Red Bull picked up a podium as Max Verstappen finished second at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Having started fourth, the reigning champion was involved in a scrap for positions throughout but a late run saw him take second and very nearly prize the victory from Lewis Hamilton, though he ultimately ran out of time to catch the Mercedes.
Second was nevertheless enough for Verstappen to extend his lead in the Driver’s Championship, with the Red Bull team remaining ahead of the chasing pack after the visit to Silverstone.
It was a difficult afternoon again for Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez, however, who finished 17th after starting from the pit-lane following a crash in qualifying on Saturday.
Verstappen remains top of the Driver’s Championship at the halfway mark of the 24-race F1 season, with the Dutchman having 255 points after winning 7 of the first 12 races of 2024. He holds an 84 point lead on Lando Norris.
Perez, meanwhile, dropped a place in the standings after this race. The Mexican now sits 6th after losing a place to Oscar Piastri. He has 118 points, sitting six behind Piastri and seven ahead of George Russell.
As for the Constructor’s standings, Red Bull remain as leaders of the pack. With half of the season gone, the Milton Keynes-based team have 373 points, which sees them sit 71 points ahead of Ferrari in second and 78 ahead of third place McLaren.
Wet qualifying had seen both Red Bulls sustain damage. Verstappen could manage a best of 4th after suffering damage from a clip of the wall in Q1, while Perez had beached his car in the same session after running wide.
In the race, Verstappen began looking to challenge the three British drivers of Russell, Hamilton and Norris ahead, while Perez started from the pit-lane after Red Bull opted to make set-up changes.
On the opening lap, Verstappen was able to get past Norris and settled in behind the two Mercedes. But in greasy conditions, the two McLarens behind Verstappen were able to sustain tyre performance for longer, and both Norris & Piastri then overtook the Dutchman on their way to later passing both Mercedes and taking the lead.
When the rain intensified, Verstappen was among the first to change to wet weather intermediate tyres, which allowed him to jump ahead of the later-stopping Russell and Piastri.
In the final stages, Verstappen then managed to get out in third when the conditions allowed a switch back to dry tyres, and on a new set of hard tyres, he had faster performance.
This allowed Verstappen to get past Norris, but although he got within two seconds of Hamilton at the end, he was unable to mount an overtake as Mercedes driver Hamilton picked up his first race win since 2021.
On the other side of the garage, Perez endured a miserable afternoon. The Mexican had been one of four cars to pit during an early small cell of rain to try inter tyres but quickly complained it was too soon, which meant a further stop when the rain intensified.
His day got little better, as the slow performance of the first pair of inter tyres left him down on the rest of the field, and he would end up only leading home Zhou Guanyu in the Sauber, in a result that does little to ease building pressure on his position after a week of rumours he may be dropped by Red Bull for 2025 despite signing a new contract.
Luton Town have signed midfielder Shandon Baptiste, who joins the club after leaving Brentford.
The 26-year-old is the Hatters’ first signing ahead of the new season, and has signed a contract of undisclosed length at Kenilworth Road.
Baptiste had spent the previous four years with Brentford, having joined the West London club from Oxford United in January 2020.
He made 78 appearances for Brentford in his time with the Bees, scoring twice, including a goal against Luton in the Premier League back in December.
Luton boss Rob Edwards told the club’s official website that he was pleased to bring Baptiste to Kenilworth Road.
He said, “We’re really excited to get Shandon in. I know I always say this about our players, but he’s a great person.
“I’ve had a few chats with him and he was really keen on joining us, it wasn’t a hard sell for me. I think he’s seen from the outside what we’re about and wanted to join and help us.
“He’s such a talented footballer. He’s someone who can take the ball, he can drive past people. I think he’s an exciting player, and technically very good, so we’re looking forward to getting him into the group.
“He’s at a good age, he wants to get back to the Premier League and he ticks a lot of boxes. He’s got a lot of experience, but he’s got something to prove as well, so he’s hungry.
“I’m delighted. It’s a really good bit of business by the club, and that’s what we pride ourselves on, trying to be really clever in the market.
Former MK Dons loan midfielder Jack Payne has signed for Colchester United after being released by Charlton.
The 29-year-old has signed a two year deal to join the side from Essex, having been available on a free transfer after being released by Charlton Athletic.
Payne had been a regular pick for MK Dons after moving to Stadium MK on a season-long loan deal in August 2023. He made 44 appearances in all competitions for the side that finished 4th in League Two last season.
Joining Colchester will see Payne again work with U’s Head Coach Danny Cowley and his assistant manager and brother Nicky, with the Cowleys having signed Payne for Lincoln City in the summer of 2019. That however was a brief work relationship after Cowley left the club less than a month into the season to take the job at Huddersfield Town.
The signing is one of several made by Colchester as the team returned to pre-season this week, with the club also signing Lyle Taylor, Jack Woodyard, Ben Goodliffe, Rob Hunt and Matt Macey.
