The Socceroos’ path to the 2026 World Cup will be a 16-match journey – provided the Australians are among the Asian Football Confederation’s top six qualifiers.
To be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 2026 edition of the tournament will expand to include 48 nations.
With 16 more countries to qualify than the 32 at this year’s World Cup, the AFC will have at least eight representatives and a maximum of nine.
Provided, as expected, the Socceroos are at the time among the AFC’s top 25 nations, they will join the race to reach the 2026 World Cup in the second round of the preliminary qualifiers, which is set to start late next year and will involve 36 teams who will be divided into nine groups of four.
Each nation will play six games in a round-robin, home and away format, with the top two from each group – 18 in total – to advance to the stage known as the AFC Asian Qualifiers.
The 18 teams – who will be divided into three groups of six – will play 10 matches in a round-robin, home and away format, with the top two from each group to qualify directly for the World Cup.
The teams finishing third and fourth in each of the three groups will be drawn into two further groups of three and play two matches in a single round-robin format.
Both of the group winners will qualify for the World Cup.
The two second-placed teams will meet in a playoff, with the winner to represent the AFC in an Intercontinental playoff, where a World Cup berth will be up for grabs.
Pat Carroll, the actress known for voicing the underwater villain Ursula in Disney’s animated tale, The Little Mermaid, died on July 30. She was 95.
The Emmy Award-winning actress passed away at her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while recovering from pneumonia, according to Variety.
Carroll found a niche as a comedian on the late-night circuit beginning in the 1940s, and voiced several cartoon characters through the years before earning an Emmy for her work on Sid Caesar’s Hour.
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Carroll’s family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old, and she picked up acting in local productions shortly after.
She graduated from the local, all-girls Immaculate Heart High School, whose notable alumni include Meghan Markle, Diane Disney (the daughter of Walt and Lillian Disney), Mary Tyler Moore, Lucie Arnaz, Tyra Banks and Yara Shahidi.
After enlisting in the Army, she attended the Catholic University of America, and began her career in the industry with the 1947 film Hometown Girl.
She co-starred as Prunella in a 1965 production of the musical version of cinderellaand worked on Laverne & Shirley, Busting Loose, The Ted Knight Show and She’s The Sheriff.
Other appearances included The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Love Boat, Designing Women and ER.
She won several theatrical awards for her one-woman show on Gertrude Stein. The recorded version won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama in 1980.
In 1989, she played the villainous sea witch Ursula and sang Poor Unfortunate Souls, a role she once said was one of her all-time favourites.
She reprized the infamous character’s voice for a number of Disney video games and television shows, most recently in 2020 with The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse short series.
Carroll is survived by daughters Kerry Karsian, Tara Karsian and granddaughter Evan Karsian-McCormick.
This story originally appeared on Fox News and is republished here with permission.
A flight attendant has revealed the “real” reason cabin crew won’t stow passengers’ carry-on bags for them – and it’s left many online users fired up.
If you have recently been on a plane and noticed flight attendants don’t offer to place your suitcase or backpack into the overhead locker, there’s a reason.
According to US flight attendant Cierra, none of the crew get paid while passengers are boarding.
“We actually don’t start to get paid until the moment that airplane door shuts and the handbrake gets lifted,” she said in a viral TikTok.
“On top of that, if it’s because you’re having trouble lifting it, you can easily get your packed [luggage] checked at the gate for free.”
Cierra’s clip, which has amassed almost one million views, has left hundreds shocked.
“Think it’s ridiculous that you don’t get paid until the door shuts. Should be as soon as you enter the airport,” one person wrote.
“It’s ridiculous that you don’t get paid until the doors close,” a second person agreed.
Some claimed that with the current global chaos surrounding airports, airlines and lost baggage, they would rather not have their bags checked in, while others didn’t take lightly to Cierra’s clip.
“OK asking for help to lift a bag shouldn’t ruin your day if someone is asking kindly. There’s plenty of people too short to reach the cabins up top,” one person commented.
“So you’re not gonna help someone with a simple thing like their bags because you’re not getting paid? Seems a little messed up – it’s not that big of a deal,” a second person wrote, while a third added: “Last time I went on a plane they announced if you need help putting luggage overhead just ask since it’s just common courtesy to help people.”
While the rules vary for different airlines, some can have policies preventing flight attendants from lifting passengers’ suitcases, according to the travel brand Matador Network.
Flight attendant Jamela Hardwick told Insider why she won’t help passengers with their luggage.
