Lando Norris continues to shut down the notion that McLaren's car is dominant, citing the inability to catch Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for a podium spot as proof.
Norris secured an impressive P4 finish, especially considering he crashed out of Q3 and started P10.
McLaren has managed to win four out of the first five races, though the margin of victory is not as large as many expected heading into the season.
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The McLaren in clean air race trim is remarkably strong, although extracting qualifying laps from the car can be challenging.
Norris has consistently stated throughout much of the preseason and early in this season that the McLaren car is not particularly dominant.
A hard fought race by Lando to finish just shy of a podium in tough conditions #McLaren pic.twitter.com/1nXCXgJxBC
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 21, 2025
"I don't know why people are so surprised, they're just as quick in most sessions, they're just as quick as us in the race," Norris told Sky Sports after the race.
"Just because we're quick in practice, people just keep coming up with all this crap. I mean, they can keep saying what they want."
"We don't believe we're much ahead, as showed. I think probably Max was the quickest out there today if he didn't have that five-second penalty, so we have work to do."
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Norris suggests that the narrative surrounding McLaren's powerful car is largely driven by its impressive lap times during Free Practice.
The team revs the car up initially but struggles to extract significant additional speed over the weekend, resulting in stagnation and enabling competitors to close the gap.
"People keep saying that we're the best, we're the quickest, blah, blah, blah, but it's just because we show a bit more pace in practice and then we don't have anything left when it gets to quali, but that's our way of doing things," he said.
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"That's how we feel, we optimize things. If we didn't do it that way, we'd be even further back, so no, I'm happy with the work we're doing. People just need to recalibrate that we're not ... we have a great car and probably the quickest on average for sure, but clearly not enough."
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Liverpool head to Japan this week for their preseason tour and face Yokohama F. Marinos in the 2025 J.League World Challenge. The match kicks off early for US fans and is a big one for the Reds under new boss Arne Slot. Yokohama will try to salvage their rough J.League form. The game is at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama on Wednesday, July 30 with kick off at 6:30 a.m. ET. That’s an early one for US fans but a rare chance to see Liverpool play J.League opposition in a friendly. How to Watch in the United States In the US, fans can watch live on CBS Sports Network, which is available on most cable satellite packages. Streaming is available via Paramount+, the official US streaming partner for Liverpool’s preseason tour in Japan. Paramount+ subscribers can stream the full match live from 6:30 a.m. ET. If you’re a new user, Paramount+ usually offers free trial options and is available on most smart TVs, mobile apps and streaming devices like Roku or Fire TV. International streaming will also be available on Liverpool’s All Red Video (formerly LFCTV GO) though this is not available in Japan. The service includes live match coverage, pre-game build up and post-match highlights for subscribers. Also Read: “Messi Is Above MLS”– Former Galaxy Star Slams Garber For ‘Crossing the Line’ Expected Lineups and Squad Updates Liverpool will be without Luis Díaz who has left the tour to finalise his move to Bayern Munich. Joe Gomez has returned to England with an Achilles injury and won’t play in this match. There’s better news for the Reds elsewhere: Darwin Núñez, Wataru Endō and Alexis Mac Allister are all back in training after minor knocks and could play. Slot may also give new signing Hugo Ekitike his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt. This will be a mixed XI with senior players joined by youngsters looking to make a case for more minutes heading into the 2025-26 season. Yokohama F. Marinos, who are 14th in the J1 League, will be without Kaina Tanimura and Ren Kato who are injury doubts. Ryo Miyaichi could play up front and Asahi Uenaka in midfield. Also Read: Ex-USMNT Star Warns Gio Reyna Against LAFC Move, Slams Coach Cherundolo: “He’s Boring”
The Detroit Tigers have been unstoppable at the plate lately, and Tuesday night was no different. The Tigers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-2, giving them 27 runs in the last three games. A big contributor to their offense on Tuesday was outfielder Wenceel Perez, who joined Sam Crawford (1912), Ossie Vitt (1915) and Ty Cobb (1924, 1916, 1915) as the only four players in franchise history to have a single, double, triple and two stolen bases in the same game. Perez began his historic night with a double off Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt in the second inning before adding a single in the fourth. A monster fifth inning put the Tigers ahead 8-2 after an early 2-0 deficit, which set the stage for a three-run sixth inning that included this triple from Perez off Arizona's Jake Woodford to give Detroit a 10-2 lead. Perez scored two more runs, one in the sixth and the other in eighth, to give the Tigers their final two runs in a 12-run outburst. Overall, Perez had three hits in five at-bats, scored four runs and added one RBI to go with his historic statline. Given his performance over the past month, it was surprising to see Perez show out against Arizona. After all, he did not have a single hit the last two games, and he only recorded more than one hit once in 20 games the entire month coming into Tuesday. The Tigers were once the hottest team in baseball when they held a 59-34 record on July 8. Since then, they suffered a slump that includes a six-game losing streak. Suddenly, Detroit has won its last three and scored 10 or more runs in two of those victories. As good as the offense has been, the pitching has been solid as well with the Tigers outscoring their opponents 27-7 during the three-game stretch. Yes, the last two wins have come against a struggling Diamondbacks team that sits fourth in the NL West with a 51-57 record. Still, they have taken care of business and won handily. The next step is getting healthy and having someone to pair with ace Tarik Skubal in the rotation. Right-hander Chris Paddack was added to the 26-man roster and is set to start Wednesday, while free agent signing Alex Cobb is beginning his rehab assignment. The Tigers will go for the sweep of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday before traveling to Philadelphia for a weekend series against the Phillies. It will be difficult to top Perez's historic outing from Tuesday, but if momentum is any indication, the Tigers may only be getting started, especially if the pitching depth is there.
