F1 director issues 'back of grid' dig to Mercedes' George Russell after Sprint concerns

Champions League final fast approaching, players at Liverpool and Real Madrid will be doing everything they can to stay as focussed as possible - or risk becoming a meme.If there is one moment you need full concentration, it is in the final of the biggest club competition on the planet - so no nerves right? More often or not, the team that can keep it together better is the one that ends up lifting the trophy. On the 14th anniversary of John Terry's infamous slip against Manchester United to cost Chelsea the trophy, the Blues legend is not the only one to be haunted by his Champions League blunders.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are said to have "called in" Meghan's mum Doria Ragland to help them with baby Archie during lockdown.Doria stayed with the Duke and Duchess at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor for a period shortly after the birth of Archie.A Sussex insider revealed that the couple also had Doria move into their home in California during the first coronavirus lockdown, in what represents the "most time she has spent with her grandson".A friend of Meghan's told reporters that Doria had been "really worried about Meghan" and was encouraging her to put her mental health first.The pal said: "Doria is very much about being true to oneself and so of course she will continue to encourage Meghan to take the road less travelled.”There are concerns about her husband as well.

Cristiano Ronaldo gave a classy response when told by former Juventus team-mate Paulo Dybala that he was hated in Argentina in some part due to their love of Barcelona icon Lionel Messi. The Manchester United forward, who broke record at Real Madrid before winning back-to-back Serie A titles, played alongside Dybala on 93 occasions in Italy, combining for 12 goals.

Loose Women panellist Frankie Bridge, 33, revealed that she has a “secret door” in her home, among other unusual objects.Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Frankie, who is a Home Essentials ambassador, spilled the quirky ins and outs of her home decor.Explaining the unique interior designs inside her home, Frankie said: “We have a secret door in our kitchen.“It just looks like the rest of the cupboards, but our study is behind it. People are always quite surprised by it.”She also has a cast of her bottom that causes “quite the stir” among her and husband Wayne Bridge’s guests.Frankie said: “I did an Insta story once and it was in the background.“I didn’t even think about it, as I’m so used to it being there.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentGuadalajara’s Agavia Studios, the Film Commission of the State of Jalisco and market Ventana Sur’s Blood Window are launching Oscura Tinta, a screenplay competition for fantasy/horror features carrying a $25,000 cash prize.Agavia will give the award in exchange for copyright to the work. Agavia will produce the winning screenplay, moving into production this year 2022, CEO Gustavo Cornillón told Variety at Cannes.The winner will be chosen by a panel of industry figures and genre specialists.Launched by Blood Window, Ventana Sur’s genre platform, the call for applications runs June 1-Aug.

David de Gea has reflected on Manchester United's season with mixed emotions ahead of the final day of the campaign. United play Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon in their final fixture of the Premier League season.

George Russell following comments made after the Sprint at Imola.The British driver criticised the proceedings in Saturday's event as 'processional', despite being heralded for its entertainment by many as Max Verstappen overtook Charles Leclerc late on - providing the platform for his race victory on Sunday.Mercedes continued to struggle across the weekend, however, with both Russell and Lewis Hamilton starting outside the top 10 on the grid, though the former charged his way through the pack to secure an excellent fourth-place finish.Had Mercedes started higher on the grid, that performance could have been even better and Russell stated after the Sprint that the event was not long enough and suggested an extension to the distance following 'processional' proceedings.Those comments were quickly batted away by F1 director Brawn though, who stated Russell's comments were 'not really what we listen to' and instead indicated that the views of drivers higher up the grid would see their thoughts carry more weight.Naturally, that caused quite a stir and Brawn has now moved to clarify his remarks, pointing out the fact that drivers often complain when things don't quite go in their favour and made it clear the views of all drivers would be considered."I just know from my own experience that psychologically, a driver at the back of the grid has got all sorts of other things going on.HAVE YOUR SAY! Was the Sprint race at Imola better than standard qualifying? Comment below."It would be great if there were things going on at the back but we had a Mercedes that couldn't overtake the cars in front, but there was plenty of overtaking going on in the middle and up the front. Of course, we will listen.