Payne voiced his pleasure to join Colchester and work with the Cowleys again in an arrival interview with his new club’s website.
He said, “I’ve worked with Danny and Nicky before and we keep in touch generally, so when the summer came and I became a free agent, discussions started taking place.
“My time with them got cut short so I’m really excited to be working with them again, I really enjoyed the time I had with them and it was a massive factor in me signing.”
The Parks Trust have officially launched new Detailed Access Guides for three of the city’s most popular parks as part of a collaboration with AccessAble.
The partnership between the trust that looks after MK’s parklands and the accessibility information provider AccessAble will see detailed Access Guides published for Furzton Lake, Stanton Low Park, and Great Linford Manor Park.
The new guides are 100 per cent facts, figures, and photographs to help people plan their visit to the parks, covering everything from parking facilities and assistive listening, to walking distances and accessible toilets.
Everyone’s accessibility needs are different, which is why having detailed and accurate information is so important. It’s why all the details within the guides have been checked in person, on site, by trained surveyors.
David Livermore, Director of Business Development at AccessAble, said, “We were thrilled to work in partnership with The Parks Trust to create Detailed Access Guides to parks across Milton Keynes. The AccessAble website will enhance the visitor experience, helping more disabled people to enjoy the local landscape confidently.”
Hannah Bodley, Deputy Chief Executive at The Parks Trust, added, “We’re thrilled to launch our first collection of Detailed Access Guides in partnership with the expert team at AccessAble. These guides are part of our work striving to make the city’s landscapes more inclusive and ensuring that the whole community can enjoy our beautiful green spaces.”
The guides are available online at www.accessable.co.uk/the-parks-trust-milton-keynes
The Labour Party has retained it’s seats in Luton and also gained the Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard seat, ousting a long-time Conservative MP.
Labour retained the Luton North and Luton South & South Bedfordshire constituencies, and they also picked up the new seat of Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard.
The Conservatives did hold on to win in nearby Mid Bedfordshire, in one of the few UK seats which changed from a Labour seat to a Conservative one.
Sarah Owen was re-elected as Luton North MP, winning a second term after first winning the seat in 2019. She picked up 14,677 votes, ahead of Conservative candidate Jilleane Brown on 7,167.
James Fletcher of Reform UK had 4,666 votes in third, ahead of independent candidate Toqueer Shah with 4,393 votes. Workers Party Waheed Akbar had 3,914 votes, Ejel Khan of the Greens had 1,940, Liberal Democrats candidate Sean Prendergast had 1,890 and Paul Trathern of the Social Democrat Party picked up 98.
Turnout was among the lowest in the UK, recorded at 52%. This however was slightly more than in Luton South and South Bedfordshire, which recorded a turnout at 49.9%.
Winning the seat was Rachel Hopkins, who like Owen had been elected as a Labour MP for the first time in 2019.
Hopkins won with 13,593 votes, ahead of the Conservative candidate Mark Versallion with 6,735 votes.
Independent candidate Attiq Malik picked up 5,384 votes to finish third, ahead of Norman Maclean of Reform UK on 4,759 votes, Dr Yasin Rehman of the Workers Party on 3,110, Edward Carpenter of the Green Party with 2,401 and Liberal Democrats candidate Dominic Griffiths with 2,400.
One result of note was in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, which saw Andrew Selous fail to win re-election. The Conservative candidate and former Parliamentary under-secretary had been in Parliament since 2001 under the seat’s former name of South West Bedfordshire.
But in Selous’ first time contesting the newly redrawn seat, he was narrowly beaten by Labour candidate Alex Mayer, who will be the new MP for the constituency.
Mayer won by just 667 votes in the seat, with the Labour candidate winning 14,976 votes to Selous’ 14,309.
Reform UK candidate Harry Palmer took third with 8,071, ahead of Emma Holland-Lindsay of the Liberal Democrats with 6,497, Green Party candidate Sukhinder Hundal with 2,115 and English Democrat party candidate Antonio Vitiello with 77 points.
One of the few bright spots for the Conservatives in a difficult night in the UK was the regaining of the Mid Bedfordshire seat, which they had lost in a by-election held last October.
Blake Stephenson will represent the seat in the next Parliament, after the Tory candidate received 16,912 votes. He just edged out Maahwish Mirza of Labour, who picked up 15,591 votes.
Previously sitting Labour MP Alistair Strathern will remain in Parliament, as he was instead nominated by Labour for the Hitchin constituency in Hertfordshire and won there.
In Mid Bedfordshire, David Holland of Reform UK picked up 8,594 votes to finish third, ahead of Stuart Roberts of the Liberal Democrats with 4,068, Cade Silbey of the Green Party with 2,584, independent candidate Gareth Mackey with 1,700, and the SDP’s Richard Brunning with 172 votes.
