Max Verstappen is seeking perfection as he chases a fifth successive Formula One title that may be back on after seemingly slipping out of reach.
Red Bull's four-times world champion Verstappen took pole position for the US Grand Prix sprint race with McLaren's title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri completing the top three.
Verstappen lapped the Circuit of the Americas with a best time of one minute 32.143 seconds after Norris had set the pace in the first two phases and also the weekend's sole practice session.
Norris was 0.071 slower than Verstappen, who has beaten both McLaren drivers in the last three regular grands prix but remains behind championship leader Piastri.
On Saturday, Verstappen cruised to an easy victory in a crash-filled sprint race that saw McLaren's Piastri and Norris both knocked out in the first turn when their cars collided.
The loss of both McLaren cars early that could have a huge impact on the season championship as McLaren mechanics now face the challenge of fixing both cars before qualifying for the main event.
Verstappen started Saturday’s sprint on pole with Norris second and Piastri third.
Norris’ car spun and bounced, and a rear wheel was knocked off. Piastri’s car suffered suspension damage.
The result allows Verstappen, who is making a late-season charge, to pull within 55 points of leader Piastri with six grand prix and two more sprint races on the season.
The Dutch driver earlier said he is taking it one race at a time without getting carried away.
"One retirement (for McLaren) and you're fully back into it," Verstappen told Reuters.
"There's always a chance, right? But everything needs to go perfect.
"I don't think positively about it or negatively," he added of the challenge.
"I just see it as every race weekend, we just need to maximise everything we can and then you walk up to (the final race in) Abu Dhabi and you see where you are."
Meanwhile, McLaren driver Piastri heads into the United States GP winless in three races.
If that wasn't enough to make Piastri uncomfortable, Sunday's race has been declared a “heat hazard” event because of soaring temperatures expected to approach and maybe even top 32° Celsius.
All of if means Texas could be the start of a sizzling sprint for the title over the final quarter of the season.
“It will be fun to watch,” Haas rookie driver Oliver Bearman said. “I hope it goes down to the wire for all three of them. May the best win.”
Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso knows a bit about title fights. He won the championship in 2005 and 2006.
“I would say it’s between the two (McLarens),” Alonso said. “But, yeah, Max is an incredible driver, and if there is anyone that can overcome the deficit of the car, it’s him.”
Mercedes driver George Russell comes to Texas on the heels of a dominant victory in Singapore and a new contract extension through next season.
Russell left the Singapore podium, his fifth career victory, declaring himself ready to take the next step of winning an F1 championship in the future. He's currently fourth in the driver standings.
Mercedes are widely expected to be one of the favorites in 2026, when F1 overhaul their power unit and chassis regulations. The team dominated the series for several years when F1 first introduced its hybrid engines.
“I’m loyal to Mercedes, they’ve shown their loyalty in me, and I believe going into 2026 Mercedes without a doubt is my best chance of winning a world championship," Russell said. “Maybe we’re wrong. Who knows? No one knows what will happen in 2026."
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Short-term let permits explained
Homeowners and tenants are allowed to list their properties for rental by registering through the Dubai Tourism website to obtain a permit.
Tenants also require a letter of no objection from their landlord before being allowed to list the property.
There is a cost of Dh1,590 before starting the process, with an additional licence fee of Dh300 per bedroom being rented in your home for the duration of the rental, which ranges from three months to a year.
Anyone hoping to list a property for rental must also provide a copy of their title deeds and Ejari, as well as their Emirates ID.
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Qualifier A, Muscat
(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv)
Fixtures
Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final
UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Final scores
18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)
-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)
-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)
-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)
-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
SQUADS
South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
