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A furious George Russell lashed out at Lewis Hamilton following a dramatic crash with his Mercedes team-mate at the very first corner of Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, crowned champion of the world for a third time following Saturday’s sprint, started his title parade by racing to his 14th win from the 17 rounds so far. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri followed up his victory in Saturday’s 19-lap dash by taking second place while his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris completed the podium. But Verstappen’s emphatic win and McLaren’s continued resurgence played second fiddle to Hamilton’s crash with Russell which left the seven-time world champion in the gravel. Russell fought back from last to fourth. Hamilton, third on the grid, attempted to drive round the outside of Russell, one starting place higher, and pole-sitter Verstappen in a gung-ho bid for glory. But Hamilton tagged the front-left of Russell’s machine. An out-of-control Hamilton was sent into the gravel with the right-rear wheel of his Mercedes flying off into the air. Russell was sent spinning round before limping back to the pits for a new front wing. Out came the safety car and the inquest started. “F****** hell,” yelled Russell, 25. “Come on! What the hell! I have got damage.” Referencing their ding-dong battle at the last round in Japan, Russell added: “Guys, come on, f***! Two races in a row.” Sitting in the sandtrap, Hamilton, 38, pointed the finger at his younger team-mate. “Yeah, I got taken out by my team-mate,” he said. Back on track and sitting at the rear of the field, Russell returned to the intercom. “Sorry guys, I wasn’t even looking,” he added. “I was focused ahead and he came from nowhere. “I am lost for words. Honestly. I have just seen the replays on the TV screen. I couldn’t do anything. Totally sandwiched.” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is absent from this race – his second in a row – as he recovers from knee surgery. But the Austrian came on the intercom in a move to calm Russell down. The relationship is not broken. I don’t have any problems with George. We have a great relationship and we always talk about things Lewis Hamilton “George, let’s race now and get the best out of it,” he said. Forty minutes after the accident, Hamilton, 38, accepted blame for the coming together. “In the heat of the moment, it was frustrating because I felt this tap from the rear but I don’t think George had anywhere to go,” said the seven-time world champion using a towel to mop the sweat from his brow. “It was an unfortunate scenario and I am happy to take responsibility because that is my role. I need to go back and look at it, but I don’t feel like it was George’s fault. “Before the race, we knew we were on different tyres so we wanted to work together. I had the soft tyre and everyone around me was on the medium and I needed to get by. I tried going round the outside of Max and it just didn’t work out. “It was not our plan to come together. It is just really gutting for the team. I feel just really sad for everybody for my part in it.” Hamilton wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the race, saying: “I’ve watched the replay and it was 100% my fault and I take full responsibility. Apologies to my team and to George.” He insisted his partnership with Russell had not been damaged by the collision. Mercedes announced at the end of August that Hamilton and Russell will continue alongside each other until at least the end of 2025. He continued: “The relationship is not broken. I don’t have any problems with George. We have a great relationship and we always talk about things. “This is just unfortunate and I am sure he was frustrated in the moment, as I was, but we will talk about it offline and move forwards.” Amid safety concerns about the Pirelli tyres, Sunday’s 57-lap race took place against the backdrop of a flurry of mandatory pit stops – with the drivers only able to do 18 laps on a single set of rubber. Yet, the disruption had little impact on Verstappen who sealed another comfortable win, taking the flag 4.8 seconds clear for the 49th win of his career. Charles Leclerc finished fifth for Ferrari ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. Sergio Perez, whose crash in Saturday’s sprint officially handed Verstappen his third title, started from the pit lane and crossed the line ninth on yet another weekend to forget for the Mexican. Perez was also handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, demoting him to 10th. Read More Lewis Hamilton crashes out after first-corner collision with George Russell In his own words: Christian Horner on world champion Max Verstappen Angry Lance Stroll shoves personal trainer and storms out of interview Max Verstappen fastest in Qatar practice as he closes in on world championship Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher

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Lewis Hamilton is out of the Qatar Grand Prix after a dramatic collision with Mercedes team-mate George Russell at the very first corner of Sunday’s race. Hamilton, who started third, drove around the outside of his team-mate, one place higher on the grid, and pole-sitter Max Verstappen before making contact with Russell’s machine. Hamilton was sent into the gravel with the right-rear of his Mercedes flying off in the accident. Both Hamilton and Russell pointed the finger at one another. “Come on, what the hell,” yelled Russell. “That is two races in a row.” Russell was sent spinning round in the incident before limping back to the pits for repairs. But Hamilton’s race was over. “Yeah, I got taken out by team-mate,” said Hamilton, 38. Russell was back on the radio. “Sorry guys, I wasn’t even looking,” he added amid a flurry of expletives. “I was focused ahead and he came from nowhere. “F*** I am lost for words. Honestly. I have just seen the replays on the TV screen. I couldn’t do anything. Totally sandwiched. “F***, come on.” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is absent from this race – his second in a row – as he recovers from knee surgery. But the Austrian came on the intercom in a move to calm Russell, 25, down. “George, let’s race now, and get the best out of it,” he said. Read More In his own words: Christian Horner on world champion Max Verstappen Angry Lance Stroll shoves personal trainer and storms out of interview Max Verstappen fastest in Qatar practice as he closes in on world championship Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher Lewis Hamilton reacts after first-corner collision with George Russell

