Lando Norris raised hopes that he could challenge Max Verstappen for pole at the Japanese Grand Prix by finishing final practice within three tenths of the Red Bull driver. Verstappen’s record 10-race winning run and Red Bull’s unbeaten season came to an end in Singapore last weekend. He had set a blistering pace on Friday to suggest the team have put their struggles in the city-state behind them. The Dutchman’s margin in opening practice was a huge 0.626 seconds over Ferrari’s Singapore-winner Carlos Sainz before beating Charles Leclerc by 0.320sec in P2. That raised fears that Verstappen, who is closing in on a hat-trick of world titles, could dominate the weekend in a Red Bull car which Lewis Hamilton predicted would be “phenomenal” around the high-speed corner track at Suzuka. But Norris finished just 0.240 seconds adrift of the 25-year-old and just 0.048 ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri as the British team continued to show strong pace. Mercedes pair Hamilton and George Russell enjoyed a more promising session but remained off the pace of Red Bull and McLaren. Hamilton in particular struggled badly in Friday’s two practice sessions, finishing 16th and 14th, with the seven-time world champion admitting Mercedes had work to do before qualifying. The 38-year-old finished seventh in P3, albeit 0.892sec behind pace-setter Verstappen, with Russell eighth. Mercedes are battling with Ferrari to finish second in the Constructors’ Championship. Ferrari, who are running a new floor at Suzuka, claimed the edge by finishing fifth and sixth but were over half-a-second adrift of the two McLarens. Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull claimed fourth, 0.737sec behind his team-mate. A large number of the teams are struggling with tyre degradation due to the higher-than-usual heat at Suzuka, with a track temperature of over 48 degrees Celsius recorded during P3, raising the possibility of a three-stop race on Sunday. Qualifying gets under way at 1500 local time (0700 BST). Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Max Verstappen returns to form in Japanese Grand Prix practice Lance Stroll to sit out Singapore Grand Prix after huge crash in qualifying ‘You can forget about that’ – Max Verstappen rules out another win in Singapore

By Siddharth Cavale NEW YORK With a mixed picture of consumer demand emerging over the past quarter, earnings

Rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. seemed destined to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now he has a veteran defensive back in his corner.It was hardly a cause for celebration. The Pittsburgh Steelers finished with a winning record in 2022 but missed the playoffs for the third time in five s...

By Sarah Morland and Isabel Woodford Peru's economy is showing signs it could start growing again after shrinking

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2023--

By Alexander Marrow (Reuters) -The Russian rouble dived towards a more than an 18-month low on Tuesday before paring most

SHORT HILLS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2023--

Belleville, Michigan U.S. President Joe Biden said United Auto Workers should get the 40% pay raise the union

The success of 'Yellowstone' has spawned several spin-off shows, including '1923' and '1883'

A large blaze burning on the island of Rhodes for the fifth day has forced authorities to order an evacuation of four locations, including two seaside resorts

After both Elon musk and and Mark Zuckerberg agreed for a cage fight, the Twitter CEO shared information about a potential venue to host the match. On Friday Morning, Musk tweeted "some chance fight happens in Colosseum". Last week it was leaked that Zuckerberg's Meta was planning to release a rival to Twitter, likely to be called Threads. The app was announced in a company meeting where Meta's chief product officer Chris Cox called "our response to Twitter." Cox went on to throw some shade towards Musk by saying that the company's goal for the app was have it "sanely run". Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter After hearing of the news, Musk responded to a tweet about the leaked information saying: "I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options. At least it will be "sane". Was worried there for a moment." A fan responded to Musk saying "Better be careful @elonmusk I heard he does jiu jitsu now" followed by laughing emojis. "I'm up for a cage match if he is lol," replied Musk. Zuckerberg then posted a screenshot of Musk's tweet to his Instagram story saying "send me location". TMZ Sports reported on Thursday that Italy's Minister of Culture had apparently reached out to both Musk and Zuckerberg to offer the Colosseum as a venue for their fight. TMZ were told that Zuckerberg forwarded the message to UFC chair president Dana White. Apparently, both tech giants are taking the fight seriously and have begun training for the match. UFC fighter Kevin Lee claims that Zuckerberg had reached out to him for training. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Officials face a formidable challenge identifying the remains of more than 100 victims of the Maui blaze as agonized loved ones yearn for information on those missing after the United States’ deadliest wildfire in more than a century