She explained that it not only comes down to pay, but if they get injured while performing the act, they’re not covered.
“We do not get paid until the boarding door is closed,” she said. “If we get hurt while putting that bag in the overhead bin, we do not get to write it off as an on-job injury.”
Kat Kamalani, a flight attendant for more than six years, said while it is “crazy” it is true that it’s not their job to lift luggage into the overhead lockers.
“A tonne of airlines tell (flight attendants) not to do this because there are so many injuries with it, so if we get injured it’s not even covered,” she said in a TikTok. But she said while the flight crew won’t stow the luggage for you, if you ask for help while you put your luggage in the overhead compartment, they will gladly give it.
“Ask the flight attendant to assist you and they will totally help you put it up there.”
A transgender cheerleader in the United States was kicked out of a cheerleading camp after she allegedly attacked a teammate who made a transphobic remark.
Last week Averie Chanel Medlock, 25, was expelled from Ranger College cheerleading camp in Texas after she was alleged to have choked a 17-year-old female teammate, identified only as Karleigh.
The girl and other cheerleaders reportedly locked themselves inside a room to hide from an angry Ms Medlock.
Police were called to the scene and Ms Medlock was booted from the camp.
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Ms Medlock took to Facebook to explain the incident and said she “stood up” for herself.
“Well guys I’m officially retired as a cheerleader as of last night at 5:30am. A girl on the team was being very disrespectful and told me I am a MAN with a PENIS and that [guys] should not be on the team,” she wrote.
“I stood up for myself and she called her mom and dad because she was scared because I [stood] up for myself.
“Her father said, ‘She still has testosterone and a penis and I will kill anyone who comes after my daughter.’”
Karleigh’s father Mike Jones was also called to the scene by his daughter, and denied attacking Ms Medlock’s gender or race.
“I ask you what you would have done when receiving a phone call at 1am in the morning from your daughter stating they had locked themselves in the room with other girls,” he wrote on Facebook.
“At no time did I ever say anything about your race or your gender.”
He has begun pushing for police to release body camera and CCTV footage of the incident.
Ranger College said in a statement that the school will investigate the incident.
“Ranger College takes all allegations of this nature seriously and is committed to providing a learning environment free from discrimination,” the school said.
The incident comes as debate continues to rage about transgender participation in female athletics, most recently in the case of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.
Ms Thomas competed for the school’s male swim team between 2017 and 2020, but transitioned to compete with females for the 2021 season.
She became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 national championship in 2022, and has since been at the center of debate around transgender participation in sports.
The controversy has led to 18 US states passing legislation that bans or limits transgender participation to the athlete’s birth sex.
An American woman living in Sydney has divided the internet after claiming that she did not use a handbrake on her car.
The woman, known as Brit, claimed in a now viral TikTok post that there was no need to use the handbrake except in certain circumstances because cars weren’t “rolling away”.
“If you’re American, do you use the parking brake when you drive?” she said in the video which has been viewed nearly 500,000 times and attracted over 2000 comments.
“Because I’ve never used one in my entire life but I think everyone uses them in Australia.
“And my boyfriend asks me to drive and I have to look at it and say ‘Is it on? I don’t know’.”
In a later video, Brit, who describes herself as a “Midwest girl living in Sydney”, clarified that there was only one circumstance in which she used the parking brake.
“I don’t know if the cars are built differently or something. A few people have commented and said that American cars have some sort of anti-roll s*** that Australian cars don’t,” she said.
“But the cars aren’t just f***ing rolling away guys. When you put it in park you can lean on it, you can push, it doesn’t just roll anywhere.
“We don’t need to put the parking brake on unless you’re on a really steep hill, that’s what we’re taught.”
Her post split the comments section in half, with some questioning how she was able to drive safely’.
“Que?!?! I’m American and I use them EVERYTIME! How did y’all pass your exam?,” one user said.
“This is why we see so many videos of parked cars rolling into traffic in the US,” another added.
Another user added: “Using the park break not only is a failsafe it’s to take away stress and strain from your gearbox/transmission.”
However some users from the US said that Brit was correct.
“These comments are killing me… we only use them on hills. IDK if our cars are different or what but I would never just use it,” one said.
Another added: “ONLY when i’m parked in an incline. idk why people just use them to use them. it’s not necessary.”
This is the car that will spearhead a new assault on world markets for the famed Cadillac brand.
The Lyriq electric SUV will form the foundation for a Cadillac return to Europe and other markets – potentially including Australia.
