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Verstappen Fastest in Japanese Grand Prix First Practice

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest in the first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest in the first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
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Verstappen Fastest in Japanese Grand Prix First Practice

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest in the first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest in the first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

Max Verstappen went fastest on Friday in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, edging out Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez at Suzuka.
The triple world champion, who failed to finish the race in Australia a fortnight ago, clocked a lap of 1min 30.056sec -- 0.181sec quicker than the Mexican.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia after returning from appendicitis surgery, was third-fastest at 1min 30.269sec.
Verstappen won the first two grands prix of the season but the Dutchman retired from a race for the first time in two years in Melbourne after a brake issue, said AFP.
Normal service resumed in dry conditions at Suzuka, in a session that was red-flagged for around 10 minutes after Williams driver Logan Sargeant crashed into a wall of tyres.
George Russell was fourth-quickest followed by Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc coming home in sixth.
Sargeant came skidding off the track at a corner and spun across the gravel before slamming into a barrier midway through the session.
The American walked away unhurt and his car was carried off by a crane, with the session red-flagged.
Hamilton had the fastest lap at that point but the seven-time world champion soon tumbled down the time sheets once the action resumed.
Hamilton is looking to jump-start a frustrating start to the season after finishing seventh in Bahrain and ninth in Saudi Arabia, before retiring in Australia with engine failure.
Russell, who escaped unscathed from a heavy crash late in the race in Australia, voiced his frustration over the team radio as the traffic piled up.
"This McLaren just stopped in the middle of the corner here," he said.
McLaren's Lando Norris, who finished second behind Verstappen at last year's Japanese Grand Prix, set the early pace.
RB's Daniel Ricciardo sat out the session as Japanese driver Ayumu Iwasa took his seat for the team.

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Mohamed Salah: Liverpool’s Egyptian King

Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during the warm up before the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during the warm up before the match. (Reuters)
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Mohamed Salah: Liverpool’s Egyptian King

Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during the warm up before the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during the warm up before the match. (Reuters)

A living legend in Liverpool, Mohamed Salah has two more years to burnish his astonishing legacy at Anfield after extending his contract on Friday.

In the midst of constant speculation over his future, the 32-year-old has produced one of the great all-time individual seasons to take the Reds to the brink of the Premier League title.

The Egyptian has scored 27 goals and provided 17 assists in 31 league appearances to help Arne Slot's men open up an 11-point lead for with seven games to go.

A third player of the year award from both his fellow players and football writers is a formality as Salah's latest prolific season has propelled him into the debate over who is the greatest player of the Premier League era.

Salah's 184 goals in the English topflight is the joint fifth highest in Premier League history, while he also now sits in the top 10 for assists.

He did not arrive at Anfield as a superstar destined for greatness when Liverpool paid Roma £34 million ($44 million) for his services in 2017.

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah lifts the trophy after winning the Champions League final match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, on June 2, 2019. (AP)

As a pacy winger with promise, Salah had hitherto struggled for consistency and end product with a string of European clubs since making the move from his homeland to Swiss side Basel as a 19-year-old.

Salah failed to make the grade in his first spell in the Premier League at Chelsea as the Blues discarded him after just 19 games in what proved to be a monumental mistake.

A move to Italy, firstly on loan at Fiorentina, before heading to Roma on a permanent basis restored Salah's reputation to tempt Liverpool into taking a punt on his potential, even if he was not Jurgen Klopp's first choice.

The German manager had wanted his compatriot Julian Brandt instead, but was convinced by the club's recruitment team and together they rebuilt the Reds into a force of English and European football once more.

- Fitness fanatic -

Klopp did not take long to be convinced as Salah scored 44 times in a stunning debut season, leading Liverpool to the Champions League final and a top-four Premier League finish.

He was quickly christened "The Egyptian King" on Merseyside and soon the trophies began to flow like his goals.

Salah left the 2018 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in tears after being forced off by a shoulder injury in the first half which also limited the impact he could make for his country at the World Cup finals in Russia a few weeks later.

One year on, he scored in the final as Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 to deliver the first silverware of the Klopp era.

The club's first Premier League title for 30 years followed in the coronavirus-disrupted 2019/2020 season.

The FA Cup, two League Cups and another run to the Champions League final in 2022 underlined Liverpool's return to serial trophy contenders under Klopp -- and with it Salah's heightened status within the game and further afield.

He was named among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2019 in which he was described as an "iconic figure for Egyptians, Scousers and Muslims the world over."

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah controls the ball during the English Premier League match between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, on Dec. 16, 2021. (AP)

Salah has used that profile to call for greater gender equality in the Arab world and to appeal for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza following an Israeli air bombardment last year.

However, he has mostly done his talking on the field.

A fitness fanatic, Salah regularly posts images of his workouts on social media which he credits for allowing him to remain among the world's best despite his advancing age.

Klopp's emotional departure last year was seen by many as the end of an era for this Liverpool side.

Instead, in the first season under Dutch coach Slot, Salah has been the catalyst for an unexpected cruise towards the Premier League title.

"It's not a coincidence because the first day I arrived over here, we did a fitness test and he was our fittest player," said Slot.

"So it tells you what his plans were for the season. It also tells you a player that has so many great seasons at a club like this comes back like that tells you a lot about his personality."