Max Verstappen accused Formula One’s referee of making the sport’s superstars look like “amateurs” in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for Sunday’s 71-lap race in Spielberg after he saw off a late flurry from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz starts third in the other scarlet car ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton who qualified fourth and fifth respectively. Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez finished only 15th after all three of his laps in Q2 were deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen also had four runs scrubbed off by the stewards for putting his Red Bull over the white lines. In all, an extraordinary 47 laps were deleted by race director Niels Wittich. “This is a joke,” said Verstappen over the radio. “Honestly, with these track limits, f****** ridiculous.” Verstappen managed to fend off Leclerc by just 0.048 sec, but moments after he stepped out of his Red Bull, the Dutch driver took aim at Wittich’s refereeing. “Today, it was very silly,” he said. “It made us look like amateurs with the amount of laps that were being deleted and some of them were so marginal. “We spoke about it in the briefing before, and when it is very marginal, it is impossible to judge if the car is out or in, and yet laps were still getting deleted. It was not a good look today. “People will say, ‘you should have kept the car in the white lines’. If it was that easy, you can take my car and try it, but you probably wouldn’t get up to speed in time.” A Remote Operation Centre in Geneva consisting of six officials – FIA’s answer to football’s VAR system – flag up contentious laps to Race Control at the circuit using various camera angles. Wittich then has the final say. It is understood that if the laps in question are marginal, Wittich will lean in favour of the driver. But Verstappen continued: “We don’t do this on purpose. With these speeds and the high-speed corners it is so hard to judge where the white line is and that is why a lot of people got caught out. “My first lap in Q3 was just a banker lap which takes out the joy. Today showed that it is not easy to have a clear rule about it.” Despite the row, reigning world champion Verstappen will be favourite to take his seventh victory from the nine rounds so far this season and extend his 69-point championship lead over struggling team-mate Perez. Behind the Dutchman, Norris impressed to take fourth spot in his revamped McLaren, one place ahead of Hamilton who finished 0.428 sec adrift of Verstappen. The Red Bull Ring is hosting F1’s second sprint event of the year with a shortened qualifying and race to follow on Saturday before Sunday’s main event. “Our car has not suited this circuit in the past and it showed again today,” said Hamilton. “It was a really tough and difficult session but we got through it, thank God. “We will try to do better in sprint qualifying tomorrow, and then fifth on Sunday is a strong position to start from.” Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell managed only 11th on a disappointing afternoon for the Briton. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lewis Hamilton calls for change, claiming new rule would ensure a ‘real race’ ‘Happy’ Lewis Hamilton still hungry for record eighth world title – Damon Hill Horner details what makes ‘mega talent’ Verstappen so special

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Lance Stroll has been given the all-clear to race in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, despite his staggering 110mph qualifying crash. The Canadian driver lost control of his Aston Martin through the final left-hander at the Marina Bay Circuit before he slammed into the barrier. The force of the high-speed impact sent Stroll’s head rocking from side-to-side. He catapulted back across the track, with British driver Lando Norris forced to take evasive action, dodging a flying wheel and Stroll’s out-of-control machine. “Is the driver all right?” asked a concerned Norris on the radio. “That must have been quite a big one.” Stroll pirouetted to a standstill in the middle of the track before his race engineer Ben Michell came on the radio. “Lance, car is safe,” said Michell. “Are you OK?” Stroll, 24, replied: “Yeah, I am OK.” The Aston Martin driver emerged from his wrecked vehicle unaided before being taken off in a medical car. But there is some doubt if Stroll, the son of the team’s fashion billionaire father Lawrence Stroll, will be able to take part in the race given the significant damage sustained by his machine. A statement from Aston Martin read: “Lance was taken to the medical centre for a precautionary assessment. He was cleared by the on-site medical team and returned to the team at track. “Aston Martin pay tribute to the ongoing work of the FIA and the safety measures of current Formula One cars.” Stroll’s accident brought a premature end to Q1. A 34-minute delay followed as the mangled tyre barrier was repaired. Stroll was 20th and last at the time of his crash. Fernando Alonso qualified seventh in the other Aston Martin. “I’m frustrated as we have a big job – in the garage and on the race track – ahead of us,” said Stroll. “I was struggling for grip throughout the qualifying session. When I saw my lap wasn’t improving, I pushed really hard in the last corner to try and make up that extra time and that’s when it went wrong. Let’s see what we can salvage tomorrow in the race.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live ‘You can forget about that’ – Max Verstappen rules out another win in Singapore Lance Stroll crashes into barrier at 110mph in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying Max Verstappen struggles in Singapore practice under the lights

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It has been a history-making, game-changing Women's World Cup for Australia, but the Matildas' participation in the tournament ended in a 2-0 defeat to Sweden in the third-place playoff on Saturday.

