The race was bookended by two incidents between the title rivals, right at the start and in the closing stages.

At the first corner, Norris, who started from pole, appeared to have covered the inside line, but Verstappen went for it anyway and the two drivers both ran off the track on the exit.

Norris complained that Verstappen had forced him off and should give the place back, but the stewards did not investigate the incident.

Their battle allowed Leclerc to slip by into the lead and once there he was in total control of the race.

He quickly extended his advantage and it soon became clear that the Ferrari driver would dominate unless something went wrong.

Leclerc was 10 seconds in the lead by the time Verstappen in second place made his first pit stop on lap 25. Ferrari pulled him in a lap later and he controlled the race to the end.

Sainz ran third in the first stint, after briefly challenging Verstappen on the first lap, and Ferrari chose to use the ‘undercut’ on Red Bull.

Sainz pitted on lap 21 so by the time Verstappen stopped, the new tyres on the Ferrari had gained the Spaniard enough time that the Red Bull came out behind.

Verstappen was unable to do anything about Sainz, and had to turn his sights to Norris.

He and team-mate Oscar Piastri had a quiet first stint, running in fourth and fifth places, lacking the pace of the Ferraris and Red Bull in front of them.

But McLaren ran their drivers long to give them a tyre advantage in the second stint.

Norris stopped six laps after Verstappen and was 6.6 seconds behind when he returned to the track.

He was on the Red Bull’s tail just over 10 laps later and the two set about an engrossing battle over the next 10 laps.

Norris tracked Verstappen closely and a number of times the two ran side by side through some of the corners of the complex after Turn 12, the tight corner at the end of the long back straight.

But Verstappen positioned his car with expertise to prevent Norris ever being able to make a move at the hairpin at Turn 15.

On lap 52, Norris was closer than ever coming on to the back straight and he went for the outside as Verstappen defended the inside line.

Both cars ran off the track, Norris considerably, and the McLaren emerged ahead.

Verstappen immediately complained that Norris had overtaken by going off the track and should give the place back.

But Norris decided to press on, arguing to his team that he had been ahead at the apex.

But the stewards disagreed, and Norris was given a five-second penalty just before the end of the race. Although he had pulled away, he had not quite done enough to negate the penalty.

Sounding down, Norris told BBC Sport after the race: “That’s life. I didn’t do a good enough job.”

Asked whether he should have given the place back, he said: “Maybe that was my one and only chance.”

Piastri took fifth, while George Russell saved Mercedes’ blushes after a difficult weekend by recovering to sixth place after starting from the pit lane because of a crash in qualifying.

Team-mate Lewis Hamilton crashed on the second lap. “I have never spun especially on the second lap,” he said. “It’s devastating to not be in the race because I love this race.”

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Paul Hughes was rightfully in a joyous mood after pulling off an underdog win over A.J. McKee at PFL: Battle of the Giants, and has his eyes set on a title shot.

“We all know who’s next! Usman Nurmagomedov is next!” Hughes yelled into the microphone as he arrived at a post-fight news conference. “We all know that, right? Let’s go. Let’s do this.”

For “Big News” Hughes (13-1), defeating McKee was his biggest career win thus far. Although, he admits things were not ideal coming into this fight, which may have prevented an early finish, as he predicted.

“If I had a little more pop in that last round, I’m not going to lie, I was gassed after the first,” Hughes told reporters. “I did not have the best training camp, and I felt that in my body after the first round. I didn’t quite have that pop. I knew exactly what I needed to do to get him out of there. I just – a little bit extra lactic that I wouldn’t have had, and I should have got him out of there.”

Hughes landed some big shots during the fight, including a couple of big knees to McKee’s face. It was a shot Hughes knew would be there. So much so that he pre-recorded a YouTube video that he planned to drop had he finished the fight with the strike, but he said he’ll have to keep that one in the drafts.

The fight was one of Hughes’ best performances to date, and even though he had to sweat out a split decision read, he was fully confident he did enough to win.

Now, it’s about chasing gold, which the Irishman believes should be his next fight. The undefeated Nurmagomedov (18-0) currently holds the Bellator lightweight title.

With the Nurmagomedov’s history with his fellow countryman Conor McGregor, Hughes would love to have “The Notorious” be in his corner for that fight, to bring a counter energy of sorts because Khabib Nurmagomedov will be in Usman’s corner.

“Conor, I want you in my corner for that fight, 100 percent,” Hughes said. “How cool would that be? I mean, we might need some extra security that night, but I’m down for it. I think it would be fun.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL: Battle of the Giants.

Henry Hassid was crowned world champion in the Coppa Shell category thanks to a superb race in comeback style. Starting from P8 on the grid, the Frenchman stamped his authority on the competition right from the start, quite literally flying on the damp track of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.

The Kessel Racing driver took just one lap to pass from eighth place to first as he looked to be perfectly at home in the mixed conditions, while another of the leading protagonists, his teammate and polesitter Ernst Kirchmayr quickly lost several positions, dropping to sixth position.

