F1 news: 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend schedule and race predictions
Formula 1 heads to the Baku City Circuit this weekend for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the championship battle entering the first round of a triple-header.
Kimi Antonelli arrives in Azerbaijan with an 81-point lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship after consecutive victories in Italy and Madrid.
McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are all expected to fight for victory, while Isack Hadjar will return to action for Red Bull after missing the last three races with a wrist injury.
The Baku weekend will also follow an unusual schedule, with practice taking place on Thursday, qualifying on Friday and the Grand Prix on Saturday due to Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day.
Here, Sports News Blitz’s F1 writer Juliette White provides everything you need to know ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, including the weekend schedule and our predictions for the podium.
Rugby: England star Henry Pollock ends contract speculation; signs extension with Northampton Saints
Henry Pollock has ended speculation over his future by signing a new multi-year contract with Northampton Saints.
The England and British & Irish Lions back-rower was due to enter the final year of his previous agreement, but will remain at Franklin’s Gardens after committing to the Premiership champions.
The new deal is reportedly worth more than £400,000 per year.
What Simon Wilson’s Irish Open win tells us about chip leads
Simon Wilson began the nine-player final table of the 2025 Irish Open Main Event fifth in chips. Michel Karim held the lead.
By the end of the tournament in Dublin on 21 April, Wilson was the champion and Karim had finished fifth.
The changing order gives anyone following poker results a reason to look beyond the name at the top of a chip count.
A lead describes the chips available during a contest. It does not reveal the next hand or settle the result.
Cricket betting tips: Best bets for England vs Sri Lanka and South Africa vs Australia
International cricket moves to ODI mode this week, with England taking on Sri Lanka in Durham before South Africa and Australia get their series underway in Durban.
Here, Sports News Blitz’s cricket betting expert Himanshu Sharma breaks down the best bets, value plays, and key betting angles ahead of this week’s action.
Premier League news: Matheus Cunha grabs late equaliser for struggling Man Utd at Fulham
Manchester United had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday as Matheus Cunha struck a late equaliser for Michael Carrick’s side.
Despite the positive end to the match for the Red Devils, the result leaves Carrick with plenty to ponder going into the international break. Here, Sports News Blitz writer Robert Bore reviews the game at Craven Cottage.
The best Liverpool v Man City games
Manchester City won all three meetings with Liverpool in 2025-26, taking the Etihad league game 3-0, coming from behind to win 2-1 at Anfield, and knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup 4-0 in the quarter-finals.
The two league results gave City their first league double over Liverpool since 1936-37.
That is one lopsided season inside a fixture that spent the previous decade producing the closest thing English football had to a fair fight.
The sides meet again at Anfield at 4:30pm on Sunday 11 October, and the Liverpool vs Man City odds now sit against a run of three straight City wins.
Six meetings built the reputation this game carries, ranked by what was at stake and what happened.
EFL League One: AFC Wimbledon retain upper hand over bitter rivals MK Dons despite dull draw
The EFL League One season may still be in its infancy, but some clubs are already in a higher position than expected while others experience underachievement.
One side which has seen a positive series of events so far is AFC Wimbledon, with the south-west London outfit currently placed in fifth position. Here, Sports News Blitz writer and EFL follower AJ Becker takes a look at the reasons behind their success.
A first in Africa: Nairobi, Kenya, to host 2029 World Athletics Championships
Kenya will become the first African nation to host the World Athletics Championships come 2029.
The country’s capital, Nairobi, will host the tournament at the 48,000-capacity Kasarani Stadium.
London and Rome missed out on the 2029 rights, while Munich was awarded the 2031 championships.
F1 2027 calendar: Shock Monaco Sprint race, Portugal’s return, 10 Sprints, and more
Formula 1 and the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) have officially confirmed the 2027 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar.
The calendar features 24 Grands Prix across 22 countries, with 10 Sprint weekends, writes Sports News Blitz sub-editor Nicole Powell.
Wavelight lights up Nakuru: Ben McGrath and Jai Shah on bringing pacing tech and Athletic.net to Kenya’s running culture
A Wavelight time trial at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru, Kenya (altitude approximately 5,949 ft) on Friday, August 14, brought together young track and field athletes from Iten - the high-altitude town known as Kenya’s “Home of Champions” - for what was the first such session filmed and conducted with the technology in East Africa.