Under-fire Wales boss Rob Page says he is determined to see out the three remaining years of his contract. Page signed a four-year deal exactly 12 months ago as Wales prepared to make their first appearance at a World Cup for 64 years. But their fortunes have plummeted since and Page faces a potentially make-or-break Euro 2024 qualifier in Latvia on Monday. Wales must beat bottom side Latvia – who are yet to register a point in Group D – to keep alive hopes of a top-two place and automatic qualification for next summer’s finals in Germany. Asked at his pre-match press conference whether he was under pressure from the Football Association of Wales executive to qualify, Page said: “I can’t let that affect me. I can’t think about that. “I’ve got a job to do. I want to qualify for me, as a Welsh supporter myself. “As the manager, I want to be in this job for the rest of my contract. I really enjoy working with this group of players.” Pressed further on whether he was fighting for his job, Page replied: “We are in an industry where you need to win games of football. “We are in a period of transition as well. I can’t influence what the board or people above do. “All I can worry about is winning games of football and giving it my best shot. “If I do that and it doesn’t work out for me, then at least I can walk away with my head held high.” Wales warmed up for their trip to Latvia with a goalless draw against South Korea on Thursday. Page said he saw plenty of positive signs during that Cardiff clash and Wales were further boosted by Friday’s set of results in their qualifying section. Group favourites Croatia left Latvia dispirited with a 5-0 thrashing, while Turkey and Armenia drew 1-1. Wales would draw level on points with Armenia if they win in Riga and Croatia do likewise in Yerevan – and move within three points of Turkey with a game in hand. “(Turkey and Armenia drawing) was probably the best result for us,” Page said. “It would be nice for Croatia to get another win for them to run away with it and have us fighting it out for second spot. “We want to win the game. It’s all about the points for us. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1-0. “They are off the back of a tough game but they have been in games right up until the 90th minute. “We can’t wait for it off the back of a positive performance against Korea. I didn’t want the game because I didn’t want to risk injuries and we’ve picked up an injury from that game as Wes (Burns) came on and he tweaked his hamstring. “There is a generation of supporters who have seen Wales qualify for major tournaments. Losing players makes the job harder, but expectations say that we should be qualifying. “It’s not as easy as that. We will continue to try and qualify for every tournament.”

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This year's Women's World Cup saw one of its biggest upsets Thursday when Nigeria beat co-host Australia 3-2, and spectators will be hoping for as much drama Friday.

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Benoit Badiashile scored the opening goal as he made his first appearance of the season in Chelsea’s 2-0 Carabao Cup victory over Blackburn at Stamford Bridge. The France defender had not started a Blues match since he was injured in their draw with Nottingham Forest in May and got himself involved at both ends of the pitch in a game that also saw Reece James return to the starting XI. Raheem Sterling fired home after the break, and while the visitors had defended well, they never looked close to coming back into the contest. Chelsea have now reached their 24th quarter-final in 33 attempts, and are one step closer to lifting a first League Cup since 2015, when Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of runners-up Tottenham. Backburn had not played a League Cup contest at Stamford Bridge in 26 years and over 3,000 supporters made the trip, hoping to do one better than they did in 1997 when Rovers were knocked out after a penalty shootout. There was little excitement inside the opening exchanges, which, save for two wasted corners for the hosts and Dilan Markanday’s left-footed effort running wide, was largely characterised by two sides simply trying find an early footing. It took just over 15 minutes for Chelsea to finally test Leopold Wahlstedt through a drilled effort from James which the Swedish goalkeeper just managed to get enough of his body in the way to make the stop. Badiashile did well to clear away a Blackburn chance before James tried again, this time with a low effort from distance before Enzo Fernandez forced Wahlstedt into a low save at the right post. Blackburn continued to frustrate the Blues, winning back possession inside the penalty area, while Wahlstedt was able to palm away Conor Gallagher’s dangerous cross, but the rebound somehow sailed between a sea of bodies. It eventually landed at the feet of the fortunate Badiashile, who dutifully finished to open the scoring after 30 minutes of a half that also saw penalty shouts from both sides brushed aside by referee Tim Robinson. Harry Leonard fired inches wide of the right post to start off the second half, while Fernandez could only send his next effort straight into the arms of Wahlstedt, who would soon have no chance of stopping Chelsea’s second. After some good work by Cole Palmer to win the ball deep inside Blackburn’s half, Sterling latched on to the ball at the edge of the area and powered a shot into the top right. Both managers took the opportunity to make changes, and the visitors were prevented from conceding a quick third when Palmer’s effort took a dangerous deflection off James Hill and whizzed toward the goal before Blackburn were saved by the left post. Chelsea pushed for a third with both Gallagher and Sterling sending efforts across the face of goal as the clock wound down on Blackburn’s cup campaign, though not before substitute Arnor Sigurdsson came close to firing in a stoppage-time consolation. Read More Darwin Nunez comes off bench to help Liverpool beat Bournemouth Everton earn fitting win at Goodison Park as Bill Kenwright is remembered Fulham ease into quarter-finals with win at Championship high-flyers Ipswich West Ham hammer Arsenal on Declan Rice’s return to reach quarter-finals James Harden joins LA Clippers from Philadelphia 76ers Eddie Jones: Marcus Smith is a very good player – but he is not a full-back