Red Bull’s renewed challenge at the front of the grid in Austin suggests the team has begun to better understand the issues that it faces in finding performance from the RB20 on a week-by-week basis.

However, there are other factors to consider, with its handle on the tyres when compared with the opposition a glaring difference at the United States Grand Prix.

Seemingly able to find and better hold onto the performance sweet spot that’s necessary for lap time and longevity over a stint was undoubtedly a factor throughout the race weekend and something which has been lacking throughout much of 2024, exacerbated by its struggles with car balance.

However, we cannot dismiss the fact that the RB20 was also furnished with a smattering of new parts, perhaps helping Red Bull unlock the balance it’s sorely been missing for several races.

This included a revised layout at the rear of the edge wing, with the rear quarter of its surface not only being reshaped but also cambered more than its predecessor. There’s also a change in the profile of the vertical tab at the rear of the edge wing, as it’s reconfigured along with the shape of the edge wing’s tail, which is now more upturned than before.

There were also changes to the sidepod and engine cover bodywork on the RB20 in Austin, with the rearward sloping surface steepened as the overall length of the sidepod has been shortened. This change coincides with the belt-line contouring also being adjusted to provide a better passage for the airflow to travel to the rear of the car.

McLaren was one of several teams to declare a raft of changes for the United States Grand Prix, as it looks to continue its ascent through the pecking order and provide a step up in performance for the MCL38 in the remaining few races of the season.

McLaren MCL38 front wing comparison

Photo by: Uncredited

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As has been the trend during this regulatory era, the front wing and front suspension fairings have been altered in tandem, such is their aerodynamic kinship. The alterations to the front wing were subtle though, as the team adjusted the size of the upper two flaps in the outboard section, with the uppermost now a more continuous height across the span of the element (green arrows and comparison with older specification inset)

This has also constituted changes to the suspension fairing’s shapes, with the geometry of the front leg of the lower wishbone altered. Also, the shape of the cricket bat-shaped outer portion of the front leg of the upper wishbone has been reconfigured, along with the shape of the inboard attachment fairing.

McLaren MCL38 beam wing comparison

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Despite having announced the introduction of a new single-element beam wing arrangement to compliment its higher downforce rear wing configuration in the car presentation document, McLaren opted for another beam wing variant seemingly already in its pool.

The twin element, bi-plane style arrangement, was still a lower downforce version than the one used in Singapore and was likely chosen by the team as it was a known quantity, rather than pursuing an untested solution with just one practice session, especially as the team had so many other components to field test in just one session ahead of sprint qualifying.

Warner scored 8,786 runs at an average of 44.59 in 112 Tests, with 26 centuries, his final match coming in victory over Pakistan at his home Sydney Cricket Ground.

The left-hander also retired from one-day internationals in the lead-up to his final Test, and from T20 internationals following Australia’s exit from the T20 World Cup in June.

Warner is continuing to play T20 franchise cricket and has signed a two-year deal to represent Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League.

He has not played in the Sheffield Shield, Australia’s domestic red-ball competition, since 2021, but said he would be “more than happy” to play in the next round of fixtures if he was “really needed” for the India series.

He added: “I did retire for the right reasons to finish the game, and I wanted to finish.

“But my hand is up if they desperately need someone. I’m not going to shy away from that.”

Smith struggled in his four Tests as opener, scoring 171 runs at an average of 28.50, with Green’s absence after undergoing spinal surgery allowing the former captain to move back to his preferred spot at number four.

Bancroft, Harris and Renshaw have all struggled in their limited Test careers, though Bancroft, who has not played for Australia since the 2019 Ashes, has been in fine form in the Sheffield Shield over the past two years.

New South Wales opener Konstas, 19, has only played five first-class matches, but hit centuries in both innings in the opening round of this year’s Shield.

Max Holloway doesn’t mind trading verbal jabs with his opponents, but he doesn’t operate under the “when they go low, you go lower” mantra.

