Max Verstappen restored Formula One’s natural order by posting the fastest time in second practice for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc crashed out.

After George Russell finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a surprise one-two finish for Mercedes in the earlier sun-cooked running at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Verstappen took the spoils in the day’s concluding running.

The double world champion finished 0.385 seconds clear of Carlos Sainz with Leclerc, whose day ended in the barriers at Turn 7 with 10 minutes remaining, third in the other Ferrari.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez claimed fourth spot with Hamilton only seventh, nine tenths back, and team-mate Russell down in 15th.

F1 is back in Miami for a second time at a 3.36-mile circuit constructed around the home of NFL side the Miami Dolphins – 15 miles north of the city.

The race marks the first of three rounds to be staged in the United States this year as F1’s American owners Liberty Media continue to build on the rise of the sport across the Atlantic.

A debut event on the Las Vegas strip will take place in November, while Austin’s grand prix at the Circuit of the Americas – a permanent fixture on the F1 schedule since 2012 – also features.

Despite the boom of the sport, the actual competition is facing accusations of being “predictable” and “boring” with Red Bull winning 14 of the last 15 races.

Verstappen leads Red Bull team-mate Perez in the standings by six points after the opening four rounds.

Mercedes’ encouraging start here provided hope that Red Bull might not have it all their own way in Florida.

But Verstappen’s pace later in the day indicates they will again be the team to beat heading into the remainder of the weekend.

The opening session was suspended for nine minutes when Nico Hulkenberg crashed into the wall after he lost control of his Haas coming through the third corner.

With Hulkenberg’s broken machine in a precarious position, the red flags were deployed. The second running almost saw another Haas in the barriers after Hulkenberg’s team-mate Kevin Magnussen span at Turn 14 and drifted backwards into the wall. The Dane thudded the armco but escaped without significant damage.

The same could not be said for Leclerc after he carried too much speed into Turn 7, and headed straight for the tyre wall.

Leclerc broke his front wing and suffered possible suspension damage in the accident before he headed back to the pits on the back of a moped.

The running was red-flagged for six minutes as Leclerc’s Ferrari was removed from danger. The cars returned to the track for a four-minute splurge but it was Verstappen who remained at the summit.

Pep Guardiola has said Kalvin Phillips’ Manchester City future is in his own hands.

The £42million summer signing has made only eight Premier League appearances for City, all as a substitute, and will be eager to make a ninth when his former club Leeds visit the Etihad on Saturday.

Phillips suffered an early setback in his City career with shoulder surgery in September, but since returning in November he has found it impossible to dislodge Rodri from the base of Guardiola’s midfield, with John Stones now also stepping out of defence into a more advanced position.

The England midfielder’s lack of playing time has prompted speculation that the player and club might part ways this summer, but Guardiola said no decisions would be taken now.

“It depends on the players,” Guardiola said. “At the end we’re here, I try to be honest with the questions and my feelings.

“My feelings sometimes change. But at the end it belongs to the players, they have to convince themselves and the team and not because I say something.

“They have to earn my confidence. All of them, not just Kalvin, all of them how they perform. Teams change a lot and players for previous seasons who were incredibly important but this season less important. It’s how they perform, many things can happen.”

City continue to compete on three fronts. They can move four points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League if they beat Leeds, with the first leg of their Champions League semi-final away to Real Madrid on Tuesday immediately following, and an FA Cup final against Manchester United booked for June.

Guardiola said the tightness of the Premier League title race has worked against Phillips.

“I’m not complaining about Kalvin because when you don’t play much it’s difficult to take the rhythm,” Guardiola said.

“John we’re seven years together, Rodri is (four) years together. I don’t have to tell them anything. Just little details – a movement here or there.

“Kalvin if maybe in the past he’d played more minutes he will get that but Rodri was in exceptional form. That role is so, so important, that’s why the lack of minutes makes the circle more difficult. But he always pays attention, in the training sessions he is always open-minded to get it.

“But being behind Arsenal, we cannot drop points. We haven’t had that situation of being eight, 10 points in front – in the past it happened. He can do it, but in that moment I always had the feeling Rodri knows exactly what to do in the role.”

Guardiola also cited that relentless schedule when he said he had not given any thought as to whether Phillips has a long-term future at the club.

“What happens next season, I’m not concerned for one second now,” he said.

“We will see at the end of the season. We’ll sit with the players. Maybe they want more minutes or maybe they are not happy with the situation. But right now I’m not going to discuss anything.”

