Out of nowhere, can Lewis Hamilton win a record-breaking eighth F1 world title?  

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Sport newsletter. It’s Senior Sports Writer Kieran Jackson here to get you up to speed on the week’s biggest headlines.  

For the first time this season, a non-Mercedes driver won a Formula 1 grand prix on Sunday afternoon in Barcelona. But it was more than that; for Lewis Hamilton, who was so downbeat for the vast majority of his debut 2025 season at Ferrari, it was the day he had long dreamed of under the Catalunya sun. 

Even for the 41-year-old, who has experienced and endured just about every sensation possible in his two decades in Formula One, this was something new. Something fresh. And perhaps, most tantalisingly of all, something worth building towards for the rest of the 2026 campaign.

When Hamilton told Mercedes boss Toto Wolff over lunch in February 2024 that he was moving to Ferrari, F1’s greatest modern driver probably did not envisage waiting so long for his first victory in red.

But on Sunday, 686 days since his last grand prix triumph at Spa-Francorchamps, and with the help of an ingenious trick, Hamilton claimed a much-deserved victory from second on the grid. Mercedes, this year’s runaway train out in front, had no answers to the galloping prancing horse. And out of nowhere, 41 points off Kimi Antonelli, it seems Hamilton’s long-held swansong aspiration to claim a record-breaking eighth world championship is not so far-fetched after all.

Elsewhere, of course, the Fifa World Cup began in North America last Thursday. Miguel Delaney’s big preview, on the ground in New York, delves into the detail behind the immense scale of the 'Trumpification' of the 2026 tournament.

Lewis Hamilton claimed a terrific first grand prix win for Ferrari in Barcelona (Getty)

In USA’s 4-1 victory over Paraguay at the World Cup, American defender Chris Richards completed the most amount of passes with a 100% accuracy rate by any player in a Fifa World Cup match since 1966. How many passes did he complete? 

MUST READS

Ben Stokes’ act of staggering stupidity has embarrassed English cricket at the worst moment

The news that broke last week, involving Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson after England’s Test win over New Zealand, was scarcely believable. They breached team curfew and, as Harry Latham-Coyle explains, put themselves in the most risky of situations.

Of course, players have a right to celebrate a success like that achieved at Lord’s, but the embarrassment caused by an incident like this will only further fray already threadbare connections with a public losing their love for this team. Once again, the focus is taken off the cricket and onto the culture – which again appears to have come up short.

The true meaning behind the Knicks’ NBA title and an unforgettable night for New York

The city that never sleeps had a celebration to remember after the Knicks won their first NBA title since 1973. Sports Editor Jack Rathborn was in the Big Apple to sample the atmosphere.

After 53 years, perhaps the most cathartic moment in recent sporting history, an NBA championship to savour and a seismic achievement for a team that has long endured plenty of pain. Moreover this is the eighth successive different champion in the NBA, underlining its booming popularity and appeal, no matter Gianni Infantino’s dismissive remarks after planting his flag in the USA to kick off the World Cup this week.

How Emma Raducanu can build on Queen’s run to finally find joy at Wimbledon

A positive first week on the grass for Raducanu, who just missed out on a prestigious title at Queen's Club. Flo Clifford takes a look at whether she can put together a deep run at Wimbledon this year. 

Throughout her career, Raducanu has looked her most relaxed, and played her most impressive tennis, under the guidance of a team she trusts and knows well – evident last year in a positive run under Mark Petchey and Jane O’Donohue. Throughout this week, and the final, she communicated frequently with her box, asking them for more encouragement in the second set. It worked wonders.

THE DISPATCH

Gianni Infantino’s Trumpian ramble is shambolic start to World Cup

The Fifa president spoke to the media for the first time in three years but, as Miguel Delaney in the United States comments, it fell short on three major issues that have defined this controversial 2026 World Cup’s build-up

“Just chill,” Gianni Infantino said, as Fifa continue to endure a shambolic build-up to this World Cup. This notional press conference on the eve of the opening game at the Azteca was just another part of it. As the stand-out line - outside the Fifa president praising himself for the “impossible” of ensuring Iran play - “just chill” wasn’t quite up there with all of Infantino's feelings from four years ago.

It also meant this didn’t really live up to the billing, even if it did inadvertently say more than the actual words intended. Infantino didn’t seem to want to listen to questions from journalists that Fifa would know have reported critically. There were only four that were any way testing, as Infantino was instead asked about Lionel Messi and who he thinks will win the World Cup.

It was absolutely not what was warranted from Infantino’s first proper press conference in three years, when so much has happened and so much demands answers.

Read Miguel's full article here. 

Gianni Infantino held his first press conference in three years in Mexico City (Getty)

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Richards completed 83 passes against Paraguay - and did not give the ball away once. Impressive! 

Drop me an email and let me know how you did.

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