In the leadup to UFC 308, Holloway sat down for a face-to-face interview with opponent Ilia Topuria where they went back and forth for nearly 20 minutes in a heated exchange. At one point, Holloway told him to “speak” as Topuria was seemingly stumbling over his words and the former featherweight champion later revealed that he received criticism as if he was mocking the Georgian fighter for struggling with his English, which is obviously not his first language.

“I need to clear this up,” Holloway told MMA Fighting when addressing the situation. “A lot of people was giving me heat for teasing him how he spoke English. I wasn’t teasing that he was speaking English. I know he speaks like five languages. I speak one language and I have a hard time speaking English. I have a hard time saying names. I understand how hard speaking one language is. I wasn’t teasing his language.

“What I was teasing was that he sounded so scripted and then every time he went off of his scripted words, he started mumbling or he would say ‘shut the f*ck up, motherf*cker.’ I’m like brother, you’re so scripted right now. That’s why I teased him. I’m like speak. Stop using your scripted lines.”

It turns out that was Holloway’s biggest annoyance because he believes Topuria was effectively reading from a script during many of the verbal exchanges.

While Holloway doesn’t spent much time trash talking his opponents, he’s not going to knock a guy for the way he speaks English but he’s not opposed to getting frustrated when he feels like he’s hearing rehearsed lines meant to insult him.

“It wasn’t that deep,” Holloway said. “I was calling him out. You could tell. Watch the interview. Everything he was saying was scripted. As soon as it wasn’t scripted, or he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t have an answer for it, he’d either say ‘shut the eff up, mother effer’ or he would start stumbling. That’s why I was teasing him.

“I don’t talk very good English and this is my only language. Stop attacking me about that.”

Truth be told, Holloway can’t wait to put the talking behind him and just get into the octagon to battle with Topuria as he attempts to reclaim the UFC featherweight title.

He hasn’t sat on top of the 145-pound division for nearly five years after falling to Alexander Volkanovski back in 2019 and then losing a pair of rematches to the Australian.

Meanwhile, Topuria vanquished Volkanovski in impressive fashion back in February, ultimately scoring a second round knockout to win the title. That fight came just under four months removed from Volkanovski suffering a brutal head kick knockout loss to Islam Makhachev and an argument could be made that he rushed back too soon for the showdown against Topuria.

For his part, Holloway doesn’t want to live in a world filled with what ifs because Volkanovski made the decision to fight and Topuria beat him. End of story.

“At the end of the day, we can be like ‘if he did this, if he did that,’ at the end of the day his team, Alex has a great team around him, they thought that he was ready and they went out there and fought,” Holloway said. “Even if he was compromised, Ilia went out there and did his thing. He landed the shot that ended the fight. That’s a hard thing to do. He’s still got to do that part.

“We can say he said, she said and all this kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, Ilia did what he did. He showed up to the fight, Alex showed up to the fight, and he was just on the winning side. You can’t take nothing away from the guy. I’m not going to. He’s a dangerous man and I can’t wait to go out there and share the octagon with him and prove a lot of these naysayers wrong.”

When it comes to his hopes to reclaim the title on Saturday, Holloway admits it would be a remarkably important moment for his career, especially considering what he endured through those three losses to Volkanovski.

Becoming a two-time UFC featherweight champion might not end up as the biggest accomplishment of his career, but Holloway knows it would be pretty special.

“It would mean a lot, especially with the way my career went,” Holloway said. “After that third fight with [Alexander] Volkanovski, a lot of people were saying I should change weight classes or all together, I should just retire because it’s never, ever going to happen.

“I guess a couple of years later we’re here and we’re days away and we get to find out who has the last laugh Oct. 26. I can’t wait for the opportunity.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees will meet up in the World Series, starting with Game 1 on Friday (8:08 p.m. ET on FOX).

This will be the 12th time these iconic franchises will battle for a championship, but the first time since 1981.

Here is the lowdown on Game 1, including how to watch, potential lineups and more.

