Lando Norris says he is “not quite at the level” of title rival Max Verstappen when it comes to race-craft.

The Briton was controversially penalised at Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, demoting him from third to fourth behind Verstappen, for overtaking off track.

Norris said: “Max is the best in the world in this style of defence and attacking. So I have to be at his level and at the moment I am not quite at the level I need to be at.

“It’s a shame to say, but it’s probably the truth. At the same time, it’s a chance for me to learn and progress.”

However, Norris said he did not believe he deserved the penalty and Verstappen’s driving in the incident was “not how racing should be”.

Norris was among a number of drivers who questioned Verstappen’s approach to the corner, essentially saying it complied with the rules, but was not fair racing.

But in response, Verstappen said: “It’s how the rules are written. I don’t make the rules. I just follow the rules as much as I can. I just implement the rules and play with them.”

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton added: “You shouldn’t be able to come off the brakes and run more speed in and go off the track and still hold your place.”

The Mercedes driver felt a change had been needed for some time, and pointed out Verstappen had used the same tactic in their 2021 title fight.

Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell said he would ask the FIA whether, following a review, they believed Verstappen should have been penalised for his manoeuvre.

“In my view, he should have been penalised, therefore there isn’t really a loophole,” added the Briton. “If they say he shouldn’t have been, then he is exploiting a loophole.

“But he is in a title battle with Lando the same way as he was with Lewis and I don’t think he would have done the same manoeuvre if it was any other driver, same as in Brazil 2021. It was a bit do or die, and he is happy to drive in that manner against his title rival, which I totally understand.”

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who won the race in Austin, said Verstappen’s defence of his position from Norris was “a bit too extreme”.

Leclerc added the Dutchman “has always been on the limit of the regulations and sometimes it goes over a little, but that’s what makes those fights exciting”.

Many drivers want to talk to governing body, the FIA, at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix about F1’s rules on racing.

Verstappen used these to his advantage in Austin in a move at Turn 12 in which Norris was trying to overtake him around the outside.

The rules say if the driver on the inside has his front axle ahead of the car outside him at the apex of the corner, he does not need to give his rival any room on the exit.

But a number of drivers feel Verstappen is exploiting that rule by braking so late that he complies with the regulation, but then goes off the track himself.

Another rule says drivers are not allowed to force a rival off the track, but this was not applied in this case.

Several drivers feel defending in that way makes it almost impossible to overtake Verstappen.

European governing body Uefa are bound to be in touch – which is where we probably should start.

In 2023, Mourinho was given a four-match touchline ban for his behaviour around the Europa League final when his Roma side were beaten by Sevilla in Budapest. Premier League referee Anthony Taylor was abused in the airport on his way home after footage emerged of Mourinho waiting in an underground car park after the match to question the official about his performance.

So, as he reflected on being red carded by another leading official in French referee Clement Turpin in Istanbul, Mourinho made reference to the previous incident.

“If I appeal I will get six months,” said Mourinho, when asked by an English journalist if he would appeal against his dismissal. “Since the Sevilla-Roma final there is nothing to do. That is why the future is better without European competition, so I don’t get upset.”

This was a follow-up to his first answer, to the man from another broadcaster who he knows exceptionally well, which in itself built on something he said in the lead-up to the game which suggested after spells with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham, his time in the Premier League may not be over.

“The best thing I have to do is when I leave Fener is that I go to a club that doesn’t play in Uefa competition,” he said. “So a club at the bottom in England who needs a coach in two years, I’m ready to go.

“I don’t want to speak anymore about it. I want to speak about the game.”

Except this is Jose, so speaking about the game comes with loaded answers – including, at one point, suggesting the local media would be unhappy with the outcome of the game because they would have preferred Fenerbahce to lose.

THIS is the terrifying moment Man United fans are “attacked” by Fenerbahce ultras in Istanbul just hours before the Europa League clash.

The Fenerbahce are captured storming the fans who were sat having a casual drink before sparking a violent brawl.

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Footage shared on social media showed an attack taking place outside a bar in Istanbul.

The video shows Man Utd fans sitting and chatting ahead of the Europe League clash before a clan of thugs dressed in all-black swarm in.

But soon they are captured desperately scrambling from the scene as a chair is launched in their direction.

Within a few seconds more chairs appear to fly through the air at the Man Utd fans.

More ultras then seem to get involved as they swarm the bar and continue to use chairs as weapons.

Several tourists were captured desperately fleeing the dangerous scene.

It’s currently unknown whether any injuries were sustained.

But this isn’t the first time an alleged attack has taken place.

In a separate incident as many as 50 Fenerbahce fans are said to have “swarmed” a group of United fans who had travelled to Istanbul for the match.

Footage shared on social media showed an attack taking place outside of the Grand Hisar Hotel.

The videos showed footage of ultras charging and assaulting fans, leaving several injured.

A self-professed “anarchist” account on X by the name of GFB Bogaz Hooligans boasted about the footage after posting it online.

The account shared a 26-second video of the attacks with the caption: “This is İSTANBUL!”

An ominous post on their Instagram page showed an apparent group of hooligans on bikes.

It was captioned: “On the first punch of a fight… Manchester is now truly RED :).”

One Red Devils fan who was caught up in the attacks told StrettyNews how five fans were “swarmed” by a violent mob.

They said: “About 50 of them swarmed us.

“One lad followed me down a street and pretended to help before hitting me a shot into the jaw.”

They added that two members of their group were left injured by glasses and a crowbar.

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A separate incident is said to have involved 20 Fenerbahce fans descending upon a smaller group of United fans.

