LA Taqueria el Califa de Leon is the humble market stall selling £2 tacos that went to Michelin star earlier this year.

At this weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix, F1 driver Valtteri Bottas visited the taco hotspot, so F1 reporter Isabelle Barker followed suit to see what all the fuss is about.

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The stand, which has just four items on the menu, made headlines on May 14 after it was crowned with a Michelin star after the guide debuted in Mexico for the first time ever this year.

It is a 10ft-by-10ft taco shop tucked behind a row of street stalls in the working-class San Rafael neighbourhood.

There was a small queue of mainly tourists outside when SunSport visited around 6pm on Wednesday night.

They were eagerly waiting to sample its four types of carne asada (grilled steak) tacos, which is the only thing on the menu.

Prices range from £2.50 to £4 which is actually considered expensive by Mexican standards for a taco.

Sauber driver Bottas, who used to partner Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, visited the stand on Tuesday.

He posted a picture of him outside the stand to his Instagram with the caption: “Michelin star taco Tuesday.”

The taco itself is no-frills, with the owners priding themselves in the quality of the meat as well as their homemade tortillas.

There are wedges of lime or salsa rojo and salsa verde on the side to drizzle over the taco.

The stand has been around for more than 50 years and is known for its Gaonera taco, which is said to be named in honour of Mexican bullfighter Rodolfo Gaona.

The Michelin Guide website said: “This taqueria may be bare bones with just enough room for a handful of diners to stand at the counter but its creation, the Gaonera taco, is exceptional.”

Conor McGregor continues to play games with the fans in regards to comeback talk.

Replying to a comment on social media suggesting that his wealth and success have made it unnecessary for him to fight again, the former two-division UFC champion replied, “Ya know what, you’re right, good bye.”

The brief response shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to anyone that has followed McGregor’s career as he has teased retirement in the past on multiple occasions, only to walk back his statement (and sometimes delete the comment). As it stands, the 36-year-old has not fought since UFC 264 in July 2021, when he broke his leg in a loss to longtime rival Dustin Poirier.

After taking time off to deal with the injury, McGregor coached a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Michael Chandler and was supposed to fight Chandler at UFC 303 this past June. However, McGregor withdrew from the bout due to injury and Chandler has since moved on to a rematch with Charles Oliveira set for UFC 309.

McGregor has also expressed an interest in competing for BKFC, the bare-knuckle boxing organization of which he is currently a part owner.

No firm timetable has been given for McGregor’s next fight, with UFC CEO Dana White most recently stating he expects “The Notorious” to return sometime in 2025.

Ten Hag has had to deal with other tough situations.

Right at the start of his tenure, he had to discipline Cristiano Ronaldo for leaving Old Trafford early after he had been replaced at half-time during a pre-season game against Rayo Vallecano.

The move showed strength but set in place a chain of events that would eventually lead to Ronaldo being kicked out of the club following an incendiary interview with Piers Morgan when he said Ten Hag “doesn’t show respect for me”.

Ten Hag used a lunch with journalists in Spain during the World Cup break to explain his thinking.

“When he is in good shape, he is a good player and could help us achieve the objectives we have, that is quite clear,” said the Dutchman.

“But he wasn’t. I wanted to work with him. He chose another way.”

Ten Hag disciplined Rashford shortly afterwards for missing the start of a team meeting by leaving the England forward on the bench for a game at Wolves. Rashford scored the winner after being introduced as a substitute.

Then there was Jadon Sancho, who was put on a personal fitness programme after United’s coaching staff noted his physical stats were dropping. When he was left out of the squad for a defeat at Arsenal in September 2023, Ten Hag cited the England man’s poor performance in training.

Sancho immediately responded on social media by saying he was being made “a scapegoat”. Sancho deleted the post but refused to apologise.

Ten Hag never picked him for another Premier League game and while he did return to the squad during pre-season, on transfer deadline day, he went on loan to Chelsea.

Last season, Ten Hag had to wrestle with a crippling injury list, on which he had not always received the best advice. With Luke Shaw fit, he was told Tyrell Malacia would be available within a couple of weeks of the start of February last season, so Ten Hag opted to let his on loan left-back Sergio Reguilon return to Tottenham.

But Malacia was soon to suffer a major setback in his recovery and Shaw suffered a hamstring injury at Luton on 18 February. Neither has played a game for United since. Despite a bullish summer statement from the club about a revamped medical department, at West Ham Ten Hag was without seven senior players because of injury.

However, sympathy can only be extended so far.

Ten Hag is a likeable man. On that pre-Christmas trip to Spain, he entertained the media over lunch with stories of his youth and early career. In Los Angeles this summer, arriving more than an hour earlier than initially planned for a series of interviews with UK media he laughed and joked with reporters and even offered advice on the best places to go for coffee near his Cheshire home.