City have failed to win only twice at home all season, something Guardiola put down to the “vibe” they are enjoying in front of their fans.

As they play on the day of the King’s Coronation, the Catalan said he was eager to make sure that continued.

“There is no time to keep something in the fridge,” he said. “We have to give everything, it’s so close.

“We still have one game in hand, important tough games. We saw Brighton (beat Manchester United) and we still have to go there.

“We have just two games at home – Leeds and Chelsea – and we need our people. Please come at 3pm if you don’t have anything better to do. There are important things in this country but anyway, if you don’t have anything more then come and help us because we need it.”

Ryan Mason has aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp after his criticism of Tottenham’s style last weekend.

Klopp took umbrage with Mason’s post-match comments about Diogo Jota, who caught Oliver Skipp with a head-high tackle during the 4-3 clash but stayed on the pitch to score a stoppage-time winner in the Anfield fixture.

After Mason had made clear his exasperation at Jota being able to avoid a red card, Klopp hit back during an interview with the BBC by suggesting the 31-year-old should “worry about other stuff” before he told Spurs they “can’t just counter-attack” and urged them to “play better football.”

Tottenham’s acting head coach responded before the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday, where only three points for the hosts will keep alive their top-six hopes.

“Yeah, I mean first of all I respect and admire Jurgen Klopp,” Mason said.

“I also respect Liverpool Football Club, but honestly in my current situation now and regardless of what happens in my coaching career, I don’t believe I will ever be in a position where I can sit here and criticise another football club in the way they are doing things.

“Look, I will not create a war of words. That is my opinion on it. I don’t think it will change in 20 years time.

“I don’t think I will ever be in that position or earn the right to criticise another football club for how they want to try and win the game and how they feel is the best chance for them to win the game in that moment in time.”

The image of Skipp being caught in the head and falling to the floor may have brought back bad memories for Mason, who retired at the age of 26 following a fracture of his skull after a clash of heads with Chelsea’s Gary Cahill during a match for Hull in 2017.

Mason admitted Skipp had been fortunate, adding: “He is a very, very lucky boy. He had a couple of gashes in his head, needed near to 10 stitches and we are talking about a couple of inches away from an eye problem.

“I think the overall feeling this week is we are quite grateful Skippy is okay and nothing too serious.

“Obviously a different situation (to me), different moment as well. One was with a head, one was with a boot so the dangers are different.

“At the same time the head is a vulnerable part of the body. We continue to see that. Thankfully Skippy is okay. He is in contention.”

Skipp is one of two Spurs academy graduates set to feature against Palace alongside vice-captain Harry Kane and the club’s Under-18s were able to secure a second trophy of the season on Thursday night at Villa Park.

A 3-1 win over Aston Villa clinched the Under-18 Premier League Cup to add to the Under-17 version won against Nottingham Forest last month.

Mason has seen plenty of the youth team this season and knows the path they will now attempt to take, but he insisted there can be no set timescale on how long it could take some of Stuart Lewis’ current crop to break into the first-team.

“Absolutely I have seen a lot of them. I work for this football club, I work in the first-team and it is part of my job to pay attention and understand where the academy are at and try bridge that gap,” he explained.

“Of course we have hope for many of them but at 16 and 17, it can be a long road and it can be difficult.

“Sometimes people develop earlier than others and sometimes players seize the moment. Hopefully some of them can make the step up in the coming years.

“From a timescale point of view, it is very difficult to put a time on it but historically this football club has always valued that and we continue to do that now.”

Chelsea’s new recruits have not been given the opportunity to find the connections necessary to build a winning team, according to Frank Lampard.

The Blues looked incoherent and without a plan in losing meekly 3-1 to Arsenal on Tuesday, a sixth straight loss on a run that has seen them sink to 12th in the Premier League table.

Several of the players who were signed in January have failed to make a significant impact, with Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke in particular big-money buys that have shown only flashes of their talent.

Madueke at least netted his first goal for the club in the loss at the Emirates, something Mudryk, who cost £88million despite only having made 44 first-team appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk, is yet to achieve.

There has been little consistency in the starting XI, something that was apparent under former boss Graham Potter and has continued into Lampard’s dire interim spell.

It has made an unbalanced squad, loaded up on creative talent but with no one to score goals, look even more disjointed on the pitch, with little apparent chemistry. They have scored only twice in their last eight games.

