Lewis Hamilton finished only 15th in practice on a troubling day for the home favourite at the British Grand Prix. As a dominant Max Verstappen carried over his crushing form to a sizzling Silverstone by completing an ominous practice double, Hamilton’s Mercedes team laboured in the heat. Hamilton finished 12th in the opening running, and then ended the day three places further back, 1.2 seconds adrift of Verstappen. Fellow Briton George Russell was a few places better off in 12th in the other Mercedes. Carlos Sainz took second for Ferrari, 0.022 sec behind Verstappen, with Alex Albon an impressive third in his Williams. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished fourth, with Albon’s Williams team-mate Logan Sargeant fifth. Verstappen, a winner at seven of the opening nine rounds of a one-sided campaign, has already established a commanding 81-point lead in his pursuit of a hat-trick of world championships. The Dutch driver cruised to the chequered flag a week ago at Red Bull’s home race in Austria, and he will head into the remainder of the weekend as the driver to beat following an emphatic start at Silverstone. Hamilton has won seven of the last 10 races staged here, but the Mercedes man will have to upset the odds to add to his tally on Sunday. Hamilton has a new front wing as Mercedes hope to claw back the deficit to their rivals. But their star driver was on the radio complaining about the bouncing his machine was suffering from, while Russell was also on the intercom to bemoan his unruly Mercedes. “I have no grip,” reported Russell. “The car is sliding all over the place.” Hamilton is in the midst of another up-and-down campaign. He arrived at the last round in Spielberg following consecutive podium finishes, but Mercedes struggled at the Red Bull Ring. Hamilton crossed the line in seventh and was demoted to eighth following a second timed penalty, and on the evidence of practice, he may be braced for another underwhelming weekend. Despite the threat of action from Just Stop Oil protesters, both practice sessions passed off without incident. However, F1 bosses, Silverstone and Northamptonshire Police remain on high alert that a protest could yet disrupt qualifying on Saturday and Sunday’s 52-lap race where 150,000 spectators are expected to attend. Elsewhere, Lando Norris was only 14th for McLaren, while Charles Leclerc finished rooted to the bottom of the order. The Monegasque was ruled out of the second running with an electrical failure on his Ferrari. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lewis Hamilton promises to keep his cool on team radio after Austrian flashpoint Lewis Hamilton defends casting ‘iconic’ Brad Pitt as F1 driver in new film Max Verstappen hints he may retire from Formula One unless calendar reduced

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Lukas Jensen was the hero for League One Lincoln as they continued Sheffield United’s miserable start to the season with a 3-2 Carabao Cup penalty shootout victory at Bramall Lane. After a drab 90 minutes ended goalless, the Imps goalkeeper saved spot-kicks from Louis Marsh and Benie Traore to send his side through. This was not the performance or result that the Blades will have been looking for having lost their opening three Premier League games of the season and boss Paul Heckingbottom will have been presented with more questions than answers. Mark Kennedy’s side will now dream of drawing one of the big boys in the next round after a deserved win. It was no surprise that United did not fire as they fell in line with the majority of Premier League clubs by making wholesale changes to their side for the visit of the Imps. And that had an inevitable effect on the game as the Blades were unable to play with any fluency and Lincoln more than held their own. Reeco Hackett had a curling shot saved by Adam Davies, while the visitors also wasted several good moments on the counter-attack. The Blades had to wait until the 51st minute to have a shot on target as Ollie Norwood sent debutant Cameron Archer through on goal, but the striker’s aim was off and he shot straight at Jensen. Lincoln finally cut the Blades open on a transition after Daniel Mandroui’s incisive pass was perfect for Teddy Bishop, but he could only stab wide from close range. Sheffield United looked the likeliest to force a late goal which would avoid the shootout lottery, but John Egan flashed a header wide and Auston Trusty could only plant his free header straight at Jensen. That meant it would be decided from the spot and after Jensen had kept out poor Marsh and Traore efforts, the job was done when Egan skied the final penalty of the night.

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