was uploaded to the Sky Sports’ F1 website, but has since been removed. An FIA spokesperson told the PA news agency: “We are aware of the incident and looking into it with local organisers.” The alarming flashpoint followed an FIA review into pit-lane safety after Ocon said the sport narrowly avoided a “disaster” when he stopped for tyres on the final lap at the previous round in Baku. An on-board camera from the French driver’s car showed dozens of people – who had gathered at the entrance to the pit-lane with the race still ongoing – scrambling to get out of his way. Ahead of last weekend’s race in the United States, the FIA updated its rulebook to prevent “mechanics from moving from their garages to the parc ferme”, and “other personnel or VIPs from entering the pit lane, until the last car has taken the chequered flag”. The FIA warned that “any infringement will result in the removal of passes from the team(s) in question from subsequent events, and potential reporting of the infringing team(s) to the stewards”. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Paris Hilton was caught stuck in her boots – a pair of gargantuan $450 animation-like boots - in a recent Instagram post. The DJ exposed a behind-the-scenes look at the cost of wearing the Brooklyn-based brand MSCHF’s x Crocs Big Yellow Boots in her 26 July video. Hilton was seen slipping off her chair as her team member attempted to tear the stompers from her feet. The extremely narrow vamp of the shoes made the extraction all the more difficult, resulting in her friend being jerked around on the floor, grunting, as she pulled at the croslite material. At one point, it seemed the oversize boots had won and were never coming off when Hilton’s colleague drifted into the legs of her chair. Hilton, who was wearing a yellow catsuit that read “sliving,” laughed uncontrollably, gripping the seat so she didn’t fall onto the floor. Finally, one last yank from both women set the 42-year-old model’s foot free. “Yes!” Hilton exclaimed feeling triumphant, while she acknowledged it was “a full-team effort”. Hilton’s followers loved to see her candid video. “The whole team, it’s iconic like you can tell,” one person said, while another joked: “When you can’t take off the shoes from your Bratz Doll.” Even Hilton’s husband weighed in, sending her a string of laughing face emojis. Before the new mom demonstrated the fashion struggle is indeed real, Hilton posed in front of the camera as the face of MSCHF’s x Crocs collaboration campaign. She posed in what fans deemed a very Kill Bill look with black wrap-around shades and a matching yellow two-piece tracksuit. “My new campaign for @MSCHF is hot,” she wrote in the caption of a separate 26 July photo. “Barbie who?” one fan commented, while another added: “Serving up looks like the queen you are.” Aside from The Bling Ring star, other A-listers have recently styled the MSCHF’s boots, including Victoria Beckham, Lil Wayne, and Diplo. Beckham took to her Instagram story, styling the chunky yellow footwear with a long black skirt and understated vest. She captioned the photo with a matching heart even though she had once admitted platform Crocs weren’t for her. MSCHF turned the streets of Manhattan into their own runway during February’s fashion week this year as several influencers and celebrities strutted in their Big Red Boots. The cartoonish design is meant to be “abstraction that frees us from the constraints of reality,” according to the company’s website. “Big Red Boots are really not shaped like feet, but they are extremely shaped like boots.” Read More Victoria Beckham shows off new $450 Crocs boots after claiming she would ‘rather die’ than wear brand Digital art collective MSCHF sells ‘fashion statement’ Pirate Bay and Megaupload email addresses Lil Nas X’s ‘Satan Shoes’ containing human blood sell out in under a minute, amid Nike lawsuit

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