Max Verstappen was the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona as the Red Bull edged out McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen won from second on the grid to win the Spanish Grand Prix for a third year in a row, and in the process the Dutch driver extended his advantage in both championships.
The victory was Verstappen’s seventh in the ten races so far in 2024, despite Norris’ McLaren taking pole and being the faster car in the latter stages of the race.
As it was, a poor start from Norris saw Verstappen overtake him into turn one, and although George Russell surprised both cars who started on the front row to swipe the lead, Verstappen passed Russell and maintained enough of a gap to take the win.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez finished 8th, with the Mexican scoring points for the first time in three races after failing to finish in the last two rounds.
Victory means that Verstappen retains a comfortable lead in the World Driver’s Championship, with the Dutch driver up to 219 points. He holds a 69 point lead on Norris, who jumped ahead of Charles Leclerc to take second in the standings.
Perez, meanwhile, now has 111 points and sits fifth in the championship. He is 5 points behind Carlos Sainz and 24 points ahead of Oscar Piastri.
In the Constructor’s Championship, Red Bull maintain the advantage with 330 points from the opening ten rounds of the 2024 F1 season. The Milton Keynes-based team are 50 points ahead of Ferrari, who currently sit second.
Verstappen had been narrowly pipped to pole in Saturday’s qualifying session by Norris, and at the start of the race, the two had a duel into turn one. Verstappen had been able to overtake Norris at turn one, but Mercedes driver Russell pulled off a flying move to bypass both cars and take the lead.
Russell would lead for just two laps, however, as Verstappen was able to get past and duly set off building an advantage.
While Verstappen would maintain a net lead after the first round of pit stops, Norris seemed to be the quicker car after the second round of pit stops later on in the race and was able to close the gap down from 9 seconds to around 3.
However, Verstappen had enough tyre life to outlast the McLaren, maintaining a gap of over two seconds to see the job through and win the Spanish Grand Prix for a fourth time.
Meanwhile, Perez had qualified 8th but started in 11th after taking a three place grid penalty for driving an unsafe car at the last round in Canada.
But hopes of being able to progress up the field came unstuck when he was stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg for a large part of the afternoon.
Eventually, Perez would be one of the only drivers to adopt a three stop strategy after a late switch. This would be enough to see him jump ahead of the two Alpine cars, with Perez passing ex-Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly on the final lap, but he was still over 25 seconds behind Piastri in front.
Apple will relocate its Milton Keynes store to a new branch that will open later this month.
The American computing giants will be leaving their shop in Midsummer Place to a new location elsewhere within the Midsummer Place shopping mall.
The shopping centre themselves confirmed on social media that new branding has been placed as a placeholder for the soon-to-be opened new branch.
Under the confirmed plans, the existing Apple store will close at the end of day’s trading on Tuesday 25th June 2024, before the new outlet opens from 10am on Saturday 29th June.
Reports had first emerged last summer that Apple was planning to leave its existing premises in Milton Keynes, which it has occupied since 2008.
Bloomberg reported in July 2023 that the existing site was among those that Apple was planning to either renovate or replace with stores more in line with recently remodelled Apple stores elsewhere in the world.
Milton Keynes is one of 40 Apple stores in the UK as of February 2024, which is the largest number of Apple Stores in one country anywhere in Europe.
MK Dons have signed defender Sam Sherring, who will join the club when his Northampton Town contract expires.
Sherring, 24, has signed a deal of undisclosed length at Stadium MK, and he will move on July 1st to Milton Keynes.
The defender had been offered an extension to his deal with the Cobblers, but the defender opted to turn down the chance to stay with the League One side.
The move sees Sherring become MK Dons’ fifth new signing ahead of the upcoming season, following the previous signatures of Conor Lemonhaigh-Evans, Luke Offord, Laurence Maguire and Tommy Leigh.
Sherring made 77 appearances in two seasons at Sixfields after joining Northampton from his academy club Bournemouth, with the defender helping Northampton achieve promotion from League Two in 2023 and helping Northampton comfortably stay up in the just concluded season.
In an arrival interview with the MK Dons website, Sherring voiced his delight to make the move.
He said, “The plan and the vision for the club, as well as the facilities and everything here, made it a no-brainer decision for me. I’m really happy to be here!
“The style of play is something that’s massive for me! I think it’s really attractive and something that’ll suit me, hopefully, we can be successful with it.”
MK Dons Head Coach Mike Williamson added, “Sam fits the profile of the kind of player we want to bring into the club down to the ground. He’s young and hungry to succeed but already has meaningful EFL experience and has won promotion from this division before. We’re really pleased to have him and look forward to seeing what he adds to our defence.”
Northampton manager Jon Brady told the Cobblers’ official website that he was parting with Sherring on good terms and that they were focusing on finding new recruits.
He said, “We thank Sam for his two years at the club, he is another player who we think has improved in his time with us, and we part on good terms.
