The Philadelphia Flyers have signed veteran defenseman Marc Staal to a $1.1 million contract for next season

Max Verstappen equalled Formula One’s all-time record of nine consecutive race wins in his home Dutch Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver matched Sebastian Vettel’s achievement and here, the PA news agency looks at how he compares. Cloud nine Verstappen has won 11 of this season’s 13 races – with team-mate Sergio Perez taking the other two as the duo surpassed the great McLaren pairing of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s run of 11 straight wins in 1988. Since Perez’s win in Azerbaijan on April 30, Verstappen has won the Miami, Monaco, Spanish, Canadian, Austrian, British, Hungarian, Belgian and now Dutch Grands Prix. He won from ninth on the grid in Florida, passing Perez with nine laps to go, and his team judged the rain correctly to hold off Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in Monaco. Dominant wins in Spain and Canada brought him level with Senna’s career tally of 41 race wins, which he quickly overhauled in Austria. Victory at Silverstone took him 99 points clear in the drivers’ standings and he shot past pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the run to the first corner in Hungary before clinching Red Bull the record for consecutive team wins. His attention could then turn to the individual landmark and after surging through from sixth on the grid at Spa, he returned from the summer break to beat Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in a six-lap dash to the chequered flag to match Vettel’s streak, set in 2013. History repeats for Red Bull Vettel set the record – also driving for Red Bull, for whom Adrian Newey has been in post as chief technical officer on both occasions – when he won the final nine races of 2013 to surge clear of Alonso and win the title. His run began in Belgium, where he overtook Hamilton early on and was untroubled thereafter, before dominant wins in Italy, Singapore and Korea and a strategic success in Japan. The German clinched the title in India and added further wins in Abu Dhabi and the United States before a season-ending success in Brazil made it nine in a row and 13 for the season. Alberto Ascari has a claim to a share of the record, having won the last six races of the 1952 season and his first three starts of 1953. The run was interrupted by Ascari not entering the Indianapolis 500, which at the time was part of the drivers’ championship and was won by American Bill Vukovich. Michael Schumacher won seven in a row in 2004, as did Nico Rosberg at the end of 2015 and the start of his 2016 title-winning season. Schumacher also had a run of six across the 2000 and 2001 seasons while Hamilton’s longest run is five wins, as was Verstappen’s before his current streak. Verstappen is on track to be the first driver ever to win over 80 per cent of races in a season – beating Ascari’s 75 per cent in 1952, when there were only eight races in total – while he has won almost 94 per cent of the maximum points available with 339 of a possible 362 so far. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Max Verstappen reveals Sebastian Vettel prediction as he closes on GP record run Max Verstappen is one of the best drivers in F1 history – Lando Norris Daniel Ricciardo ruled out of Dutch Grand Prix after breaking wrist in practice

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Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has posted a single emoji as speculation about his future at the club remains up in the air. The Spanish shot-stopper has been at The Red Devils since 2011 and has gone on to become one of the top players in his position in the world winning numerous trophies and individual awards with United, as well as keeping the most clean sheets in a Premier League twice in that time. However, the 32-year-old has come under fierce scrutiny from fans and pundits during this time with many holding him responsible for numerous goals and dropped points. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter There were thoughts that De Gea could be leaving Old Trafford this summer as his contract expires on June 30th but The Athletic have reported that he has signed a new contract with the club but at a wage cut of £375,000 per week. However, the club then backed out of this deal and are now contemplating offering him an even lower salary with reported interest for the player coming from Saudi Arabia. De Gea has now appeared to make an allusion to the situation by posting a single yawning emoji on Twitter with no context to what it was about. The post has sparked a mixed reaction from supporters of the famous club with many feeling the player deserved more respect for the loyalty that he showed to the team. De Gea has played more than 500 games for United and won their Player of the Year award four times. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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