F1 race to the title: Norris and Piastri go toe-to-toe as Hamilton and Verstappen seek uplift
Returning from the summer break and with 10 races to go, there are plenty of targets remaining across the paddock besides McLaren’s shootoutRevitalised after the summer break, 10 races remain between this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix and the finale in Abu Dhabi in December – and it will be Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris going head to head for the title.Only nine points separate the McLaren duo, who are in a two-horse race for the team’s first drivers’ championship since Lewis Hamilton’s triumph in 2008.The advantage has swung between them, at times from one race to the next, in the first part of the season, often with little to choose between the two.Neither driver has been able to definitively claim the upper hand entering the championship run-in.It looks set to remain a nip-and-tuck fight to the wire.
Piastri came out on top in the early phases, his consistency and calm control edging out Norris, who made errors as he pushed a car that is not quite to his liking.McLaren have been admirably determined to give both drivers an equal shot, insisting they will not employ team orders, a policy which can be expected to continue until (and if) one of their drivers claims an unassailable advantage.Unusually for teammates in a title fight, Piastri’s and Norris’s relationship has remained friendly, with some hard but fair racing and only one coming together in Canada, for which Norris held up his hands.However, as the stakes rise, it should be an enthralling affair.Before the summer break, Lewis Hamilton cut an unusually disconsolate figure as the struggle of his debut season at Ferrari was writ large.
The seven-time champion, perhaps like no other driver, needed a holiday.He qualified in 12th in Budapest, describing the performance as “absolutely useless” and stating that Ferrari should perhaps find another driver.He was similarly unimpressed with taking 12th in the race, after which he even cast doubt on his future in the sport.“There is a lot going on in the background that is not great,” he said.When asked if he would return after the break, he gave a strangely equivocal response.
“Hopefully I will be back, yeah.”Clearly it has been a long slog for Hamilton as he adjusts to his new team: a run of 16 races without a podium, including his last two for Mercedes, represents the longest streak of his career.That stat will not matter a jot to the British driver who is focused on the big picture at Ferrari.Realistically, there was no doubt Hamilton would be back: he is a fighter, and not one to throw in the towel with a whimper.He posted “no days off” on social media during the break, which suggests he is energised once more.
The key for him and Ferrari over the final 10 races is to build confidence, bond better with his engineers, find a groove with the team and, crucially, cultivate a sense they are moving forward with everyone in sync.The car will not radically improve now with all focus on the 2026 model but Hamilton and Ferrari can at least build a rhythm and momentum that will be vital if they are to compete next season.Max Verstappen finally committed to staying with Red Bull just before the summer break in Hungary, ending a season-long debate about his future.It came shortly after the team had sacked their team principal Christian Horner after the British Grand Prix.That was the end of an almost two-year power struggle at Red Bull, in favour of the Verstappen camp.
Nonetheless, while the defending world champion will surely lose his title, the remaining races are still important.Stability and performance have been the Dutchman’s demands all season, especially given the turmoil at Red Bull and a car that has been hard to handle.He will expect improvements under his new boss Laurent Mekies looking ahead to the regulations of 2026, which will be key given that his role in 2027 remains undecided.Sign up to The RecapThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionafter newsletter promotionThe outlook for 2026 is, as yet, unknown, especially with Red Bull building their own engines for the first time and, for Verstappen, it will be a chance to observe how rival teams fare.Red Bull need to demonstrate that the new era will be a success and how Mekies helms his period in charge will be crucial.
How Verstappen handles it will be fascinating, the team having taken a bold gamble in sacking Horner, not least given the same figures who ensured his removal might be a tad nervous given the images of Verstappen aboard the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff’s yacht during the summer break.McLaren have a car which is the class of the field this season and will not be caught, with 11 wins from 14 meetings, but behind them the convergence in form has led to a fine competition.Ferrari, whose recent upgrades were a good step, and Mercedes are in a tight battle for second place.With the Scuderia just 24 points ahead, and after Charles Leclerc’s pole in Hungary, they believe they might yet grab a win, while George Russell already has one for Mercedes.Both teams can expect to battle it out to the end, while behind them Red Bull, 42 points down on Mercedes, will seek another victory in Verstappen’s hands, with two already this year.
However, the midfield represents an even more fascinating prospect.Williams are fifth-placed as the best of the rest, a testament to the remarkable turnaround under their team principal James Vowles.They have not finished fifth since 2017 and to see off the likes of Aston Martin and Alpine, who have far greater resources, would be a coup.Every place in the championship comes with more prize money, so every race is vital.Just 35 points cover Williams to Haas in ninth place, a relatively small margin that could turn over several meetings.