Ben McGrath - Athletic Engagement Director and PA & Broadcast Announcer at RunnerSpace, and Sales and Event Operator at Wavelight Technologies - and Jai Shah, Regional African Partner at Wavelight Africa, were on the ground.
Beyond the lights themselves, the pair are helping introduce Athletic.net, the results and athlete-database platform (part of the RunnerSpace family), to Kenyan athletics.
The goal is structured results, free video and profile access, and better pathways for athletes from youth level through to the professionals.
Sports News Blitz sub-editor Nicole Powell sat down with them after the session.
Premier League betting tips: Manchester United’s chances of picking themselves up after a poor start to the season, and more Gameweek 5 predictions
Read on for a breakdown of the best bets from this weekend’s Premier League TV games from Sports News Blitz’s punting laureate - The Bookie Basher - including the clash between Fulham and Manchester United on Sunday, September 20.
Football Performance Metrics and Betting Trends in the Premier League
Modern football is a fast game. Players run hard for 90 minutes. Fans watch every pass, shot, and goal from the stands or on television screens.
Football is not just a game for fun anymore. It is also a huge business with deep ties to data analysis and global sports-betting markets. Fans use this same data to follow their favourite teams and understand the odds when they place a wager on a weekend match.
Spanish GP: New Madrid F1 circuit to undergo changes after ‘boring’ debut
Madrid’s brand-new Formula 1 circuit is already set for a makeover after its debut race left drivers and fans underwhelmed.
The Spanish Grand Prix moved from Barcelona to the new Madring - a temporary layout mixing existing roads and permanent sections at the Ifema exhibition centre near the city’s airport.
The opening event delivered a processional race with almost no overtaking, despite drivers praising the track’s challenge over a single lap.
Carabao Cup: Brighton comeback sees heightened turmoil for Michael Carrick and Man Utd
Michael Carrick and Manchester United’s tumultuous start to the 2026-27 season continued after a moral-damaging 3-2 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday.
Sports News Blitz’s Marc Shaw assesses the turmoil going on at Old Trafford so far this season.
Analytical Foundations for Winning NBA Betting Strategies
According to recent market reports, the NBA betting handle has surged as fans increasingly rely on ‘micro-markets’ and real-time data feeds.
To succeed in this high-speed market, you must move beyond team reputations and focus on the technical friction between schedule fatigue, defensive rotations, and market-driven line movements.
2026 F1 Spanish GP: Ferrari under pressure after Lewis Hamilton’s Madring brake failure
Lewis Hamilton’s Spanish Grand Prix ended after just six laps when a brake problem forced Ferrari to retire his car, with the team now investigating what caused the failure.
Sports News Blitz writer Noah Ngcobo looks at what went wrong for Hamilton, Ferrari’s response and the questions the incident raises for the team.
JJ Gabriel’s Manchester United exit request raises questions over youth development
Manchester United’s highly rated teenage prospect JJ Gabriel has asked to leave the club, sparking questions about his development and future at Old Trafford.
Sports News Blitz writer Noah Ngcobo writes about the ins and outs of JJ Gabriel’s Manchester United exit request, the questions surrounding his development and what the situation could mean for the club’s academy.
Cricket betting tips: Best bets for England vs Sri Lanka and Afghanistan vs India
England return to white-ball action this week as they begin a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka in Southampton, while Afghanistan face an uphill battle to level their series against India.
Here, Sports News Blitz cricket betting expert Himanshu Sharma breaks down the best bets, value plays, and key betting angles ahead of this week’s action.
NFL news: Five takeaways from San Francisco 49ers’ win over the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne
The first week of the 2026/27 NFL season included a trip to the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia for an NFC West divisional rivalry between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer and Niners fan Luca Salmasi takes a look at the 49ers’ 27-7 win in the league’s inaugural southern hemisphere game.
ATP Tour: Alexander Zverev defies Ben Shelton to win 2026 US Open, claim second Grand Slam title
On the ATP Tour, the US Open is the final Grand Slam of the year and takes place at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer and tennis fan AJ Becker takes a closer look at champion Alexander Zverev’s achievement and other salient stories from the past fortnight in the Big Apple.