Charles Leclerc praised his Ferrari team and offered some rare optimism on Sunday after securing the team’s 800th podium finish when he came second behind Max...

For an illustration of the sort of double-think that has pervaded football this campaign, consider the actions of one prominent figure. They have effusively praised Manchester City in public, but constantly asked when the Premier League investigation is going to be concluded in private. This could actually refer to a few people, and might well be necessary realpolitik. It’s also the reality of the game in the 2022-23 season, one that has gone on so long that two contrasting perspectives on the same subject could both be entirely fair at different times. This was a campaign that was deeply predictable at one end and wondrously open below that. City may make history by winning a treble but also made history in becoming the first champions to have been charged with breaches that could yet see them expelled from the Premier League. Manchester United were often a shambles in some record defeats but also sensibly getting things together under the astute Erik ten Hag. On it goes, just like the season itself. There’s still almost a month left. Much of this comes from an event that remains more influential than even that seismic day in February when the Premier League quietly announced that City had been charged. That was of course a Qatar World Cup that is still having a considerable effect on the campaign. Summing this up is that it’s hard to get your head around the idea that a tournament actually happened this season. No, seriously. Qatar was more recent than Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte clashing over a handshake. It might even be more recent than Darwin Nunez being charitably described as “an agent of chaos” but, like one of his touches, that's lost in the mire. Yet it is all of a line, as are some of the other facts of the campaign. It is symbolic that the season of the Qatar World Cup also saw Abu Dhabi’s City come to the brink of a treble and Saudi Arabia’s Newcastle United get to the Champions League. There is actually a direct cause-and-effect here, since every major football decision these states have taken has seen their Gulf blockade rivals respond. The move to host the 2022 World Cup is still seen as setting off much of this. One senior figure privately quipped that this is “the year that sportswashing won”. It is certainly one where a number of different strands defining the modern game came together. There may yet be more. If the Sheikh Jassim bid does win the Manchester United sale, to conclude another of the season’s major themes, it would mean three of England’s Champions League clubs for next season are respectively owned by Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And yet there is another contrast there, even if you have to go a little deeper. For all that the top end of the sport has become the preserve of Western billionaires and – increasingly – autocratic states, there has been a joyous unpredictability below that. The Europa League and Europa Conference League have been alive with opportunity and more captivating than ever, just as the Champions League top end – and its group of potential winners – has become so small. There is an enriching vitality in the two lesser competitions that are no longer seen at the elite level. One has the same teams and stories. The other two have revitalising runs at rare glory. The wildness of the Premier League’s bottom two-thirds meanwhile showed what the entire division could and should be like. The EFL play-offs were captivating, and featured two uplifting stories in Sheffield Wednesday’s historic comeback against Peterborough United and Luton Town’s rise. Rob Edwards’s side will join Brighton and Brentford in the Premier League now, both of whom have continued to defy the wider realities of the game. Leicester City’s relegation at the same time showed how difficult and fleeting that can be, how it can evaporate. Any success from outside the elite is therefore to be relished, in the manner that Napoli did in Serie A and Feyenoord in Eredivisie. Such feats stand as uplifting sporting stories in contrast to what the Qatar World Cup represented. Some were ironically influenced by that tournament, since an unprecedented disruption to the regular club season inevitably had a profound effect. It played havoc with physical conditioning programmes. All had to adapt, some did better than others. It was undeniably a factor in Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea having such poor seasons, if obviously not the main reason. The issue is more that, if things go as normal, the wealthiest tend to succeed. This season was anything but normal as it continues to stretch on for so long. None of that is to excuse many flaws of course, not least in Chelsea’s excessive spending. There is a moral lesson there that money can only bring so much, at least in the short term. There was also classic pantomime underneath the most serious discussions. Todd Boehly made himself one of the game’s modern characters, reminiscent of some of the larger-than-life figures of the 1970s. Frank Lampard’s return was an almost comical cameo, that only left bemusement. Conte put on a theatrical performance before ultimately leaving Spurs. Pep Guardiola had a display of his own in dismissing his players as “happy flowers”. The coaches demand focus in another way. There's a fair argument that every Premier League manager who wasn’t sacked has a claim to be the best of the season. All of Roberto De Zerbi, Gary O’Neill, Thomas Frank, Mikel Arteta, Guardiola and Eddie Howe overperformed to varying degrees. David Moyes has got West Ham United to a European final, and the brink of a first trophy in 44 years. The only exception to this is arguably Jurgen Klopp, but his excellence is beyond question. The uncertainty is just about whether he can rebuild Liverpool to the same degree. There was much more causing their Champions League failure than the mid-season disruption. The effects of that break only went so far, too. The most lavish football project was naturally best equipped to adapt. Guardiola primed his City team to come good in the same way he did during that Covid season. The Catalan is clearly a genius but fitting a goalscorer like Erling Haaland to a team like City is one of the less challenging problems. A young Arsenal actually did remarkably to set the pace for so long. If you stand back, it was really an inevitability they were going to be overtaken, regardless of how it ended up happening. Qatar disrupted things but only to a certain degree. City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and a hugely criticised Barcelona still won domestic titles. It all points to how the game is actually at a strange point in its historic evolution, split in a few ways. The most questionable interests are seeking to purchase this glorious unpredictability and pantomime, a dynamic at once eroding such theatricality but also ensuring the defiant displays are all the more joyous. There will come a point, however, where the game reaches a line it can’t go past. We’re not there yet but there are signposts. In 2021-22, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine forced football to confront realities it wouldn’t otherwise have faced, and take decisions it would otherwise have ignored. It was arguably the season the mask slipped. The 2022-23 campaign was one where football had two faces. Read More Premier League 2022/23 season awards: Best player, manager, transfer flop and breakthrough act Man City’s quest for legitimacy is a battle they may never win Easy in the end for Manchester City – same again next season? Football rumours: Tottenham and Newcastle after James Maddison and Harvey Barnes Pep Guardiola takes top honours at LMA Awards Manchester United’s Anthony Martial ruled out of FA Cup final through injury

