For Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears, Monday night’s game at Minnesota will be all about second chances

Lewis Hamilton had hoped his revamped Mercedes would have propelled him closer to the front after he finished sixth in practice for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton’s Mercedes team arrived for the sixth round of the season in the sun-cooked principality armed with a major upgrade. But after an encouraging start – with Hamilton briefly heading the order in the opening running of the weekend – the British driver ended the day half-a-second behind Max Verstappen, who finished fastest for Red Bull. George Russell was only 12th in the other Mercedes. “It is a shame we were not as close as I hoped we would be at the end of the session,” said Hamilton. “In P1, I thought, ‘Wow, maybe we’re looking pretty good’, but in P2 we were close to half-a-second off. I don’t think we have half a second in the bag. “We’ve just got to keep chipping away to see if we can squeeze any more juice out of the cup.” After giving up on this season’s car on the eve of the opening race in Bahrain, Mercedes have spent the ensuing dozen weeks working on a new design philosophy. The Silver Arrows have abandoned their controversial zero-sidepod concept and introduced a new front suspension, new floor and cooling system in a drastic change of development on a car which has contributed to the longest losing streak of Hamilton’s career. On Sunday, it will be 539 days since Hamilton last stood on the top step of the podium at the penultimate round of the contentious 2021 season in Saudi Arabia. And although Mercedes are keen not to draw too many conclusions at this week’s unique Monte Carlo configuration – and believe the following round at the well-trodden Circuit de Catalunya venue on the outskirts of Barcelona will present them with a better understanding of where they stand – the evidence of practice suggests they are no closer to providing a real challenge to Red Bull. Hamilton added: “It’s not really the place to test an upgrade, but the car was generally feeling good. “It’s very clear where the lack of performance is, and we will talk about that in the debrief. Hopefully this gives us a platform to build on moving forwards.” Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez are the only men to have won a race this year, but their rapid Red Bull is not necessarily suited to the narrow and slow-speed track in Monaco. However, despite Perez managing only seventh in practice, Verstappen’s pace indicates he could still be the driver to beat. Home favourite Charles Leclerc is ready to pounce – after he finished just 0.065 seconds back – with his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who crashed out of second practice remaining following a mistake at the high-speed swimming pool chicane, third. Fernando Alonso could be a contender, too. The Aston Martin driver, 41, took fourth spot, 0.220 sec adrift of Verstappen. Lando Norris finished fifth in his McLaren. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lewis Hamilton: Racist abuse of Vinicius Junior really hits home for me Bernie Ecclestone would be surprised if Lewis Hamilton wanted to leave Mercedes Lewis Hamilton insists right decision is made as Emilia Romagna GP cancelled

New York hopes to bring back most of the same team next season that fell just short in the WNBA Finals

Eileen Kelly, a sex blogger, has shown her interest in golf, challenging the most popular golf influencer, Paige Spiranac

Walt Disney's ESPN and casino-owner Penn Entertainment have agreed to jointly launch a sports betting business under the

The Asian Football Confederation said on Wednesday that it was investigating "acts of violence" after two mass brawls and four red cards marred the men's...

The final warm-up matches for this year's Rugby World Cup took place this weekend with holders South Africa hammering New Zealand on Friday and Fiji...

Brendan Rodgers said Tuesday that he had returned to coach Celtic "quicker than I had thought" and pledged to continue the attacking...

Kahleah Copper scored 15 points and the Chicago Sky spoiled Brittney Griner’s regular-season home debut, holding on down the stretch for a 75-69 win over the Phoenix Mercury

Trae Young scored 41 points, then fed Dejounte Murray for a go-ahead 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to give the Atlanta Hawks a 120-119 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night in a regular-season game in Mexico City

Lionel Messi came off the bench to score Inter Miami's winning goal against Cruz Azul on his debut, earning the Herons a 2-1 win in the Leagues Cup.

Paul George scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook added 18 and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Orlando Magic 118-102 as future teammate James Harden watched from a suite