“We were pleased to secure the signature of Jordan Willis earlier this week and we move forward at a busy time for the club. We have a number of targets who we are in discussions and negotiations with.”
Former MK Dons loan midfielder Lewis Bate has signed for Stockport County after expiry of his Leeds United contract.
The 21-year-old had spent the second half of the just-completed 2023/24 season on loan with the Dons from the West Yorkshire club. He made 22 appearances for the Dons in all competitions.
Bate was released by Leeds upon expiry of his contract, and he has now made the move to join a side promoted to League One for next season.
Stockport have confirmed that Bate has signed a three year contract at Edgeley Park, and he will be Stockport’s fifth signing ahead of their return to the third tier of English football for the first time since the 2009/10 season.
Stockport’s first team Manager Dave Challinor told the club’s official site that he had attempted to sign Bate in January before he moved to MK Dons, and that he was delighted to persuade Bate to join him ahead of the new season.
He said, “Lewis is a player that we attempted to sign in January but it wasn’t to be. From that point, we’ve kept an eye on his situation and when we knew he was being released by Leeds, we immediately renewed our interest. We’ve had to be really patient as there was interest in Lewis from higher up, but thankfully our patience has been rewarded.
“For some time now, we’ve felt that our biggest evolution as a team would come from a ball playing midfielder that will not only receive the ball in tight areas but manipulate space and play forward, as well as driving forward when the opportunity presents.
“Lewis is fantastic at all of these things and will be of huge importance to our development. Personally, for him, playing in the Premier League and Championship is where he wants to get back to and we really feel he has every opportunity for that to be the case.”
Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire will be the official host of commemorative artwork marking 80 years since the D-Day landings in World War 2.
The memorial installation to soldiers killed in the D Day landing on 6 June 1944 will be coming to the National Trust site on the outskirts of Buckingham, located around 17 miles from Milton Keynes, from an as-yet unknown date in September, where it can be seen in full for the first time.
The artwork, named For Your Tomorrow – the People’s Tribute, is a large scale installation consists of 1,475 silhouettes of WW2 military personnel. It is currently on display in Normandy in Northern France, near where the D-Day landings took place.
The installation will be open to the public from the end of September until mid-November 2024 in the UK.
There will be no additional charge to see the installation during normal opening hours, which is free to National Trust members. In addition to normal opening hours, there will be sunrise (6am to 8am) and twilight (5.30pm to 7.30pm) visits available on select dates, for which there will be an additional charge.
A small number of pieces which make up the installation was seen at Stowe last year during a trial ahead of the work being displayed in Normandy for the D-Day 80 commemorations. September will be the first time the full-size installation has been seen in the UK.
The full installation weighs in excess of 30 tonnes and will take around 15 days to set-up with the help of 30 volunteers each day. The Trust is looking for people to be involved – if you would like to get involved as a volunteer contact [email protected].
For Your Tomorrow – the People’s Tribute was created by community artist, Dan Barton with the number of figures in the display representing the number of fatalities under British command on 6 June 1944. The work is currently installed at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, France where it will remain over the summer before coming to Stowe.
The figures will be installed in several areas of the 245-acres of landscape gardens at Stowe.
Tanya Brittain, General Manager of the National Trust gardens at Stowe says, “It’s an honour to be chosen as the official UK host location for the British D-Day 80 memorial exhibition, For Your Tomorrow – the People’s Tribute.
“This September will be an opportunity to remember family, friends and colleagues lost in conflict situations over the past 80 years. Stowe has a rich military history and we look forward to welcoming visitors this autumn to experience this poignant outdoor art installation against the stunning backdrop of the Stowe’s historic landscape gardens.
“The 18th-century landscape garden at Stowe is well known for its many historic buildings and statues and has also featured in many well-known films and TV series. The Capability Brown designed landscape is renowned for its precise placement of eye-catching monuments to create the picture-perfect view. Its beautiful avenues, temples and lakes will provide an impressive outdoor gallery space and backdrop for this celebrated artwork.”
Artist Dan Barton has delivered several impactful military-based displays since founding Oxfordshire-based charity Standing with Giants. The life-size figures are constructed entirely by volunteers, using recycled building materials and create meaningful spaces for people to visit and reflect.
“Our ethos at Standing with Giants is to value life, to understand and appreciate why we have our freedom, and to remember and pay tribute to those who have fallen so we can live the lives we have today. Using outdoor art is a great way to do this,” said Standing with Giants Founder, Dan Barton.
The silhouettes are designed to represent the military personnel from all the major services but in addition, two bespoke figures of nurses have been included. They are of Sister Mollie Evershed and Sister Dorothy Field who died while helping to save 75 men from the hospital ship SS Amsterdam which sank off the Normandy beaches on 7th August 1944.
Both were given posthumous commendation for their actions and are the only two women commemorated on the British Normandy Memorial.