George Russell has explained the car's struggles so far this season and believes his fourth-placed finish at Imola was 'fortunate'.The ex-Williams ace has finished in the top five in each of his four races for Mercedes so far this season, rising from 12th on the grid at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to maintain that record and ease frustrations after a difficult weekend.Friday's qualifying session saw Mercedes fail to reach the final round for the first time in a decade, while Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton were unable to improve on their starting positions for the race in Saturday's Sprint.Russell did at least have reasons to be cheerful when the chequered flag was raised at Imola though following his triumphant charge through the grid, with Hamilton finishing outside the points and Toto Wolff admitting the car was 'undriveable'.Mercedes' 'porpoising' issues have been well documented this season, with the team unable to retain pace like the Ferrari's have despite their own issues with bouncing, but Russell explained that it's not the only problem they need to overcome."I’m relatively pleased to maximise the points available this weekend. Whether we’re getting the most out of the car is a different story and I do think things have fallen slightly in our favour with these first four races.

Lewis Hamilton.The Brit finished outside the points for the first time this season and suffered the humiliation of being lapped by Max Verstappen, the man he was going toe-to-toe with for the title throughout last season.It's left Hamilton's chances of winning a record-breaking eighth world title this season slim at best, with the veteran driver conceding even before the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that he was 'obviously' not vying for the honour.Wolff already conceded to Hamilton after the race that the Mercedes car was 'undriveable' and has now gone further, admitting that the German manufacturer's design 'doesn't work' having encountered another weekend to forget."All of the goodness and badness happens mainly on the floor and we have interesting ideas and concepts that we are exploring that have to find their way onto the car in the next few races. I wouldn’t say there is such thing as a concept being wrong.

Red Bull's title battle with Ferrari will be 'super-competitive' throughout the course of the season, with the result at Imola seeing the gap closed.Red Bull secured a rare 1-2 finish in Ferrari's home race, with Max Verstappen easing his way to victory ahead of Sergio Perez and McLaren's Lando Norris taking the final spot on the podium following Charles Leclerc's late error.The championship leader was chasing down Perez on soft tyres as he looked to increase his points tally and decrease the dent Verstappen was set to put on his advantage but suffered as a late spin led him to require another pit and a new front wing.Leclerc exited the pits in ninth and, while he took three places back to finish sixth, it resulted in a day to forget for Ferrari - with Carlos Sainz' race lasting just a few corners before contact with Daniel Ricciardo led to another unfinished race for the Spaniard.The result has rejuvenated Verstappen's title defence, having failed to finish two of the first three races, but Horner believes it's just one twist in a long and winding battle between the two teams that will last the entirety of the season."Ferrari has a great car, with great drivers, they've been unlucky in this race. They're going to be super-competitive in two weeks' time [in Miami] and I think it's going to be like that all season."Red Bull's points haul was made even more important following Leclerc's late spin, following on from Carlos Sainz' exit on the first lap, and Horner assessed that the mistake from the championship leader came because he was 'too greedy'.HAVE YOUR SAY! Who will emerge victorious in the hunt for the title? Comment below."He [Leclerc] was pushing very hard all race.

Lewis Hamilton, after the Mercedes driver encountered further woes at Imola.A poor weekend for the seven-time world champion culminated in a frustrating afternoon at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where Hamilton narrowly avoided a collision in the pit lane with Esteban Ocon and could only finish 13th - while teammate George Russell came fourth.To add further salt to the wounds, Hamilton suffered the embarrassment of being lapped by Max Verstappen - the man who he went toe-to-toe with for the title last season and the man he now cannot even get close to keeping pace with. Verstappen played down the lapping, which happened on lap 40, stating: "They've been slow all year so for me it's not really anything exciting, it just happens."Red Bull chief Marko, however, certainly enjoyed what he witnessed and couldn't help but to take the opportunity to make a swipe at Hamilton: "I mean, he was lapped by us.