A mid-sized SUV similar in size to BMW’s X3 and Audi’s Q5, the Lyriq’s a handsome looking thing in the metal. It has a long bonnet, muscular haunches and daring detail work on the headlamps, grill and tail lamps.
The door handles fold flush with the door panels – much like Tesla’s Model Y – and the cabin is dominated by a huge curved digital screen that houses a driver display and center touchscreen.
Bright chrome highlights lift the cabin and there’s an abundance of storage space, thanks to the fact that there’s no transmission tunnel running through the center of the vehicle.
Second-row passengers will find more leg and knee room than they would in a mid-size German luxury SUV, while the read load area is a decent size.
It’s on the road that the Lyriq impresses, though.
A 250kW rear-mounted electric motor moves things along swiftly and silently, although there’s not the brutal launch off the line that you’d feel in a Tesla Model Y.
Once you’re on the move, though, there’s an impressive surge at most speeds when you floor the throttle.
The venue for our brief test drive was GM’s huge Milford Proving Ground outside of Detroit and we put the Lyriq through its paces on a variety of surfaces designed to replicate public roads. That included large bumps and dips, a simulated rail crossing and some sweeping, high-speed corners.
The Cadillac impressed with its composure, setting well after larger bumps and sitting flat through corners, even when confronted with broken, corrugated bitumen.
Precise steering and reassuring grip add to the driving enjoyment, although you can feel its considerable weight shift when it is asked to change direction in a hurry.
Cadillac claims the Lyriq is good for a range of 500km, although that may come down once the more realistic WLTP standard for range is applied.
In the US, the Lyriq starts from $62,990 in rear-drive form. A dual-motor version will launch early next year with roughly 370kW of power for just $2000 extra.
GM won’t confirm whether the Lyriq will be available in right-hand-drive but it would appear likely, as it seems the most logical fit for a Cadillac rebirth in European and international markets.
The president of GM International, Shilpin Amin, says designing vehicles for either left or right-hand drive is “much more simple” on an electric vehicle platform.
“Because of how efficient it is to build it upfront with left and right-hand-drive markets in mind no longer do you need the volumes to justify it. You can actually do it pretty efficiently at all volumes for markets around the world,” he says.
That is encouraging news for Aussie Cadillac fans.
Christian Soemmer, managing director of GM strategic markets, alliances and distributors, says the brand has “ambitious goals” in overseas markets, including Australia.
“We want to grow our international scale. Australia and New Zealand is an absolute key pillar of that region. We are always looking into more opportunities,” he says.
Cadillac will lead GM’s transformation to a leading EV maker, taking the fight to Tesla.
It will not launch any new petrol vehicles after 2026 and will become EV-only by 2030.
Cadillac interior design manager Tristan Murphy said the shift in focus to electric cars gave the design department an opportunity to reimagine the once-storied brand.
“I think it was a good opportunity for us to take a step back and say OK as we move forward into the future what do we want Cadillac to be? It was a chance to reinvent it,” he says
The design team was also mindful of its duty to honor the heritage of the badge.
“I don’t want to say it’s retro by any means but there are some retro cues because there are some things in our history that we want to hold on to. There are these little winks and nods at our history because that is something that an EV Start-up company doesn’t have,” he says.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter has made her on-screen debut.
Holmes, 43, directed and stars in the newly released movie Alone Togetherand her daughter Suri Cruise, 16, joined her on the big screen.
“I always want the highest level of talent,” Holmes said in an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment. “So, I asked her [Suri].
“She’s very, very talented. She said she would do it, and she recorded it, and I let her do her thing about her. That’s the way I direct in general. It’s like, ‘This is what I think we all want – go do your thing.’”
In the movie, Suri sings a cover of bluemoon, which plays during the opening credits of the film. Holmes told the outlet this will not be her daughter’s only on-screen singing gig, Fox News reports.
“She actually did sing in Rare Itemswhich is the film we did last [autumn],” Holmes said. “Other than that, she she’s a 16-year-old kid doing high school.”
Cruise and Holmes were married from 2006 to 2012. Suri is their only child together, and her uber-famous parents opted to keep her out of the public eye for the majority of her childhood.
Holmes directed, wrote and stars in Alone Together – a romantic comedy set during the Covid pandemic. Also appearing opposite her in the film is English actor Jim Sturgess.
The film follows a man and woman fleeing New York City during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.
They end up booking the same Airbnb and ultimately decide to stay at the upstate property together.
