It is a question seemingly put to Franco Colapinto after every session he has entered as a Formula 1 driver – ‘do you think this performance will help get you a seat next year’?

In truth, the Argentinian has only an outside chance of lining up for the 2025 season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 16 March as, despite catching the eye, Colapinto has ended up in the right place at the wrong time.

Williams team principal James Vowles has explained why Colapinto was brought in to replace Logan Sargeant from the Italian GP onwards, the American having struggled for form as well as suffering a few high-speed crashes.

Colapinto, 21, hit the ground running having stepped up from the MP Motorsport team in F2 – taking five points from his four races, which started with the rookie recovering from a poor qualifying to finish 12th on debut in Monza.

He then outqualified team-mate Alex Albon at the Azerbaijan GP and went on to take his first points as he came home eighth, tussled with the Red Bull of Sergio Perez on his way to an 11th place finish in Singapore and then claimed a point by rounding out the top 10 in Austin – where he was also robbed of the fastest lap point by a tactical move from Alpine in the closing stages.

Such has his form caught the imagination in his homeland that F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has hinted the sport could look to return to Argentina in the near future.

Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

But that plan could fall flat if Colapinto drops out of F1, a real possibility given there is no space at Williams – who are teaming Albon with the incoming Carlos Sainz for 2025 onwards.

Vowles has said he believes Colapinto is worthy of a drive – even if that means he ends up taking points off Williams while representing one of its rivals.

So what options does that leave open to a man who is already having to laugh off suggestions he could be F1’s answer to compatriot Lionel Messi?

There are two seats currently left unfilled for the 2025 F1 season but there are a number of moving parts that will ultimately decide which driver takes them.

RB, and big brother team Red Bull, have always preferred promoting from within their own racing programme – with world champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen the shining examples but also Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Sainz coming through a similar pathway.

Verstappen is in place for at least 2025 but Perez’s seat alongside him at Red Bull remains under scrutiny, the Mexican surviving a summer summit which awarded him a stay of execution for the rest of the year.

Ricciardo has gone from RB and his replacement from Austin onwards was Liam Lawson, another off the Red Bull production line, while his new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda is expected to get his first taste of driving a Red Bull in the Abu Dhabi test at the end of the season.

Liam Lawson, RB F1 Team, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

If Perez is axed over the winter, it is likely Lawson and Tsunoda would be vying over a drive for the senior team of the Red Bull stable – meaning the other would stay at RB, where there could be room for Colapinto alongside.

“I think Franco’s turning heads, obviously,” Horner said after Colapinto’s point-scoring finish at the United States GP.

“Form in Formula 2 at the moment looks very difficult to read, because some of these youngsters are jumping in and doing a great job.

“I think Liam shone equally as brightly as some of Franco’s earlier races as well. At a track he’s never been to before, against a quick team-mate, to go from the back of the grid to P9 – it’s a good performance.”

Lawson is clearly highly regarded at Red Bull and would in all likelihood be ahead of Colapinto in a straight shootout for a seat – but the puzzle there is more complex than at most other squads.

The only other team without a completed driver line-up for next season is Sauber – who have yet to take a point throughout 2024.

The slowest car on the grid may not have broken the top 10, but 2025 is an important one as the team prepares to complete its full rebrand to Audi from 2026 when the German manufacturer enters the series.

Nico Hulkenberg has been signed from Haas to lead the team into a new era but a decision has yet to be taken on his team-mate, with former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto leading the search having taken the reins in August.

It seems increasingly unlikely that either of the current incumbents will remain, while Zhou Guanyu has said he will give his all to be kept on that is a scenario even more unexpected than Valtteri Bottas being retained.

Zhou Guanyu, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber, Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

That could open the door to Colapinto, but would driving a car that is seemingly the least desirable in F1 at the moment have a potentially negative impact on his burgeoning reputation?

Usually, yes, but the fact Audi is coming into F1 in a big way and with plenty of financial firepower means Colapinto could be tempted by the project.

He is, however, not the only option available to Binotto and the team – with the likes of Gabriel Bortoleto, Theo Pourchaire, Kevin Magnusssen and Mick Schumacher all likely to be in the hunt.