Ferrari team after a late mistake at Imola gave Lando Norris a gifted podium finish, while Red Bull closed the gap in the battle for the titles.The Monegasques driver started second on the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but was quickly overtaken by Sergio Perez, who kept the championship leader at bay to leave Max Verstappen with a comfortable drive to victory.Leclerc had a late push to try and snatch second off Perez, opting for another pit change and soft tyres as he also attempted to clinch an additional point for the fastest lap of the race, but a costly error changed the picture completely.In his continued pursuit of Perez, Leclerc spun at Variante Alta after taking too much of the kerb in the entrance to the corner and required another pit change to replace a damaged front wing - re-entering the race in ninth position.While Leclerc was able to work his way up the grid to overtake three cars and finish sixth, it was far from what he would have wanted and he took to social media following the conclusion of the race to issue an apology to the Ferrari team and it's supporters.“I gave it all but went over the limit at the end. Sorry to the team and to all the tifosi that supports us.

Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in 2016.During a four-year stint as teammates, Rosberg and Hamilton dominated the sport, winning 54 of 78 races in that period, with the two childhood friends seeing their relationship turn sour in the process.Hamilton won the titles in 2014 and 2015, with tempers boiling over in the 2016 season as Rosberg looked to win the title for the first time - leading to a number of incidents were the two teammates ended up colliding, with Toto Wolff describing an incident at Austria as 'brainless'.During this spell, Mercedes had to step-up to outline rules for the two drivers in order to keep them on the straight and narrow, putting punishments in place for any rule breaks, and Rosberg has lifted the lid on that battle."We made it extremely difficult. It got to the point where we were handed a code of conduct paper with what we were able to do in a wheel-to-wheel battle, even penalties with fines with a lot of zeroes attached to that because there was no other way.

Mercedes are struggling this season, with the Italian team managing to cope with similar issues.The latest changes to the Formula One regulations for the 2022 season have seen a number of teams encounter 'porpoising' issues that have seen drivers violently bouncing down the track - with floors of the cars being damaged on some occasions.Those issues have led to a disastrous start to the season for Mercedes, who have been unable to find a fix and have been significantly off the pace from title-chasing duo Ferrari and Red Bull - despite the former encountering their own issues.However, while 'porpoising' has decimated Mercedes' pace, Ferrari have still been able to compete - with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz the top two in the Driver's Championship, while the Prancing Horse lead the way in the Constructor's.Binotto was quizzed why other teams have been unable to counter their issues and admitted he wasn't sure, stating: "I don't know why the others are not as quick as we are with porpoising, but it's true that we are still suffering with it."We put some actions on the car to try to mitigate it, but it's not yet addressed and solved.

Lewis Hamilton is 'unhappy' amid the team's continued struggles, with further issues encountered ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.The German outfit have been unable to fix their 'porpoising' issues in the opening rounds of the season, with those problems once again prevalent in Friday's qualifying and the team unable to find the pace in the Sprint to work their way back up the grid.That has already seen Hamilton declare that the team are 'obviously' not competing with Ferrari and Red Bull for the title this season, although the Brit has also made it clear that he has no desire to vacate his position.Still, it's easy to see that all is not well at Mercedes and the fallout of the struggles started to come to a head on Friday with Hamilton pictured in fierce discussions with team principal Toto Wolff following the exit in Q2.Coulthard has now had his say on the situation and has issued a frank assessment of the position that Hamilton and Mercedes find themselves in, stating: “Inevitably he’s not happy about that. The team are not happy about it.

