FIA surprised by unexpected departure of F1 race director before end of 2024 season

The Formula One race director, Niels Wittich, has stepped down from his post with immediate effect in an unexpected decision announced by the FIA on Tuesday. He will be replaced by Rui Marques, who was previously the race director for Formula Two and Formula Three. Wittich’s departure came as a surprise to F1 and is highly unusual in its timing given there are three races of the 2024 season remaining.Wittich has made no comment on why he has stepped down during the season, but he is the latest senior FIA officials to leave. In the past 12 months the chief executive, Natalie Robyn, moved on after 18 months in post, as have the sporting director, Steve Nielsen, the technical director, Tim Goss, and the head of the FIA commission for women, Deborah Mayer, in what has been a period of turbulence for the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem

Rassie Erasmus calls on doctor to deliver message: Springboks are ready

When Rassie Erasmus does something out of the ordinary it is usually for a reason, so his surprising decision to put the team doctor up to face the press on Tuesday was no doubt a calculated move. The message was clear, and has been since full-time against Scotland: the Springboks are fresh. And they evidently want everyone to know it.Equally, you suspect they are not very happy about having a six-day turnaround before facing England. New Zealand made light work of theirs last week but as the all-conquering back-to-back world champions, perhaps it is necessary to engineer perceived slights against yourselves

‘A sharp learning curve’: Lewis says England players must cope with growing scrutiny

The England coach, Jon Lewis, said his players experienced a “sharp learning curve” about perception management in the fallout from their disastrous group-stage exit in last month’s T20 World Cup. The team’s fitness, professionalism and leadership were all called into question.Criticism was directed at the players when they fell apart against West Indies after their captain Heather Knight’s injury-enforced absence from the field, dropping six straightforward catches, as the team seemed to panic when Nat Sciver-Brunt took the reins. Further pointed remarks were then made about the conditioning of some players.But as the team look to the future, beginning with a multi-format series in South Africa this month, Lewis backed Sciver-Brunt to remain as vice-captain while admitting they need to work on “developing the next group of leaders” to prepare for life beyond Knight

Cavaliers off to best NBA start since 2015-16 Warriors after 12th straight win

Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 36 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls 119-113 on Monday night to become just the eighth NBA team to begin a season with 12 straight wins.Darius Garland scored 17 points for Cleveland, and Evan Mobley had 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Cavaliers scored at least 110 points for the 11th time this season. Their 12-0 record is the best start to a season since the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who went 24-0 to open their campaign. That Warriors team finished the season 73-9, another record, although they lost the NBA finals to … the Cavaliers

The Breakdown | Rugby is crying out for fresh global vision in crucial leadership vote

There are plenty of major rugby union contests happening this month but perhaps the most far-reaching is taking place in Dublinon Thursday. World Rugby’s assembled delegates will vote in a new chair and the outcome is not yet the foregone conclusion so often served up on these occasions.The race to succeed the retiring Bill Beaumont is a three-way one between Australia’s Brett Robinson, France’s Abdelatif Benazzi and Italy’s Andrea Rinaldo, with Robinson regarded as the frontrunner. The winner needs 27 votes and sources suggest it is not inconceivable that, after one first-round runner is eliminated, Benazzi could gain some game-altering last-minute extra backers.It has already been an acrimonious tussle with Scotland’s John Jeffrey having withdrawn from contention after being advised his own union would no longer support him

The Ravens defense to a one-man team: Super Bowl contenders’ (potentially) fatal flaws

As the business end of the season comes into view, we look at the weaknesses that could end the championship hopes of some of the league’s best teamsAs we career at high speed into the second half of the season, even the best NFL teams have issues they need to shore up before the playoffs. Because in the postseason every mistake is magnified, and every big play is bigger.So, here are five of the NFL’s most credible contenders, and the one potentially fatal flaw that could boot each one of those squads out of the race to Super Bowl LIX. The list is far from exhaustive – there are plenty of other teams who could win the title – feel free to add your own choices, and their weaknesses, below.Weakness: A lack of explosive offensive playmakers