Sturgess praised Holmes’ directing style and shared that she gives actors wide latitude when they are in front of the camera.
“She gives you this incredible space between action and cut,” Sturgess said of his co-star.
“She very rarely shouted, ‘Cut!’ actually. You’d think the scene had ended and she just kind of left it hanging. I love that she was always searching for those little nuggets of authenticity.”
This story originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission
Hollywood star Margot Robbie has told how she will be “eternally grateful” to soap Neighbors after it launched her acting career.
Margot, 32, who began her TV career as Ramsay Street’s Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011, appeared in the show’s finale, which aired last Thursday.
While the A-lister filmed her scenes for the final show in Los Angeles, she made a sweet gesture to her fellow castmates, sending 37 bottles of champagne to the Melbourne set, as revealed by Neighbors actress Christie Whelan on social media last week, The Sun reports.
Robbie said that the final episode marks “the end of an era”.
Now Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, she said: “I owe so much to neighbors.
“There are so many of us that owe [the show] for giving us a big break.
“It wasn’t just about giving me a break either – it gave me a real chance to work on my craft. It was the perfect training for Hollywood and I will always be eternally grateful.”
thursday’s neighbors finale saw Robbie return alongside a host of other fan favourites, including Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Holly Valance and Natalie Imbruglia.
Anne Charleston, who played Ramsay Street legend Madge Bishop, also returned – with her late character appearing as a ghost.
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Remembering her time on the soap, Robbie said it was only when she moved to London that she realized how widespread neighbors‘popularity was.
“It really is an end of an era for fans. When I lived in London, I understood at its peak how big it was. People would come up to me and tell me how they watched it every day after school.”
From fruit farm to Hollywood Hills
The actress, who grew up on a fruit farm on the Gold Coast, moved to LA after leaving neighbors in 2011 and landed a role in US TV show Pan Am.
But it was her part opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf Of Wall Street that caught the eye of movie bosses in 2013.
Soon after, she moved to South London where she shared a four-bedroom pad in Clapham with six other friends that they dubbed “The Manor”.
Her housemates were friends she had met filming wartime flick French Suite – including the assistant director and her now-husband Tom Ackerley.
Robbie went on to star in 2015’s focus opposite Will Smith and played The Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn in 2016 hitSuicide Squad.
In 2016, she and Ackerley also married, and the following year they swapped their Clapham flat for a $3.6 million villa in Hollywood.
But she said leaving London had not been an easy move for the couple.
She said: “It was such a hard decision to leave, but I just couldn’t keep living out of a suitcase.”
Back in LA, the actress went on to star as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya – which she also produced – and alongside Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron in Bombshell.
Both roles won her Oscar nominations.
She also starred as rising movie star Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywoodappearing with former co-star DiCaprio as well as Brad Pitt.
Next year will see her hit the big screen in neon pink and sky-high heels after she was cast as Barbie in a romantic comedy about the iconic doll.
Directed by Greta Gerwig, the film also stars Ryan Gosling as Barbie‘s love interest Ken.
Robbie said: “When I read the script, I genuinely thought, ‘This is one of the best scripts I have ever read.’ I needed to be part of this story.
“I remember speaking with Ryan before we started shooting and we were just so excited to be part of this incredible script.
“Whatever people expect the Barbie movie to be like, they need to totally rethink it because Greta has done something special here.
“And Barbie is such a role model. She was a surgeon back in the early ’70s when a tiny percentage of females were applying for medical school.”
It is expected that in the hands of director Greta – whose last films were Lady Bird and Little Women – Barbie will get a thoroughly modern makeover.
‘Things have changed a lot’
It comes after Hollywood’s own makeover in recent years following the #MeToo scandals.
That movement was the focus of 2019 movie Bombshell, which was based on the sexual harassment of women working at Fox News.
Robbie, who starred as Kayla Pospisil, told at the time that it was only while working on the film that she realized what sexual harassment was.
She told Net-A-Porter: “I’m in my late twenties, I’m educated, I’m worldly, I’ve travelled, I have my own business – and I didn’t know. That’s insane.
“I didn’t know that you could say, ‘I have been sexually harassed,’ without someone physically touching you.
“That you could say, ‘That’s not OK.’ I had no idea.”
The actress also said that she has experienced harassment, but “not in Hollywood”, adding: “I struggle to find many women who haven’t experienced sexual harassment on some level.
“So yes, lots of times. And to varying degrees of severity throughout my life.”
Speaking last week, Robbie said: “I think things have changed in Hollywood over the past few years.