Max Verstappen's complaints on Friday.The Red Bull driver completed a late surge to overtake Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at the first Sprint of the 2022 season at Imola on Saturday, picking up eight points in the process after the increased rewards were added for the new campaign.That puts the defending champion in the prime spot for Sunday's race as he seeks to close the gap on early pacesetter Leclerc, having suffered two retirements in the opening three rounds of the season, and Red Bull's performance at Imola will have raised optimism.However, Verstappen has made his feelings on the addition of the Sprint in Formula One clear and reaffirmed his belief in this week's press conference by stating: “Personally I'm not a fan of the sprint but it is what it is… some like it some don't. I think it's more how we are doing the press conference and the media activities, I think it was better before."Unfortunately for Verstappen, Formula One directors see things differently and are keen to increase the number of Sprint events on the calendar for the 2023 season, with Brawn confirming the intention to double the number to six ahead of discussions with teams next week.“On Tuesday we want to discuss increasing it to six, so we'd like to have six races next year.

Lewis Hamilton after the pair were pictured in fierce discussions following the early elimination from Friday's qualifying session.The German manufacturers have struggled to find consistency this season, with 'porpoising' issues once again being prevalent at Imola - leading to Mercedes failing to have a car reach the third round of qualifying for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2012.Hamilton was remarkably just 0.004 seconds ahead of being eliminated in the first round of qualifying but an exit at Q2 was inevitable, particularly with rain falling after a red flag that left Mercedes' slim chances of making their way through looking impossible.The seven-time world champion ended the session outside of his vehicle and, as cameras turned to the events in the garage, a clearly agitated Wolff was shown in discussions with his driver - but he insisted there are no issues between the pair."There was no disagreement at all. We were just so angry about the session overall.

Lewis Hamilton after the teams' early-season woes continued at Imola, Nico Rosberg believes.The defending Constructor's Champions have struggled to find their rhythm in the 2022 season despite sitting second in the standings, finding themselves way off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull. Their troubles continued in Friday's qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Sprint, with both Hamilton and teammate George Russell only narrowly squeezing through to the second round.Mercedes' chances of making it through to Q3 always looked slim and, with rain falling at Imola following a red flag, their fate was sealed - becoming the first time since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix that neither Mercedes made it through to the final round of qualifying.Towards the end of the second round of qualifying, cameras showed coverage inside the Mercedes garage where Hamilton had exited his vehicle before the session came to a close and was pictured involved in fierce discussions with team principal Wolff.While Hamilton refused to clarify what was said in those discussions, his former teammate Nico Rosberg issued his verdict on the events.“It's very difficult to know what was said.

George Russell has admitted he's concerned that a 'violent' issue that has been prevalent in the opening rounds of the 2022 Formula One season could be here to stay.'Porpoising' in cars has been a major issue for drivers and teams to deal with following the latest round of regulation changes, with Mercedes in particular struggling. Those issues reared their head again for Mercedes in Friday's qualifying session for the Emilia Romagna Sprint, who got through to the second round by the skin of their teeth but were swiftly eliminated.That brought an end to a remarkable record for Mercedes as it was the first time since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix that neither of their cars made it through to the final round of qualifying.While Ferrari have also encountered 'porpoise' issues, it hasn't affected their speed like it has for Mercedes - and Russell fears it's a problem that may be around for the coming years."I think it’s going to be interesting with the porpoising issues.

George Russell has snubbed Michael Schumacher when choosing the greatest Formula One driver of all-time, instead opting for teammate Lewis Hamilton.Both Hamilton and Schumacher have won more world titles than anyone else, with the pair both tied on seven triumphs after the British driver was dramatically beaten to the title last season by Red Bull's Max Verstappen.Hamilton's successes have come in a period of dominance for Mercedes, while Schumacher's triumphs came during the glory days of Ferrari's prime in the first part of the millennia. The pair are both widely-regarded among the greatest drivers in the long-established history of Formula One but choosing between them has been a difficult task for many fans.However, Russell seems to have no such problems as he not-so-subtly dubbed Hamilton the greatest when discussing how he sees a potential battle with his Mercedes colleague."I think because we're at different stages of our career there's no hard feelings either way.

Max Verstappen was quick to poke fun at Lewis Hamilton after reports that the Mercedes man is part of a plan to buy Chelsea Football Club. Sky News claimed on Thursday that the Formula 1 icon has agreed to pump millions into Sir Martin Broughton's consortium to buy the club from Roman Abramovich.