Chelsea will drop below Bournemouth should they lose to Gary O’Neil’s side at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, despite the fact their opponents have spent most of the season battling relegation and were in the bottom three at the start of April.

“The numbers show you we’re the team that changes its XI the most,” said Lampard. “Coming in at this point for me, it’s trying to find the connections and partnerships in the team which are crucial as we all know.

“The great teams we’ve witnessed over the years, you can pretty much always name connections. Full-backs; Liverpool off the top of my head, the full-backs are absolutely central to what they do.

“When you’re trying to find that, it’s difficult, and I think it’s important to know that when we’re in a bad run and those things are not settled, it’s very hard to get consistency of what you want.

“You end up searching for it, and that’s probably why people call it a transition. That’s a challenge. In my position as much as we want results, because results will get thrown in your face, we also need to try and find those little connections within the team going forward.

“Some of the younger players that have come into the club have maybe not had the opportunity to settle, to feel comfortable within the team, to understand the full-backs are going to overlap them, or the midfield players are going to support them.

“That is a process, and that needs work. It’s probably work I haven’t been able to do in this role as interim. It feels less in practice about coaching to that degree.”

Lampard defended Raheem Sterling despite the England forward’s form having totally deserted him during Chelsea’s slide.

Sterling, who was the first signing of the club’s whirlwind recruitment drive this season, has not replicated the performances that saw him score 131 goals in seven seasons at Manchester City, en route to winning four Premier League titles and becoming a lynchpin of Gareth Southgate’s national team.

He has managed only four league goals since arriving at Stamford Bridge in July.

“I’ve spent the last three years talking to all my younger wingers that I work with, showing them videos of Raheem Sterling arriving at the back post, doing defensively the work he does,” said Lampard.

“You absolutely cannot take that away from him, what he’s done, for Manchester City and England.

“When you move club, even though everyone on the outside goes ‘oh what hard work that is, moving from Man City to Chelsea, what a terrible situation’, it does bring around changes in your life.

“Of course maybe the form of the team this season has not been great, so there can always be a lot of contributing factors to individual form.

“He’s got credit in the bank. Keep working, things around him falling more into place, I think with Raheem he’ll show what he’s shown in his career.

“We have a lot of understandable reasons and stories within the squad, the newer younger players, some players who will be moving on. There are a lot of those reasons.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists the club will not be held to ransom over transfer targets and are not prepared to pay over-inflated prices.

The club have already pulled out of the running for their primary option Jude Bellingham with Borussia Dortmund likely to ask for a fee around £130million.

With a midfield rebuild required it was decided to spread their limited resources wider rather than going for a megabucks marquee signing, with Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister near the top of their alternatives.

Liverpool’s issues in midfield could lead to selling clubs upping the price knowing the rival’s need to sign players and, more specifically, secure them early in the summer.

But Klopp said they were not prepared to pay over the odds and have a list of targets which he feels provides the club with options if they should encounter a stumbling block in negotiations.

“We cannot buy the player then. If they are overpriced we cannot do it,” he said.

“I am pretty sure we will bring in the players we want and those who will help us. I am pretty confident of that.

“You never know 100 per cent until they are signed but that (bumping up prices) is not new that some clubs might try that.

“Let me say it like this: you identify a position and you have not only one option on the position. That means they should all be good.

“You might have a favourite but if the other club doesn’t want to sell or someone else will pay the price then we cannot go with it.

“But usually we got the players we wanted. The one thing is can we afford them and then they are here.”

Liverpool’s five-match winning run, lifting them to within four points of fourth-placed Manchester United but with only an outside chance of making the top four because their rivals have played two matches fewer, has put a better spin on a season which had the club lingering between eighth and 10th for long periods.

Klopp knows he cannot “replace the whole team” with his summer transfers but does not believe their final league position will have much effect on the success of the business he does, although he thinks it may be of assistance to the players he currently has.

“Each performance we have now helps us and helps the players,” he added.

“We cannot replace the whole team. How I understand life is if you have a problem you sort it better now because if you just move on you have the same problem.

“We have to give the boys a frame where they can perform because I see them every day, I know they want to perform.

“It is not that they say ‘I cannot do that anymore’. We were not able to do it that is true for a long period, but we will find a frame where the boys can shine again.

“Everything we do well now will help us for next season. These five games I liked the reaction in moments, it is not full games, but the signs I saw are really promising and I am happy with that.

“Another four games, a break, then a proper pre-season and we will be strong.”

