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The United States begins its journey to a record third consecutive Women’s World Cup title with the same confidence it had in winning the last two tournaments

The Formula 1 paddock returns to Budapest this weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the popular Hungaroring circuit. Max Verstappen is looking for a seventh grand prix victory in a row at a track where he won last year from 10th on the grid. The Dutchman is cruising to a third world championship this season, currently holding a 99-point to Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez in second. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Daniel Ricciardo is back – and this time he wants to go out on top Yet the biggest talking point this weekend is Daniel Ricciardo’s return to the grid with AlphaTauri. The Australian, dropped by McLaren last year, replaces Nyck de Vries for the remainder of this season and starts at a track where he claimed his second F1 victory in 2014. Lando Norris will be hoping to back up his strong performance for McLaren at Silverstone two weeks ago, a race where Lewis Hamilton finished third for Mercedes. Hamilton is an eight-time winner in Hungary. Follow live updates from the Hungarian GP with The Independent Read More Lewis Hamilton reacts to Nyck de Vries axing: ‘That’s how Red Bull work’ Daniel Ricciardo is back - and this time he wants to go out on top Nyck de Vries breaks silence after AlphaTauri exit

Claire Williams said selling the family’s Formula One team is a grief that has been difficult to come to terms with, admitting it has felt like someone cut her heart out and never gave it back. Claire, 47, has been an F1 outsider for coming up to three years following the sale of the team founded by her father Sir Frank Williams to American investment firm Dorilton Capital for £136million. She resigned as de facto boss at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, while Frank – who extraordinarily took his motor racing team from an empty carpet warehouse to the summit of the sport – died a year later. “When I left in Monza it felt like someone cut my heart out and it has never been returned,” said Claire, in an interview with the PA news agency ahead of Williams’ 800th race at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. “You just have to find something to put in its place. But it was very difficult then and three years on, it is still really hard. “It is just one of those griefs that is really difficult to get over, or to come to terms with. Now we have lost Dad, it sometimes feels as though it was just a dream. Did that period in our lives really happen?” Sir Frank oversaw 114 victories, 16 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships and became the longest-serving team boss in the sport’s history. His story is made all the more remarkable by a horrific car crash which left him with injuries so devastating doctors considered turning off his life-support machine. Until his death in 2021, he was recognised as the world’s oldest surviving tetraplegic. Frank, who lived at the team headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire, handed over the managerial baton to daughter Claire in 2013. She guided the team to a brilliant third in the constructors’ championship, behind the financial muscle of Mercedes and Ferrari over the following two years, before a lack of major investment contributed to Williams’ decline. A decade has passed since a Williams driver last won a race. “There was so much that went on in those last few years, which to this day I will never be able to talk about,” continues Claire. “But I saw the team through three very difficult seasons and I was able to hand over something that was still living and still breathing to someone with deeper pockets than us. We kept everyone in jobs, we didn’t go into administration and I am very proud of that. “When I have challenging circumstances I bury my head in jobs and when we sold Williams, my next concern was, where did Dad go? “As much as Dorilton were kind enough to say he could always live at the factory, I needed him close to me. And coincidentally the house next door to us came up for sale, so we moved Dad in. “I managed his care team. I made sure he was happy and comfortable in his new home and we went off and did some nice stuff together. He would pick up my little one, Nate, from nursery. “But then he got sicker, greater care was required to look after him and he passed away. But for the next six months, we organised this wonderful memorial service. We then decided to move house, renovating our old house in Ascot and our new home in South Downs. “So, I am the master of distraction. Life carries on. And as much as I miss Williams, and I miss Formula One dreadfully, there is a whole other world out there. You have to go and find happy elsewhere. That is what I have done.” However, Claire discovered her zen state is disrupted by watching the sport she loves. She will not tune in on Sunday to see Alex Albon and rookie Logan Sargeant scramble for a point or two under the tutelage of new team principal James Vowles – an appointment Claire said her father would have approved of – in Williams’ landmark race. “I turned on the TV to see Alex had scored a point in Australia earlier this year,” she continued with a broad smile. “Ted’s Notebook was on and Ted [Kravitz] grabbed James and said, ‘mate, congratulations, you are only Williams’ third team principal and you have got a point. How does it feel?’ “And I was like, third team principal? That is Frank, that is Jost [Capito] and that is James, what about me? Ted has just cancelled me on national television! “I may not have been called team principal but I operated that way and I have literally just been erased. I turned it straight off and vowed never to watch again. “But I tried watching the last race at Silverstone. I thought to myself, ‘Right, I am going to do this. Come on’. But I watched the formation lap and that was that. I lasted five minutes. “I don’t know what it is, but if you talk to any person who has worked, lived and breathed Formula One – no matter if that is for 20 years or 20 minutes – it does something to you. It absorbs you, and when you leave, particularly involuntary like I did, it is very difficult to watch it and not feel that loss.” Claire dovetails speaking engagements and “top-secret television projects” with her role as brand ambassador for Williams Advanced Engineering. Earlier this year, she launched the Frank Williams Academy in her father’s honour. The project aims to raise £1.5m to help educate and train those affected by spinal cord injuries. She also revealed Sky offered her the chance to return to the F1 paddock as a pundit. “It was too soon,” said Claire. “It is better when you leave, you leave. “Unless someone said to me, ‘Come back and be a team principal and you can have Williams back’, I don’t necessarily think there is a job I would want, but never say never.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Daniel Ricciardo dreaming of Red Bull return ahead of F1 comeback How does Max Verstappen and Red Bull compare to the greats of Formula One? Lando Norris ‘honoured’ to join Lewis Hamilton in battle for Formula One glory