The contest will be every bit as fiercely fought and unforgiving as the race for the title.
The moral and economic costs of Farage’s plan to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers
Nigel Farage has set out a plan that he claims would lead to the mass deportation of up to 600,000 asylum seekers if Reform were to be elected to power. The plan involves ripping up human rights law, building costly detention infrastructure and potentially paying corrupt and totalitarian regimes billions to accept people put on deportation flights.Here are the key planks of the policies – and what the moral and economic costs would be.The UK would be an outlier among European democracies, in the company of only Russia and Belarus, if it were to leave the European court of human rights (ECHR).Opting out of treaties such as the 1951 UN refugee convention, the UN convention against torture and the Council of Europe anti-trafficking convention would also be likely to do serious harm to the UK’s international reputation
Nigel Farage accused of ‘ripping up’ human rights laws after unveiling plans for mass deportations - as it happened
The Liberal Democrats have condemned Reform’s mass deportation plans for “ripping up” human rights and involving potential payments to autocratic regimes.The party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper said:(Nigel) Farage’s plan crumbles under the most basic scrutiny. The idea that Reform UK is going to magic up some new places to detain people and deport them to, but don’t have a clue where those places would be, is taking the public for fools.Of course Nigel Farage wants to follow his idol Vladimir Putin in ripping up the human rights convention. Winston Churchill would be turning in his grave
Peers who do not participate enough in House of Lords face sack
Labour plans to remove peers who do not contribute enough to the House of Lords and to press ahead with plans for a retirement age of 80 from the upper house.Writing for the Telegraph, the leader of the House of Lords, Angela Smith, said a select committee would consider the next stage of Lords reform after the abolition of hereditary peers.Lady Smith said that removing the last hereditary peers was “by no means the limit of the government’s Lords reform ambitions” but said the new committee would consider carefully how the next phase would work.The final stages of the bill, which will abolish the seats for the 86 remaining hereditary peers, will go through parliament this year.“The introduction of a mandatory retirement age for peers and a participation requirement are both clear among our stage-two manifesto commitments,” Smith said in her article, but said there should be a “collaborative way forward”
UK elections chief says children need lessons from 11 to be ready to vote at 16
Schools will need to give democracy lessons to children from the age of 11 and ask teachers to leave their politics at the classroom door to help prepare for votes at 16, the head of the UK elections watchdog has said.Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said democratic education would be rolled out at first to those aged over 14 in preparation for votes at 16 at the next election.However, he said this would ultimately need to start at age 11 in order for pupils to be in the best position to take advantage of being able to vote at 16 and 17.The Electoral Commission is preparing material to give to schools to help with democratic education, amid calls from some politicians, such as David Blunkett, for better preparation.In an interview with the Guardian, Rangarajan said huge work was going into the citizenship material to make it “impartial”, and said schools and teachers have a role in making sure they do not attempt to sway students in how to vote
Reform councillor works on asylum claims for Home Office, investigation reveals
Campaigners have complained to the Home Office after it was revealed a councillor for Reform UK also works for the government department processing asylum and immigration claims.Paul Bean, who serves as a councillor for Crook ward at Durham county council, declared his day job as a civil servant at the Home Office in his register of interests.His role emerged after an investigation by the anti-extremism organisation Hope Not Hate. The group found posts criticising asylum seekers on a social media account they claim belongs to Bean.“I work as an asylum decision maker for the HO [Home Office] and I can tell you with authority that 93% of asylum seekers to the UK are men between 18 – 35 and 92% of them are refused asylum,” posts on the account read, adding: “The truth is the vast majority of asylum seekers are actually economic migrants abusing the asylum system
‘Some brass neck’: Rayner’s allies rebuke Cleverly over council tax criticisms
Angela Rayner’s allies have hit back at James Cleverly, accusing the shadow housing secretary of having “some brass neck” for criticising the deputy prime minister over her council tax arrangements on a property she bought this year.Rayner acquired the seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex, for more than £700,000. The property is subject to the 100% council tax premium on second homes that was introduced in April, which she now pays in full.The Tories, including Cleverly, have accused the deputy prime minister of hypocrisy, pointing to her role in pushing through those tax rules and demanding clarity over whether she had been paying the premium and whether she claimed a single-person discount on her Admiralty House flat, the property that came with her ministerial position at the beginning of this year.Cleverly said: “She has admitted to paying the premium on her flat but she refuses to say whether she has been paying the second-homes premium on Admiralty House since it came into force in April
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