Formula One

Max Verstappen has been sentenced to two days of community service by Formula One's governing body after he sensationally shoved Esteban Ocon following Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen, furious with Ocon after their collision denied the Red Bull driver a fine win at Interlagos, squared up to the Frenchman as he was about to be weighed, before pushing him three times.

FIA officials had to jump in and restrain Ocon from retaliating.

The dramatic incident was caught on camera, and both Verstappen, 21, and Ocon, one year the Dutchman's senior, were hauled in front of the stewards.

Verstappen, who finished second to Lewis Hamilton, was found guilty of "starting an altercation, pushing or hitting Ocon forcefully several times in the chest", and failing to "act as a role model to drivers of all levels".

As such, the Dutchman must now serve two days of work of "public interest" at the FIA's request within the next six months.

Verstappen was seething with rage after his collision with Ocon on lap 44.

Ocon, one lap down on the Dutchman and in 16th place, went wheel-to-wheel with the race leader at 220mph, before he banged into the right-rear of Verstappen's car through the Senna Esses, sending him into a race-losing spin.

"What a f****** idiot," Verstappen fumed over the radio before he recovered to finish less than two seconds behind Hamilton.

"I don't know what to say," Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said.

"I know what to say," Verstappen replied. "I hope I don't find him in the paddock."

Formula One has reached a deal to stage a race on the streets of Vietnam's capital city.

The grand prix, which will take place in Hanoi, has been mooted for some time, but was officially confirmed by F1 officials on Wednesday.

The street race will be staged from 2020 onwards, and it becomes the first new addition to the calendar in the post-Bernie Ecclestone era.

Earlier this year, F1's American owners' Liberty Media were forced to put plans for a race in Miami on hold after opposition from local groups.

While there are just two of this year's record-equalling 21 races remaining, Wednesday's announcement, coupled with a potential Miami race in 2020, could now see that tally increase to 23, despite resistance from some teams.

The inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix, pencilled in for April 2020, will take place over a 3.46-mile track on a combination of existing and newly-built roads.

England's George Russell is to race for Williams next season after agreeing a multi-year deal with the British Formula One team.

Russell, 20, will follow in the footsteps of 2009 world champion Jenson Button who made his debut for Williams nearly two decades ago.

The highly-rated Russell is the reserve driver for Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes team this year, and following Lando Norris's McLaren promotion, he will now become the second British rookie on the grid in 2019.

Russell is also on the brink of securing the Formula Two championship, the feeder series to F1, following an impressive debut campaign in which he has won six races.

He holds a 37-point title lead with just the season-deciding races in Abu Dhabi to come next month.

"It is a huge honour to join a team of Williams' prestige and heritage," Russell, from Kings Lynn in Norfolk, said. "Formula One has been a life-long dream.

"From watching the races when I was a child, it feels surreal that I will now be lining up on the grid, alongside drivers whom I have admired for years.

"I cannot wait for Melbourne next year and to join Williams at the start of what we all believe will be the start of an exciting new journey."

Lewis Hamilton has said Sebastian Vettel deserves more respect after moving to defend his championship rival.

Vettel attracted criticism for his collision with Max Verstappen at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix which leaves Hamilton on the brink of winning his fifth world title.

The Ferrari driver's coming together with Verstappen was his seventh significant error of the campaign, and his 10th in two seasons fighting Hamilton for the championship.

But Hamilton, who will secure the title if he wins in Austin, Texas next Sunday and Vettel fails to finish second, insists the German is owed greater credit.

"I feel the media need to show a little more respect for Sebastian," he wrote in a message posted to his Instagram story on Tuesday.

"You simply cannot imagine how hard it is to do what we do at our level, for any athlete at the top of their game that is.

"It is to be expected that being humans we will make mistakes but it is how we get through them that counts."

While a dominant Hamilton, who will visit the Mercedes factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire on Wednesday, has secured six victories in seven rounds of remarkable racing, Vettel and Ferrari's championship challenge has fallen dramatically off the rails.

Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix as another Ferrari blunder left Sebastian Vettel only ninth.

Hamilton, who headed into qualifying after topping every practice session, delivered again at the Suzuka circuit to finish ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes locked out the front row for a second consecutive race.

Vettel, 50 championship points behind Hamilton, will start way down the order after his team selected the wrong tyre in the changeable conditions.

Despite a smattering of rain drops ahead of the shootout for pole, Mercedes elected to send Hamilton out on slick rubber, and it proved to be the right call.

In contrast, Vettel, and his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, were both on track on the intermediate tyre, and they had to stop for slicks.

By the time Vettel was ready to post a fast lap, a rain shower left the German exposed, and after he made a mistake by running off the track in damp conditions at the Spoon Curve, he finished more than four seconds adrift of Hamilton in ninth.

Raikkonen managed to qualify fourth.