Stonewall's director of external affairs releases a statement thanking Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who is set to move to Saudi Arabia, for his support of the LGBTQ+ community.

England boss Sarina Wiegman vowed the Lionesses would do “everything” they can to bring home a first World Cup when they begin their campaign against Haiti in Brisbane on Saturday. Wiegman also provided a welcome update on captain Millie Bright, who is fit to start tomorrow’s contest after concerns she was still recovering from the knee injury she sustained in March which required surgery. The World Cup trophy is one that has so far eluded both England and Wiegman, who led the Netherlands to the final four years ago in France but fell to defeat at the hands of the United States. Asked if England could lift the trophy this year, she said: “We’re here and we have a dream, and of course there’s always a chance to win the World Cup, and many more countries can win the World Cup I think, but of course we’re going to give our everything starting tomorrow.” FIFA world number four England are ranked 49 places above Saturday opponents Haiti, who beat Chile in the qualifying play-off to reach a maiden World Cup. The Lionesses are heavy favourites to top Group D, which also includes 13th-ranked Denmark and number 14 China. Wiegman, however, was quick to dismiss the idea that facing lower-ranked opposition puts England in a position of having more to lose, perhaps more so than when they kicked off their winning Euro 2022 campaign against Austria last summer. “The pressure is always something. Everyone expected England to win anyway. This is for tomorrow and also last year, and that was also for the Austria game for the European Championships,” she added. “So that’s not different. What we’re just trying to do is play our game and focus on what we have to do and how we can win, and that’s basically what we do all the time, so bring it back to what actions we need to take as a team.” Wiegman said she has “basically decided” on her starting XI for tomorrow but would not reveal whether or not the players had already been informed. The Lionesses begin their sixth World Cup still having not come to an agreement with the Football Association over issues surrounding performance-based bonus payments and commercial structures. On Tuesday, Bright posted a statement on Twitter on behalf of the team which said they were “disappointed that a resolution has still not been achieved” but would “pause discussions, with full intentions of revisiting them following the tournament”. The skipper, who will wear a FIFA-sanctioned ‘Unite for Inclusion’ armband in Saturday’s contest, reiterated that those discussions are now fully parked. “Obviously it’s not a situation everyone wants to be in, but I think as players we’re not just programmed to play football,” Bright said. “Sometimes we have to have these conversations. But we have a very professional group and football is always at the front of everything. So as players now our heads are in the game, they always have been on the game. “Everything is on hold with those sorts of questions. We’ll address the situation at a later date, but for now it’s all about the tournament.” Earlier, Haiti manager Nicolas Delepine took a lighthearted stab at the Lionesses, who have not scored in their last three matches including the behind-closed-doors training game with Canada on the Sunshine Coast a week ago which ended in a goalless draw not for official records. He told a press conference: “It’s going to be a difficult game, for sure. And if I have to talk about the strengths of England, I’ll be here all day. “In big competitions England are tough opponents. They played well in the European Championships. “We’re expecting a high intensity game. They are a difficult team to play against, they are attacking with threats everywhere but they maybe have a problem with finishing.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Natalie Grinczer hopes to take advantage after late switch to Lifeplus-Wahoo Early starters battle overcast conditions as Tommy Fleetwood shares Open lead Football rumours: Harry Kane will not sign new Tottenham deal

MANILA Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Friday his government will not cooperate with the International Criminal

A diving one-handed save from 22-year-old goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie denied international soccer’s leading scorer Christine Sinclair and played a pivotal role in Nigeria holding Olympic champion Canada to a 0-0 draw at the Women’s World Cup

Megan Rapinoe may not be a first-choice starter for holders the United States at the Women's World Cup but new co-captain Lindsey Horan is banking on the veteran superstar...

Police said the two men who were killed at a New Zealand construction site were in their 40s and had worked alongside the gunman before he went on his rampage

Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie was the hero for Nigeria to earn them a point against Canada at the Women's World Cup on Friday but there was to be...

England goalkeeper Mary Earps says Nike’s decision to not sell her jerseys during the Women’s World Cup is “hugely disappointing.”

Paige Spiranac also said that she had to do years of therapy as her golf career destroyed her