A goalless draw ensured Arbroath will play Scottish Championship football next season while Hamilton must try to do the same via the play-offs.

Accies began the day bottom of the table and staring at automatic relegation but a point lifted them above Cove Rangers on goal difference.

Instead, they will take on either Alloa or Airdrie in the League One play-offs as they attempt to secure second tier football again.

Chances were at a premium – Hamilton’s Daniel O’Reilly had a shot saved by Derek Gaston in the first half while in the second David Gold came close twice in quick succession for Arbroath, hitting the bar on the second occasion.

Scott Tiffoney struck a 68th-minute equaliser as Partick Thistle snatched a place in the Premiership play-offs with a 2-2 draw in their final cinch Championship match of the season at Raith.

Thistle took a 21st-minute lead through Darren Brownlie at Stark’s Park but Rovers pulled level before the break with a Lewis Vaughan penalty after handball by Ross Docherty.

The hosts went ahead through Scott McGill after good work by Kieran Ngwenya just before the hour but Partick quickly hit back.

Tiffoney claimed the crucial goal and ensured his side finished fourth in the table when he tucked home at the far post after Raith, who end the campaign in seventh, failed to clear.

Mark McKenzie scored an 88th-minute winner as Ayr clinched second place in the Scottish Championship with a 2-1 victory over Inverness.

Josh Mullin gave the visitors the lead in the 34th minute after being played clean through and they held on to their advantage until eight minutes from time, when Nathan Shaw equalised.

A draw would have meant both teams missed the play-offs but a late winner would have secured a top-four finish for whoever scored.

And it was the visitors who got it as McKenzie proved to be the hero in the 88th minute by scoring from Daire O’Connor’s cross.

There was still time for a nervous moment when Austin Samuels had the ball in the net for Scottish Cup finalists Caley Thistle but it was ruled out for offside.

Cove Rangers were relegated from the Scottish Championship after losing 2-1 to 10-man Greenock Morton.

Jack Baird headed in a corner for Morton after only two minutes, and Robbie Muirhead thought he had doubled the lead shortly afterwards only for the offside flag to deny him.

Declan Glass then levelled with a long-range effort just before half-time, and Morton were reduced to 10 men four minutes after the break when Cameron Blues was shown a second yellow card.

Cove looked the more likely winners, with Brian Schwake denying Connor Scully, Tony Weston and Glass, but Muirhead let fly from 35 yards for the winner in the 73rd minute, condemning Cove to the drop.

There was ultimately disappointment for Morton, though, as they missed out on the play-offs on goal difference.

Dundee secured their return to the cinch Premiership with a 5-3 win over nearest challengers Queen’s Park in a breathless Championship decider at Ochilview.

A point would have been enough for the Dens Park side to claim automatic promotion but they ended their campaign on a high as second-half strikes from Lyall Cameron and Luke McCowan killed off the challenge of the brave Spiders following an astonishing first half in which six goals were shared.

Both sides went into the much-hyped showdown in unconvincing form, with Queen’s – aiming to get back into the top flight for the first time since 1958 – having lost four of their previous six matches and Dundee on a run of one win in five.

Any notion that a lack of confidence within both sides allied to the pressure of the occasion might lead to a cagey affair was emphatically banished by an incredible start that brought four goals within the opening 17 minutes.

Dundee signalled their intent in the third minute when Cameron shot just wide after being teed up by Alex Jakubiak on the edge of the box.

The same players combined just a minute later as the visitors took the lead when Cameron took advantage of a slip by Malachi Boateng inside the box and cut the ball back for Jakubiak to slot home from eight yards out.

The hosts tried to find a response and Dominic Thomas saw an inswinging free-kick from the right pushed behind by goalkeeper Adam Legzdins in the ninth minute.

The resulting corner led to an equaliser as centre-back Charlie Fox seized on a bouncing ball 25 yards out and unleashed a sensational dipping half volley that looped over Legzdins and into the net.

And Queen’s edged themselves ahead in the 12th minute when Connor Shields fired home a superb angled volley from the edge of the six-yard box after Grant Savoury’s shot had been blocked.

The frenetic start continued as Dundee levelled things up once more in the 17th minute when defender Lee Ashcroft volleyed in from six yards after Dan Sweeney headed McCowan’s cross back across goal.

The visitors almost struck again five minutes later when Barry Maguire crashed a shot off the crossbar.

Dundee restored their lead in the 34th minute when Zach Robinson forced the ball home from close range after Queen’s made a mess of trying to clear a Jakubiak ball across the box.