Carlos Sainz will not start the Qatar Grand Prix due to a fuel system issue with his Ferrari car. The Spanish driver qualified only 12th on the grid but will not even start the race at the Lusail Circuit on Sunday. Ferrari mechanics were working frantically to fix the issue but it seems to no avail, with the team confirming just under an hour before lights out that Sainz will not take part. Sainz finished sixth in the Saturday sprint race. More to follow… Read More F1 Qatar Grand Prix LIVE: Race updates and times at Lusail Circuit Max Verstappen’s season in numbers following world title win Max Verstappen’s best moments as he wins 2023 F1 world title

Max Verstappen has won the 2023 F1 world championship after Sergio Perez crashed in the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday night. Red Bull driver Verstappen, 26, has won an astonishing 13 out of 16 races this season as well as two of the four sprint races, which includes a memorable 12-race (including sprints) win streak from Miami in May to Italy in September. Needing to only finish in the top six to seal the title in the shortened 100km dash at the Lusail International Circuit on Saturday night, Verstappen now cannot be caught by second-placed team-mate Sergio Perez with six races and two sprints to go, after Perez crashed in the sprint. The Dutchman in the end finished second in the sprint, behind first-time F1 winner Oscar Piastri for McLaren, with Lando Norris finishing third. Follow live updates from the Qatar Grand Prix with The Independent Read More How Qatar plans to make F1 grand prix their ‘new World Cup’ F1: How can Max Verstappen win 2023 world championship in Qatar? Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher

There had been a lot of talk about Max in karting. The first time I saw him was in his opening Formula Three race at Silverstone in 2014. I remember raising it to Helmut Marko – Red Bull’s motorsport consultant – that this kid looks the real deal. Helmut watched him at the Norisring in Germany and he was convinced. There was interest from Niki Lauda and Mercedes, but Red Bull could take him to Formula One immediately. So, he came to us a very young age. He was 16. And I remember in his very first outing for us – a demonstration run in Rotterdam – he took the front wing off the car! But you could tell in the seat fitting the confidence he had for a young guy was exceptional. All of the drivers that came through the junior categories learned their trade out of the spotlight, but Max became the youngest driver in Formula One ever. He was only 17. Every move and every mistake he made was scrutinised. Jean Todt, who was the FIA president at the time, changed the regulations to ensure someone as young and inexperienced as Max could not enter F1. There will never be a driver that moves so rapidly from karting to F1 again. But the way he dealt with it mentally made him a standout character. It was obvious in his first full F1 season when he drove for Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso, that he was an emerging talent, and at the beginning of 2016 he was performing beyond the capability of the car. Daniil Kvyat was struggling, and there was a lot of interest in Max. We made the decision to move him to Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix. Mercedes did their thing when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed into each other on the first lap and Max, who started fourth which was already stunning, made the one-stop strategy work to win in his first Grand Prix with the team. He became the sport’s youngest ever winner, aged 18. It was a fairytale. Max had arrived. He won races in 2017 and 2018, and in 2019 he became the team leader following Daniel Ricciardo’s departure to Renault. He grew up, and it was a transformative year for him. In 2021 we had a car and an engine that could take the fight to Mercedes, and that season will go down as one of the most competitive sporting duels the sport has ever had. From the first race in Bahrain through to Abu Dhabi, Max and Lewis were like two heavyweights going up against each other. Max was a dog with a bone. He wouldn’t let it go. And you couldn’t script that they would head to the final race tied on points. Max was very cool. He put the car on pole, and we took our opportunity under the final safety car. Max had one lap to get the job done. I don’t think Lewis expected Max to attack in the corner that he did, and people overlook that he still had to beat Lewis. He still had to win the race. It wasn’t about two unlapped backmarkers. It was about Max reacting to the circumstances and getting the job done. And under the most intense pressure he did just that. He sent it down the inside and the whole place went bananas. To see him and his father, Jos, celebrate was a very special moment because it was the culmination of all the effort that his father had put into him at a very young age. Max achieved his goal, and anything after that was the icing on the cake, because for him, it was all about becoming a world champion. Max has still got all the tenacity he had when he got in the car as a 17-year-old, but he now marries that with experience. Outside of the car, he is a normal guy, too. He has his feet on the ground and he hasn’t had his head turned by fame and fortune. He still loves racing, and he has got good, grounded principals. He is competitive and wears his heart on his sleeve. He is very honest. He will give you everything, but he expects everything in return. He can go on to achieve so much more. We are riding a wave at the moment, and we want to continue riding that wave for as long as we can. Will Max be in Formula One for a long, long time? I don’t think so. He has ambitions beyond F1 and beyond racing. And at 26, 36 seems a long way away. We have a long-term agreement with him until 2028, and he has always said he will be happy to start and end his career here, but motivation will be a crucial factor. Read More Angry Lance Stroll shoves personal trainer and storms out of interview Max Verstappen fastest in Qatar practice as he closes in on world championship Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher F1 Qatar Grand Prix LIVE: Sprint race updates and results at Lusail Max Verstappen hails third F1 world title as his best