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Max Verstappen only needs to finish in the top six in the Saturday sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix to secure the 2023 F1 drivers’ title. The Red Bull driver has dominated this season, winning 13 of the 15 races as well as two of the three sprints. COMMENT: The rise of Oscar Piastri - a genuine contender for Lando Norris at last He most recently won in Japan, having previously failed to finish on the podium for the first time in 2023 after a mysterious drop in performance in Singapore. Nonetheless, Verstappen’s current total of 400 points puts him 177 points clear of team-mate Sergio Perez with 180 points left on the table. Here’s how Verstappen can secure title No 3 in Qatar How can Max Verstappen win 2023 F1 world championship? It’s quite simple – Verstappen only needs three more points between now and the end of the season in Abu Dhabi. Recent history suggests that will come in the next race, which is the Saturday sprint race (100km dash) around the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. As a result, Verstappen only needs to finish sixth or higher – regardless of where Perez finishes – to secure his third-straight world title. Though an unlikely set of circumstances, a seventh-place finish would be enough if Perez comes second, while eighth would also secure the title if Perez finishes third. Verstappen could secure the world title without scoring in the points, too. If Perrez finishes fourth or lower in the sprint race, Verstappen will be the champion regardless of where he finishes. If Perez wins the sprint and Verstappen fails to score a point (top eight-finish), then Verstappen would still be crowned champion if he finishes eighth or higher during Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix. Verstappen will leave Qatar as the champion if he has a points advantage of 146 points or more. What are the timings for the Qatar Grand Prix? The next race weekend of the 2023 season, the Qatar Grand Prix, takes place from Friday 6 October – Sunday 8 October as F1 returns to Lusail for the first time since the inaugural race in 2021. The schedule is as follows: first practice takes place at 2:30pm (BST) on Friday before qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix at 6pm. On Saturday, the sprint shootout which determines the grid for the sprint race takes place at 2pm before the sprint race itself at 6:30pm (BST). The 2023 Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday starts at 6pm (BST). Read More Adrian Newey reveals ‘emotional’ Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton regret Christian Horner admits ‘keeping an eye’ on Lando Norris amid Red Bull link Christian Horner reveals Max Verstappen ambition ahead of Japan victory Mick Schumacher holds talks with Alpine over 2024 drive Daniel Ricciardo fitness update ahead of Qatar Grand Prix F1 2023 race schedule: When is the Qatar Grand Prix?

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has toured the country's key weapons factories producing artillery systems, engines for cruise missiles and drones, and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military’s arms and war-readiness