Reserve Driver

It might not technically be a place on the grid, but another potential option open to Colapinto would be to accept an offer to be a team’s reserve driver.

While simulator work, sponsorship duties and the odd free practice session might not be the most appealing avenue, anything can happen over the course of an F1 season that could end up with Colapinto back racing.

A reserve role keeps a driver in the conversation, close to the action and embedded within a team.

What is for certain is that, if Colapinto’s star is going to continue to shine, the next step in his fledgling career must be the right one.

Morrell began his career at Bristol City, playing a handful of senior games after coming through the youth ranks, and had successful loan spells at Cheltenham Town and Lincoln City before making a permanent move to Luton Town in 2020.

He left Kenilworth Road after one season – and only 11 appearances – to join Portsmouth, the first club where he “found a home in football”.

“In an ideal world, I’d have loved nothing more than to stay at Pompey and hopefully help them in the Championship,” Morrell added.

“But I also appreciate they have got difficult decisions to make and they have a budget which is not a massive budget for a Championship club.

“I felt I could have contributed this year, but they brought in 15 players and to be able to do that, it was a case of me not being there. I understand that.”

Morrell, who has also done some of his recovery week with the Football Association of Wales’ medical staff, thinks he is around a month away from being able to take part in full training.

He hopes, therefore, that he will soon be signing for a new club – though it is unclear for now where that might be.

Wrexham were touted as admirers over the summer, and Morrell would “definitely be interested” should Phil Parkinson come calling.

“In the Football league, there’s not many more exciting projects than Wrexham,” he added.

“To be fair I don’t think they need much help at the moment.”

If the immediate goal is to sort out his club future, Morrell also has an eye on Wales.

The New York Giants won’t be making a change at a pair of key leadership positions this offseason.

Head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen will return in 2025, Giants president and co-owner John Mara told reporters while attending the premiere of “The Duke: Wellington Mara’s Giant Life.”

“Obviously, we’re all very disappointed with where we are right now, but I’m going to say one thing: We are not making any changes this season and I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason either,” Mara said.

Mara’s commitment to Daboll and Schoen came as the team is in the midst of a second straight losing season. The Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-3, in Week 7 to drop to 2-5 on the season. Ex-Giants running back Saquon Barkley‘s performance punctuated the sting of the loss to a divisional rival as he rushed for 176 yards and a touchdown. As detailed in “Hard Knocks,” Schoen opted not to retain Barkley so they could commit salary to other positions on the roster.

Quarterback Daniel Jones also struggled in the game against the Eagles. He completed 14 of 21 passes for just 99 yards, adding 20 yards on the ground. Jones has completed 62.5% of his passes for 1,442 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions with an 80.6 passer rating.

Schoen opted to retain Jones over the offseason after he tore his ACL in 2023. However, he notably expressed interest in trading up from the sixth overall pick to select a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Giants weren’t able to find a trade partner, though, and they kept the sixth overall pick to select LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers. New York added a quarterback in free agency, though, signing Drew Lock.

Daboll and Schoen had a successful first season with Jones at quarterback in 2022. He completed 67.2% of his passes 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions, with 708 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns that season to help the team make the playoffs. As a result, Jones received a four-year, $160 million extension with $92 million guaranteed. New York can release Jones this offseason while taking on a $22.21 dead cap hit as he has a $41.6 million cap hit in 2025 and a $58.6 million cap hit in 2026, per Spotrac.

Eagles vs. Giants: Mark Sanchez, Dave Helman, and Chris Myers on Eagles’ dominant win

Even though the Giants’ commitment to Jones has been one of the reasons why the team has been hamstrung over the last two seasons, Mara has confidence in Schoen and Daboll to right the ship.

“Just the process that they have, being in the meetings with them, talking about where they see us going forward, talking about the evaluation of our personnel,” Mara said. “I still have confidence in both of them.”

While Schoen and Daboll had success in Year 1, the 2022 season was an anomaly for what’s happened in New York in recent years. The Giants have made the postseason just twice since their last Super Bowl win in 2011.