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Israel is “at war,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, after militants from the Gaza Strip fired over 3,000

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Max Verstappen hailed his third Formula One world title as the finest of his career – and vowed to celebrate by downing a few sparkling waters. The 26-year-old Dutchman has emulated Sir Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna after being crowned a triple world champion with six grands prix still remaining – equalling Michael Schumacher’s 21-year-old record. Red Bull’s Verstappen has dominated Formula One since he beat Lewis Hamilton to clinch his maiden championship at the deeply controversial season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021. And his coronation of this most one-sided of campaigns was confirmed on lap 11 of 19 of a frantic sprint race when Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull crashed out under the floodlights of the Lusail International Circuit. Verstappen has failed to win just three of the 16 rounds so far this season, and he became the first driver in history to win 10 consecutive races following a remarkable unbeaten streak from the opening weekend of May in Miami to the Italian Grand Prix on September 3. Verstappen’s title parade will start here at 8pm local time (6pm BST) when the lights go out on Sunday’s 57-lap Grand Prix. “This championship is the best one,” said Verstappen. “The first one was the most emotional because that is when my dreams were fulfilled. But this has been my best year in terms of performance. “I am the most proud of this one because of how consistent I have been. I will have quite a few sparkling waters tonight, but I will be here tomorrow.” Verstappen’s championship-winning campaign has been one largely led from the front but the Dutchman dropped from third to fifth at the end of the opening lap of Saturday’s sprint race. After being usurped by Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc off the line, Verstappen momentarily got out of shape at the opening right-hander, with Fernando Alonso nibbling at the back of his machine. Verstappen survived, and then slung his Red Bull underneath Lando Norris for fifth. Two safety cars followed as Liam Lawson and Logan Sargeant beached their respective cars and Verstappen – on the slower, but more durable, medium rubber – set about his comeback. First to be swatted aside was Leclerc on the main straight on lap nine, with Sainz the Dutchman’s next victim on the following lap. On lap 11, the championship was officially over. Esteban Ocon attempted to overtake Nico Hulkenberg on the inside of the second corner, and with Perez to the right of the Haas driver, Ocon lost control of his Alpine and took the Red Bull with him. It summed up the Mexican’s woefully disappointing campaign. Perez shared two wins apiece with Verstappen from the opening four fixtures but his demise has been dramatic. He is 177 points – the equivalent of more than seven victories – behind the man driving identical machinery. On lap 16, Verstappen eased past Russell with Oscar Piastri 2.6 seconds up the road. However, the impressive McLaren rookie could not be caught as he claimed his first win in F1. It did not matter for Verstappen who could celebrate becoming just the 11th driver to win the title on more than two occasions. “Max, you are a three-time world champion,” roared Red Bull’s jubilant team principal Christian Horner over the radio. “That is unbelievable. It has been an incredible year for you.” Verstappen, who starts on pole on Sunday, could claim the 49th win of his career with only Hamilton (103 victories), Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) ahead of him. Verstappen turned 26 only last week, and the prospect of emulating the seven championships shared by Hamilton and Schumacher is surely possible. “I am enjoying the moment and hopefully we will keep this momentum going for a while,” said Verstappen, whose deal with Red Bull runs until 2028. “It is different to other sports where you can set out targets and if I keep in good shape then these things are possible. “But in F1 it doesn’t always work like that. It depends on the package. I have quite a few more years in me to operate at my best but we will see how long that is. It is more about how long I want to be here. “I live in the moment and I have achieved way more than I ever thought was possible.” Read More Angry Lance Stroll shoves personal trainer and storms out of interview Max Verstappen fastest in Qatar practice as he closes in on world championship Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher Fernando Alonso lauds Max Verstappen as best F1 driver since Michael Schumacher F1 Qatar Grand Prix LIVE: Sprint race updates and results at Lusail Max Verstappen hails third F1 world title as his best