In the early stages, the battle for second place was between Rey Acosta (The Collection) and Yasutaka Shirasaki (Rosso Scuderia), with the Japanese driver passing his American rival on lap 3 to move into second place.

Acosta was unable to reply and came under pressure from Andrea Ritzi, fourth and eager to take a prestigious podium. On lap 6 the driver of the CDP – D&C Racing team made a decisive attack to move into a provisional third place.

The next piece of on-track action came when John Dhillon, while he was battling for seventh position, lost control on the straight between Acque Minerali and Variante Alta, ending up by violently crashing into the wall. The front left wheel of the British driver’s 296 was detached and a fire broke out in the engine, all of which meant that the Race Direction sent the Safety Car out onto the track.

The race resumed with four minutes to go, and Hassid immediately tried to break away from Shirasaki, Ritzi and Kirchmayr, who had climbed to fourth place after overtaking a struggling Acosta.

On lap 12, Ritzi managed to overtake Shirasaki, but just before the braking point of the Variante del Tamburello, Kirchmayr and Shirasaki flanked each other and made contact, with the latter ending up against the wall. This time the Race Direction brought the red flags out, and that was followed by the chequered flag as there was no further action on track.

The final standings, therefore, saw Hassid as the Coppa Shell World Finals champion ahead of Ritzi and Kirchmayr.

There was also a good scrap in the 488 class. Qwin Wietlisbach, who started from pole, held onto first place but halfway through the race he ended up in the sights of Fabrizio Fontana (Formula Racing). The Italian, shaving off tenth after tenth, eventually caught up with the category leader.

When the race resumed after the first intervention of the Safety Car, Wietlisbach managed to hold off the attacks launched by Fontana and was crowned champion. Third place went to Maurizio Pitorri, several seconds adrift of the first two.

FOOTIE legend Paul Gascoigne once got into a hilarious punch up with Mickey Mouse and his Disney mates.

The scrap erupted during a drunken bender when he fled to Disneyland Paris after a row with club bosses at Lazio.

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They wanted him to star in a charity match alongside Diego Maradona but it would have meant him missing a vital league clash with Juventus.

So in a fit of anger he flew to Paris, got drunk and ended up brawling with Mickey, Pluto and Donald Duck.

The former Tottenham and England star recounted the hilarious story at “An Evening with Gazza” at Newcastle’s 02 City Hall.

He told the 2,000-strong audience: “I played a game against Milan and I scored and got man of the match.

“We had a game the next Sunday and the manager said, ‘Gazza you’re not playing’.

“He said, ‘The president wants you to play against Diego Maradona in Seville in a friendly on Tuesday’.

“I said, ‘Am I f***. I am playing against Juventus.’

“So you know what I did? I f** off to EuroDisney on my own.

“All I can remember is I headbutted Mickey Mouse, kicked Pluto up the a***, and had a fight with Donald Duck.

“My dad said to me, ‘F*** EuroDisney? Go and play that game’.”

Gazza had a change of heart and caught a flight to Seville for the November 1992 match which ended 1-1 and was hoping for a £120,000 pay day.

He had the audience in fits of laughter as he told how he downed more drinks on the plane and said: “I got to the dressing room and the lads knew I was p*ssed. “

“I go down the tunnel and Diego Maradona is standing there.

“I said, ‘Diego f***ing hell I’m p*ssed.’ He said, ‘It’s OK Gazza, so am I.’

I go down the tunnel and Diego Maradona is standing there. I said, ‘Diego f***ing hell I’m p*ssed.’ He said, ‘It’s OK Gazza, so am I

Paul Gascoigne

“I don’t know how but I scored a f***ing unbelievable goal.

“I did the press conference which didn’t go down too well.

“Lazio then said they weren’t giving me 120 grand, they were taking 40 grand from my wages.

“You know what I did? I f** off to the airport and went back to EuroDisney.”

Gazza, who scored six goals in 43 appearances with Lazio, made a quip that he was only drinking water before the show.

He told the audience: “By the way this is water so if you want to take a photo you’ll make f** all from the newspapers.

“And if you do, we’ll go halfers.”

Daniel Pineda came up short against Darren Elkins at UFC Vegas 99, but hung up his gloves in style Saturday night.

A veteran of 43 professional bouts, Pineda entered the cage looking to snap a two-fight losing skid to Alex Caceres and Nathaniel Wood, and put on an absolute war against Darren Elkins in the main card opener at the UFC APEX.

Elkins left victorious with an unanimous 29-28 score to put his first winning streak together in over three years, 12 months after his second-round finish over TJ Brown, while Pineda drops his final three inside the octagon.

“That was my last one, man,” Pineda said after the featherweight clash. “You know, we’re some dogs in here and this is my third [loss] straight. F*ck it, dude, I’m done. I’m done guys. Thank you Elkins for this badass fight.”

Pineda retires with a record of 28-17 and three no-contests, and wins over the likes of Leonard Garcia, Johnny Bedford and Herbert Burns.

Watch his retirement speech below.

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