Mara admitted that it’s “very difficult” to remain patient because “the last 10 or 12 years have not been very good for our fans.” But he said he wants to do “the right thing,” which he thinks is giving Schoen and Daboll a fourth season together. 

“I think I try to be more patient than maybe I’ve been in recent years,” Mara said when asked if there was anything he learned from his father on how to deal with losing seasons. “He was patient. He preached that all the time, and I’ve probably been guilty of not being patient enough in recent years, and that’s one of the reasons I’m committed to Joe and Brian and giving them a chance to turn this thing around.”

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WE ALL think we know our football.

But do we know it quite as well as we think? Really?

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Because there are a whole load of teams whose names we’ve been saying wrong for ages – many of us without even realising.

A large part of that is down to geography.

Of the 92 clubs in English professional football, all but two have the name of their city, town, borough or region in their title.

The exceptions are Port Vale and Arsenal – although the Gunners were originally called Woolwich Arsenal when they played in South London.

As a result, we often tend to add the place names for some clubs that go by a single name to help us clarify which team we are referring to – more on that later.

For other examples, it is a case of mistranslation – or, more specifically, partial translation.

Finally, it could simply be a bit of laziness or ignorance.

Anyway, with that all said, who are some of the regular football clubs we mispronounce or simply get wrong?

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AZ Alkmaar is a common mistake.

The Dutch side are actually called Alkmaar Zaanstreek.

This often gets nicknamed to AZ Alkmaar – but the A in AZ stands for Alkmaar.

So AZ Alkmaar would mean Alkmaar Zaanstreek Alkmaar.

To make things even more confusing, Alkmaar is the city the club is based in while Zaanstreek refers to the Zaan district in North-West Netherlands. Got it?

Sticking in the Eredeivisie, there are regularly mentions of PSV Eindhoven when in actual fact the club’s full name is Philips Sport Vereniging, or PSV for short.

There is no mention of Eindhoven, the city where they are based.

The same rule applies to various other teams – where the city has been added for overseas fans to grasp exactly where they play.

See Zenit Saint Petersburg and CSKA Moscow in Russia – officially Zenit and CSKA – AEK Athens.

The Greek outfit are formally Athlitiki Enosis Konstantinoupoleos – with no mention of the capital city name – while AEK is pronounced as one word rather than A-E-K.

TV fixtures in December

Here are all the games that will be televised in December…

Tuesday 3 December

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• 19:30 Ipswich v Crystal Palace (Amazon Prime Video)
• 20:15 Leicester v West Ham (Amazon Prime Video)

Wednesday 4 December

• 19:30 Everton v Wolves (Amazon Prime Video)
• 19:30 Man City v Nott’m Forest (Amazon Prime Video)
• 19:30 Newcastle v Liverpool (Amazon Prime Video)
• 19:30 Southampton v Chelsea (Amazon Prime Video)
• 20:15 Arsenal v Man Utd (Amazon Prime Video)
• 20:15 Aston Villa v Brentford (Amazon Prime Video)

Thursday 5 December

• 19:30 Fulham v Brighton (Amazon Prime Video)
• 20:15 AFC Bournemouth v Spurs (Amazon Prime Video)

Saturday 7 December

• 12:30 Everton v Liverpool (TNT Sports)
• 17:30 Man Utd v Nott’m Forest (Sky Sports)

Sunday 8 December

• 14:00 Fulham v Arsenal (Sky Sports)
• 16:30 Spurs v Chelsea (Sky Sports)

Monday 9 December

• 20:00 West Ham v Wolves (Sky Sports)

Saturday 14 December

• 17:30 Nott’m Forest v Aston Villa (Sky Sports)

Sunday 15 December

• 14:00 AFC Bournemouth v West Ham (Sky Sports)
• 16:30 Man City v Man Utd (Sky Sports)
• 19:00 Southampton v Spurs (TNT Sports)

Monday 16 December

• 20:00 Brighton v Crystal Palace (Sky Sports)