The first-half scoring was not finished, however, and Spiders defender Fox netted his second of the night in stoppage time when he powered home a header from another Thomas corner to make it 3-3.

Queen’s went close to taking the lead three minutes after the interval when Shields’ shot from just inside the box was brilliantly tipped behind by Legzdins.

But it was Dundee who took control of the title race in the 54th minute when Cameron kept his cool to tuck home a low shot from 15 yards out after good work by McCowan and Jakubiak to create the opening.

McCowan then sealed the deal in the 81st minute when he curled in a superb shot from just outside the box to consign Queen’s to the play-offs. The final whistle was greeted by a pitch invasion from jubilant Dundee fans.

Frida Maanum scored a stunning winner as fourth-placed Arsenal kept up the pressure at the top of the Women’s Super League with a 1-0 victory over Leicester.

The Norwegian curled home a long-range shot just after the hour to settle a tight contest at Meadow Park.

Arsenal had been frustrated for large parts of the game after Katie McCabe had a penalty saved in the seventh minute.

The win lifted Arsenal within two points of third-placed Chelsea and six behind leaders Manchester United, on whom they have a game in hand.

Arsenal, looking to bounce back from their Champions League exit on Monday, started strongly and had a chance to take an early lead after McCabe was brought down in the area by Hannah Cain.

McCabe stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick but was denied by the excellent Janina Leitzig.

Leicester threatened through Cain but her shot was blocked by keeper Sabrina D’Angelo before Victoria Pelova spurned a chance for the hosts.

Cain was denied again by D’Angelo in the 62nd minute and was to rue the miss as Maanum picked her spot from the edge of the area following a Jodie Taylor cut-back moments later.

Arsenal finished strongly with Taylor hitting the side-netting and Maanum twice forcing Leitzig to save before hitting the bar from a free-kick.

Catalans Dragons players scurried for cover after a bull broke loose during a pre-match parade ahead of their Betfred Super League clash with St Helens.

The parade was contrived by Catalans owner Bernard Guasch, head of a local meat processing company, to celebrate the quality of beef in the region.

However, one of the bulls broke free, dragging its handler across the turf before shaking free and gallivanting towards the posts, sending players, who were warming up at the time, scattering into the stands.

The bull, one of three in the parade, was swiftly recovered with no damage done, and the match started as scheduled at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan.

In a statement prior to the incident, the Dragons said that “three prize-winning bulls, as well as two cows from the same Gascon breed, will perform a lap of honour during the warm-up”.

George Russell saw off Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes completed a surprise one-two finish in opening practice for the Miami Grand Prix.

In the closing moments of the one-hour running in the Sunshine State, Russell and Hamilton moved from the back of the pack to the front.

Hamilton held top spot for a handful of seconds before he was usurped by team-mate Russell. Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari, one spot ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen.

Formula One is back in Miami for a second time at a 3.36-mile circuit constructed around the Hard Rock Stadium – home of NFL side the Miami Dolphins – 15 miles north of the city.

The race marks the first of three rounds to be staged in the United States this year as F1’s American owners Liberty Media continue to build on the rise of the sport across the Atlantic.

A debut event on the Las Vegas strip will take place in November, while Austin’s grand prix at the Circuit of the Americas – a permanent fixture on the F1 schedule since 2012 – also features.

Despite the boom of the sport, the actual competition is facing accusations of being “predictable” and “boring” with Red Bull winning 14 of the last 15 races.

Verstappen leads Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez in the standings by six points after the opening four rounds.

But Mercedes’ encouraging start here will provide hope that Red Bull might not have it all their own way in Florida.

Russell edged out Hamilton by 0.212 sec with Leclerc three tenths back. Verstappen ended the first running four tenths behind Russell, while his Red Bull team-mate Perez, who comfortably won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend, was only 11th.

The session was earlier suspended for nine minutes when Nico Hulkenberg crashed into the wall after he lost control of his Haas coming through the third corner.

With Hulkenberg’s broken machine in a precarious position, the red flags were deployed.

Behind the top four, Carlos Sainz took fifth for Ferrari, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly sixth and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso seventh.

Lando Norris finished 16th for McLaren, 1.8 sec back while home favourite and sole American in the field Logan Sargeant, who was raised in nearby Fort Lauderdale, finished 19th of the 20 runners.

The concluding action of the day gets under way at 17:30 local time (22:30 UK).