How can I watch the World Series?

Every game will be broadcast on FOX, and each contest is slated to start at 8:08 p.m. ET. Here is the schedule:

Who is favored?

The Dodgers are currently favored to win Game 1, and also favored (-125) to win the series.

Who will start Game 1?

The Yankees will start reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. The Dodgers have not yet announced a starter. Walker Buehler was expected to start Game 7 of the NLCS if that had occurred. But the long break gives them more options, including potentially Jack Flaherty or Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Dodgers vs. Yankees preview: Who will win the World Series?

[Related: A look back at past Dodgers-Yankees World Series matchups]

Who will be in the lineup for Game 1?

Neither team has announced its starting lineup, so these are projections based on how Yankees manager Aaron Boone and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts have filled out their cards in recent games. Also, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman has been in and out of the lineup with an ankle injury, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. This will be updated when things become official.

Yankees

1. Gleyber Torres, 2B
2. Juan Soto, RF
3. Aaron Judge, CF
4. Giancarlo Stanton, DH
5. Jazz Chisholm, 3B
6. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
7. Anthony Volpe, SS
8. Austin Wells, C
9. Alex Verdugo, LF

Dodgers

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH
2. Mookie Betts, RF
3. Freddie Freeman, 1B
4. Max Muncy, 3B
5. Teoscar Hernández, LF
6. Gavin Lux, 2B
7. Will Smith, C
8. Tommy Edman, SS
9. Kiké Hernández, CF

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ENGLAND fans are still able to get tickets for next month’s Nations League clashes – including a huge decider.

The Three Lions are up against it as they look to win promotion back to League A at the first attempt, following a shock 2-1 loss at home to Greece earlier this month.

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And they now face Greece away and Ireland at home knowing they will probably have to win both matches to top the group.

Should England finish second, they will enter a two-legged play-off with one of the third placed teams in League A in March.

The Greeks currently top the group on 12 points with England second on nine.

However, the Greek FA clearly weren’t expecting unprecedented demand for the England game at the Athens Olympic Stadium with tickets on sale from £10.

England fans will be housed in the upper tier where the cheapest tickets are available.

While most of the away allocation has already been taken up, 660 tickets go on sale on to England fans Wednesday at 12pm.

Should Greece win or draw, they will guarantee top spot in the group promotion to Nations League A.

If England win by two goals, they will just need a win against Ireland to finish top.

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But if England win by one goal then they will need to win against the Irish at Wembley by a greater margin than any Greece win away at Finland.

Thomas Tuchel was last week announced as the new England manager on an 18-month deal until after the World Cup.

However, the ex-Chelsea boss will not formally take over until January 1, leaving Lee Carsley in charge in Athens.

It is likely that Tuchel will attend the match, but the German will not be allowed to be present at the World Cup qualifying draw in December.

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ADXC 6 was forced to make another change to its main event in Abu Dhabi, and this time it’s a grappling battle between UFC veterans Muhammad Mokaev and Rogerio Bontorin set for Friday. Bontorin’s manager announced the news on Monday.

The card went from Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Eduardo Dantas as the headlining attraction to Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Muhammad Mokaev, and now Bontorin steps in as a short-notice replacement “due to unforeseen circumstances”. Rosas Jr. posted on social media that “UFC wants me to focus on MMA for now”.

Mokaev remains unbeaten after 36 MMA contests in a row, going 23-0 as an amateur before turning pro in 2020. The Russian was victorious in all seven UFC appearances, beating the likes of Manel Kape and Alex Perez, but was not re-signed to the promotion.

Bontorin fought six times under the UFC banner between 2019 and 2022 after competing at Dana White’s Contender Series, scoring wins over Magomed Bibulatov and Raulian Paiva before a four-fight skid with defeats to Ray Borg, Kai Kara-France and Brandon Royval. Bontorin, who last fought in MMA inside the RIZIN cage back in 2023, scored 11 of his 17 MMA wins via submission.