Saturday 21 December

• 12:30 Aston Villa v Man City (TNT Sports)
• 17:30 Crystal Palace v Arsenal (Sky Sports)

Sunday 22 December

• 14:00 Fulham v Southampton (Sky Sports)
• 16:30 Spurs v Liverpool (Sky Sports)

Thursday 26 December

• 12:30 Man City v Everton (Amazon Prime Video)
• 15:00 AFC Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (Amazon Prime Video)
• 15:00 Chelsea v Fulham (Amazon Prime Video)
• 15:00 Newcastle v Aston Villa (Amazon Prime Video)
• 15:00 Nott’m Forest v Spurs (Amazon Prime Video)
• 15:00 Southampton v West Ham (Amazon Prime Video)
• 17:30 Wolves v Man Utd (Amazon Prime Video)
• 20:00 Liverpool v Leicester (Amazon Prime Video)

Friday 27 December

• 19:30 Brighton v Brentford (Amazon Prime Video)
• 20:15 Arsenal v Ipswich (Amazon Prime Video)

Sunday 29 December

• 14:30 Leicester v Man City (Sky Sports)
• 17:15 West Ham v Liverpool (Sky Sports)

Monday 30 December

• 20:00 Man Utd v Newcastle (Sky Sports)

We don’t do the same to PSG Paris, Juventus Turin, Schalke Gelsenkirchen or Real Betis Seville.

In Spain, it is Atletico de Madrid, not Atletico Madrid or worse still Athletico Madrid.

Athletic should be used for the team in Bilbao.

But they are Athletic Club or simply Athletic – and definitely not Athletic Bilbao.

In Spain, there is just one major club it could refer to whereas in England we have Charlton and Wigan, for example.

Across the border in Portugal, it is a similar mistake with Sporting Lisbon.

They are actually Sporting Clube de Portugal, Sporting CP or Sporting – but not Sporting Lisbon.

It is such a touchy subject that a #NotSportingLisbon campaign was launched to raise awareness for the error.

The 2010 Champions League final was contested between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

However, Inter Milan should be referred to as Internazionale or Inter – although the official name is Football Club Internazionale Milano.

As for the German giants, Bayern Munich sees half of the name translated into English – Munchen to Munich – but Bayern left in German.

So it should either be Bayern Munchen – the official name – or Bavaria Munich.

One of the other big teams in Germany also needs flagging.

RB Leipzig are part of the Red Bull group along with Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.

But the RB in RB Leipzig’s name does not stand for Red Bull – well, not technically.

It is no coincidence that the letters are RB – to make people think of Red Bull – alongside the red bulls on their logo.

However, the German FA ban corporate company brands in club names.

So they found a workaround and called the club RasenBallsport Leipzig instead – RasenBallsport translates as Lawn Ball Sports.

Many refer to the Serbian team as Red Star Belgrade when “red star” is simply a literal English translation of their official name, Crvena Zvezda.

And finally, the 1985-86 European Cup was won by Steaua Bucuresti, not Steaua Bucharest.

Although they now have a new name, formally switching to FCSB in 2017 as a shortened version of FC Steaua Bucuresti.

But the team is categorically not called Steaua Bucharest – which would be like the half-translation of Bayern Munich – because “steaua” is “star” in Romanian.

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Things are heating up between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.

Ahead of their highly anticipated clash for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 308 this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, both headliners appeared at Thursday’s press conference. When Holloway was asked about Topuria’s prediction that he will use the challenger’s iconic point down to start the fight, Holloway didn’t seem sold.

“Just tune in, I don’t think he deserves that kind of moment,” Holloway said. “He had that moment with Josh Emmett and someone shot, someone took someone down, someone [held] someone down.”

Topuria would interrupt Holloway, and a heated exchange began, which you can see in the video below.

Topuria puts his title on the line for the first time after brutally knocking out Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 298 in February. Topuria is undefeated as a pro as he headlines his second pay-per-view event of the year.

Holloway looks to become a two-time featherweight champion, and likely locked up the Knockout of the Year with his last second finish of Justin Gaethje to win the BMF title at UFC 300.