At the recent Football Writers’ Dinner in Manchester, he hung around and spoke to journalists long after he had collected his award for winning the FA Cup.

But during the season, in an official capacity, Ten Hag’s communication was not great. Some members of the media were told by United staff that Ten Hag preferred ‘blunt’ questions because he found them easier to understand and answer.

The problem was, the answers, increasingly, did not stand up to scrutiny.

Before and after the international break, Ten Hag spoke about being on the “same page” as United’s hierarchy. But for all the bullish words it has seemed to be a question of when, not if, he would leave.

One source, who has vast experience at a senior level at United, was surprised Ten Hag did not lose his job at the end of last season. He was incredulous it didn’t happen at some point before the October resumption.

But numerous United figures, both in and out of Old Trafford, agreed with the sentiment that once the boulder starts to roll down the hill, it is a matter of time before it reaches the bottom. Now it has.

Many of United’s players will be sad to see Ten Hag go.

In April 2023, the Daily Telegraph reported, external one of the reasons why Tottenham opted not to try to bring Ten Hag in from Ajax to replace Jose Mourinho in 2021 was because they felt he lacked charisma.

There is an element of that at United.

Multiple sources have confirmed there has been no big bust-up and no growing ill feeling. But there was no connection either. A lack of a basic understanding of what Ten Hag was trying to achieve.

A coach but not a communicator.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes that Formula 1’s backmarkers disobeying blue flags ultimately cost Charles Leclerc second in the Mexico Grand Prix.

Leclerc had a gap of over three seconds to Lando Norris going into the final 15 laps of the 71-lap affair at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but had to watch his advantage dissipate when the two started to lap traffic – encountering Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto.

The Monegasque then cleared the now-lapped with about half of that initial advantage, which Norris was able to close down and begin applying pressure. Leclerc then went wide at the Peraltada at the end of lap 62 and saved his Ferrari from succumbing to a snap of oversteer – which let Norris through.

Vasseur disagreed with an assessment that Norris was faster in the closing stages, stating that Leclerc lost time and tyre temperature wrangling with the traffic – particularly Stroll, behind whom Leclerc lost most of his advantage.

“It’s your analysis [Norris was faster] but I’m not really aligned. I think that Charles had good pace, but we lost three seconds with the guys who were blue-flagged,” Vasseur explained.

“And we also lost a lot of temperature in the tyres at this stage and he made a mistake, but I think from the beginning, the race was under control.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Charles was not happy yesterday with P3 or P4, but still today he did a good race. I’m a bit upset with the story with the blue flag, it cost us P2. But at the end of the day, it is like it is, but we have to be focused now on the next one and forget this one.

“When you do five corners when the guy has a solid blue, it’s not unfortunate. It’s a mistake of the guy.”

Elaborating further when speaking to Sky Sports F1, Vasseur stated that “[Leclerc] lost three or four seconds into the traffic with some idiots. Norris came back, Charles pushed a bit too much. Perhaps he lost also a little bit of temperature in the tyres when he was with these guys.

“Honestly, they have to respect the blue flag and I don’t understand why the FIA didn’t give them a penalty. We had four seconds on Norris. And after the three guys, we were 1.2 or 1.3 ahead.”

Leclerc suggested that he had “no chance” of beating Norris when the McLaren driver began to close, stating that his clash with Max Verstappen had helped Ferrari build something of a buffer.

“Lando was flying, and I think as a team, we’ve been pretty lucky that whatever happened with Max and Lando at the beginning of the race, slowed him down massively.

“His second stint was very, very impressive. On my side, there was no way that I could stay in front. I knew that it would be very difficult.

“I knew that I had to have an incredible exit out of the last corner, so I tried to put everything to have a really good exit, went over the limit, lost the car and lost the position, but I felt it was a question of laps or corners before I lost that position.”

The Ballon d’Or ceremony 2024 will start at 1:15 am IST on October 29, Tuesday. Meanwhile, hours ahead of the much-awaited football ceremimony, multiple reports claimed that the prestigious event will not be attended by any players or management representatives of Real Madrid including Vinicius Junior.

Real Madrid’s Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr was unofficially declared the winner of the Ballon d’Or 2024 by several media outlets, quoting a “leaked report.” However, latest reports confirm that Vinicius will not travel to Paris as he is convinced that he will not win the coveted prize. 

Vini’s Real teammate Jude Bellingham of England was also named among possible frontrunners to win the honour created by France Football. However, multiple reports confirm that like Vni Jr, Bellingham will also give the event a skip along with his manager Carlo Ancelotti and president Florentino Perez.

THE WEEK had earlier said that Manchester City’s Spanish CDM Rodri was better suited to lift the prestigipus golden ball over Vinicius. While the winger was undoubtedly the best attacker last year, Rodri has had a more impactful and complete year in football.