There have been a couple of different theories floated about why the Las Vegas Raiders made the shocking decision to cut star defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, but head coach Pete Carroll has no interest in sharing the real motive. The Raiders released Wilkins on Thursday, which was barely a year after they signed him to a four-year, $110M contract in free agency. Initial reports suggested Wilkins and the team were at odds over how the 29-year-old's foot injury was being handled, but the story has since taken a bizarre turn. ESPN's Adam Schefter said on Monday that there was an incident between Wilkins and a teammate in the locker room that Wilkins viewed as playful, but his teammate did not take it that way. Tashan Reed of The Athletic reported that the incident took place in a meeting room at the Raiders' facility last week and was investigated by the team's human resources department. On Tuesday, a reporter asked Carroll about the alleged incident. The 73-year-old coach refused to get into it. "I have no comment to make,” Carroll said, via The Athletic. “We made a decision on what we’re doing, and we’re moving with it. We’ll see how that all unveils itself in time.” The last part of Carroll's comment is interesting. Carroll may have been saying time will tell how the decision to cut Wilkins will turn out for the Raiders, or he may have been insinuating that more information will come out at some point. Raiders defensive tackle Adam Nelson was also asked about Wilkins on Tuesday. Nelson responded by encouraging people to seek therapy if they are struggling with something in their life. Wilkins had 17 total tackles and a pair of sacks in five games with the Raiders before he suffered his season-ending foot injury.
Shortly after the Cleveland Browns traded up in the fifth round of the 2025 draft to take Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with pick No. 144, multiple members of the NFL community strongly suggested that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam essentially forced Sanders on general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski. The fact that Sanders is clearly Cleveland's fourth-choice option at the position behind fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, veteran Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett during training camp has done little to quiet such chatter. While speaking with reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Haslam insisted that Berry was responsible for the drafting of Sanders. Haslam added that Stefanski will ultimately decide which quarterback starts Cleveland's regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. For an article published on April 28, Browns insider Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand wrote that the club's desire for "attention" was "one of the reasons [the Browns] drafted Sanders after previously selecting quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round for football reasons." Some thought in the spring that the Browns could be selected for the 2025 edition of the "Hard Knocks: Training Camp" show, but that assignment instead went to the Buffalo Bills. Pickett is spending the final days of July recovering from the worrisome hamstring injury he picked up this past Saturday. Sanders should receive additional valuable reps during training camp practices with Pickett sidelined, but Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated was sure to say on Monday that the former Colorado star "isn’t going to start" Cleveland's Week 1 game against Cincinnati. If Pickett can't participate in Cleveland's joint practice with the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 6, Flacco almost certainly will end that day as the favorite to get the nod for the matchup versus the Bengals. Interestingly, Haslam indicated on Tuesday that he wants both Gabriel and Sanders to take snaps in meaningful games against live defenses before the Browns have to determine what they will do with their pair of 2026 first-round draft picks. Berry said ahead of the final weekend of July that he's willing to stash Flacco, Pickett, Gabriel and Sanders on the active roster for Week 1. It sounds like Haslam would have nothing to do with such a decision, regardless of what certain fans and analysts want to believe about how Berry and Stefanski view Sanders this summer.