The Fenerbahce ultra account posted a screenshot of an apparent online conversation between them and a so-called United fan.

They said: “A response has been given to the traitors who insulted our religious and national values ​​and gave us a position.”

The pictures detailed how an offensive message was sent to start the exchange before messages of “see you soon”, and “let’s go” were sent before sending the location as the Celtic Irish Pub in Istanbul.

The pub is approximately an 11-minute walk from where one of the attacks took place.

SunSport were unable to track down a social media account with the details shared in the screenshot, meaning the message could have been fabricated or the original account was changed or deleted.

Manchester United and Fenerbahce have been approached for comment.

Violence has unfortunately become commonplace in football in Turkey, with Fenerbahce’s chairman attacked by a pitch invader and pelted with bottles earlier this season.

United face former boss Jose Mourinho tonight as they look for their first win in this season’s Europa League, with the Portuguese gaffer his normal bullish self ahead of the game.

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Dana White was more than ready on Thursday to respond to a few statements made by PFL co-founder Donn Davis during a town hall session held on MMA Fighting just 24 hours earlier.

During the hour long question and answer period, Davis addressed numerous inquiries from fans including the success of the recent PFL: Battle of the Giants pay-per-view capped off by Francis Ngannou’s return to MMA where he bludgeoned Renan Ferreira with punches for a first-round finish in the main event. While Davis couldn’t reveal how many pay-per-view buys the card generated, he did make one dubious claim when comparing PFL to UFC.

“This event by our research beat every viewership number of every UFC event this year and was very, very close to Ring of Fire,” Davis said.

It’s safe to say, White isn’t buying it.

When asked to address that claim following a Power Slap event in Abu Dhabi, the UFC CEO gleefully pulled out a sheet of paper filled with metrics comparing PFL to his slap-fighting league rather than the UFC.

“The PFL should keep the UFC out of their mouth,” White said. “They can’t even deal with Power Slap. Power Slap destroys PFL. It’s weird that you asked me that question because I just happened to have some papers here.

“So first of all let’s start with followers — Power Slap has 19.2 million followers, PFL has 10 [million]. Video views, PFL fight week did 326 million. Power Slap 8 did 690 million. PFL fight week Instagram views: 76 million. So if you look at PFL, fight week and the aftermath, these guys had 76 [million]. Just the week of [the event] they had 68 million on Power Slap and we hadn’t even had a fight yet. PFL’s Instagram reel with Francis and Ronaldo did 14 million views. Power Slap 9’s Instagram reel with contender Isaih [Quinones] had 22 million views. That was a repost of an old fight. The repost of the old fight beat Francis and Ronaldo.”

While he didn’t spend much time pitting the UFC against PFL, White did toss out one claim that a UFC Fight Night card held back in January actually pulled in bigger viewership numbers than the PFL pay-per-view.

“I could keep going on for a f*cking month here,” White said. “Then if you want to get into what he said about the UFC, I have a laundry list here but let me just start with this: UFC Vegas 84 at the APEX beat them.

“I love the stuff that he said. He sounds like Kamala [Harris], talks a lot but says nothing. I would hate to be one of that guy’s investors. [He said] ‘I don’t watch MMA. I’ve worked seven years and haven’t taken a vacation.’ You should probably take a vacation. You’re out of your f*cking mind. You should probably take a vacation.”

White rarely misses an opportunity to dunk on anybody attempting to come after him or the UFC but he reveled in the opportunity to fire back at Davis following his statements on Wednesday.

“That guy shouldn’t even mention the UFC,” White said. “He’s not even in Power Slap’s [league]. Then he was talking about ‘there’s all kinds of combination packages and how all this works.’ He doesn’t beat Power Slap in revenue. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in ticket sales. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in sponsorship. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in anything let alone the UFC.

“It’s obvious this guy isn’t an MMA fan. He’s acting like he’s some f*cking great businessman. He does not sound like a guy that I would want to invest my money with. But good luck to his investors.”

White also addressed the recent statement made by current Bellator champion Usman Nurmagomedov, who said that he planned to eventually join the UFC roster after his friend and teammate Islam Makhachev was done with fighting.

That didn’t come as a surprise to White, who expects Nurmagomedov and every other major fighter in the PFL would prefer competing in the UFC minus one person in particular.

“I mean all their good people want to be over here anyway so I would imagine that eventually yes, they will be here,” White said. “Nobody wants to fight in the f*cking PFL except for Francis.”

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, 24, is interested in joining Real Madrid when he leaves his current club, with the Norwegian’s contract expiring in 2027. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish), external

Liverpool winger Federico Chiesa is being linked with a loan move away from the club as the 26-year-old looks to regain form, with AC Milan, Roma, and Inter Milan all potential options. (Calciomercato.it – in Italian), external

Arsenal and Liverpool are still keen on a potential transfer move for Real Madrid midfielder Arda Guler, 19, as the Turkey international continues to struggle for playing time this season. (CaughtOffside), external

Arsenal could join the race to sign Sporting and Sweden striker Victor Gyokeres, 26, as manager Mikel Arteta looks to improve his attacking options. (GiveMeSport), external

Sweden striker Alexander Isak, 25, is keen to sign a new long-term deal beyond 2028 at Newcastle, despite interest from Arsenal and Chelsea. (i Sport), external

Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee, 23, could return on loan to Serie A after just one goal in 11 appearances for the Red Devils, with Juventus the most likely destination for the Dutchman. (Tuttosport via TeamTalk), external

Besiktas are keen on the possibility of taking Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, 27, on loan, with Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester United also interested in the Englishman. (Fotomac in Turkish), external