“There have been some difficult conversations and very brave people.
“We live in hope that all this courage that has been shown means nothing like this ever happens again.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission
Wins don’t come much more emphatic than from 10th on the grid at the Hungaroring.
Max Verstappen’s against-the-odds victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix was only the fourth time someone’s won in Budapest starting further back than the front two rows. Not only was it a clear underline on Red Bull Racing’s superiority in the 2022 championship race, it was also a neat encapsulation of the entire season to date as the sport heads into the mid-season break.
It featured a wildly slow then unexpectedly and inexplicably fast Mercedes that threatened to win the race but ultimately couldn’t manage it.
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It featured Ferrari somehow fumbling what should’ve been an unimpeachable pace advantage early in the weekend to finish off the podium and denying it lacks operational sharpness.
And as its centrepiece it featured Red Bull Racing executing most effectively, Verstappen seizing his opportunities and both ending Sunday with enhanced points leads.
You almost don’t need to have seen any other race this year to understand where the championship stands and predict where it’ll head when racing resumes at the end of August after the mid-season break.
REMINDER: FERRARI TARGETED TO ONE-TWO
There’s no team that needs the mid-season break more urgently than Ferrari, which contributed yet another way to ship more points to Red Bull Racing and Verstappen in an already bleak title campaign.
All this despite having explicitly targeted a one-two finish just days earlier.
It won’t shock you to know that the team’s embarrassing loss came mainly from the pit wall.
Slow pit stops meant it took longer for Leclerc to pass pole-getter Russell than it should have, and it cost Sainz the opportunity to pass the Briton at all.
It then made the fatal error of swapping Leclerc onto the unfancied hard tire for his final stint in a hasty attempt to cover the undercutting Verstappen — despite the fact every other car that had used the tire was struggling badly for grip.
Not only did it cost him the lead, but he was forced into making a third stop that left him an almost unbelievable sixth at the flag.
Ferrari protested after the race that the problem wasn’t its strategy but the car, which in the cooler Sunday conditions wasn’t exhibiting the dominant edge it enjoyed during Friday practice.
Leclerc burnt by ANOTHER Ferrari blunder | 01:14
“Certainly we didn’t have the performance we were expecting,” team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports. “Whatever the tyres, somehow the performance of our cars was not as expected.
“Today the car was not behaving well, I think that’s the point.”
Binotto isn’t wrong to make that argument, but he is exaggerating. Ferrari was slower than it was on Friday, but it was still the fastest car on track.
We can make a like-for-like comparison between Leclerc and Verstappen on the medium tire in the middle of the race, Even accounting for the Dutchman’s older rubber, the Monegasque was still quicker, or at least quick enough to take him on directly.
But the team let itself be spooked by Verstappen’s second undercut attempt with 32 laps to go. Rather than race to its own pace, run deep and switch to softs — which it did with Sainz — it brought Leclerc in immediately for the hard tire and suffered the consequences.
“I felt very strong on the medium. Everything was under control,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “I don’t know why we needed to go on the hard.
“I said on the radio I was very comfortable on the medium and I wanted to go as long as possible on those tires because the feeling was good. I don’t know why we made a different decision.”
So really there are two key mistakes here. One is coolness under pressure in reading the race, and the other is misunderstanding the hard tyre, which the team thought would warm up after 10 laps but which in reality was never going to be effective. It’s not the first time it’s committed either foul this season.
Leclerc left Budapest with a whopping 80-point deficit to Verstappen and Ferrari is now 97 points adrift of Red Bull Racing. More worrying still, the team’s just 30 points ahead of Mercedes.
And with performance like that, would you be willing to back Ferrari to hold second?
Max & Lewis chuckle at Ferrari’s tactics | 00:33
MAX VERSTAPPEN PUTS ONE HAND ON THE TROPHY
If Charles Leclerc’s solo crash at the French Grand Prix effectively decided the destination of the title, Verstappen’s slick victory in Budapest gave him a chance to put one hand on the trophy.
An 80-point advantage is more than three clear race victories. He can now afford to finish second to Leclerc at every race, including the sprint in Brazil, and ship the point for fastest lap and he still won’t lose the title lead before the end of the season.
Before the mid-season break he’s been able to put the fate of the drivers championship completely in his own hands. No mean feat.
After last season’s down-to-the-wire blockbuster finale, you’ll be concerned to know we can start counting down the points needed to win the championship.
With nine rounds remaining, Verstappen can win the championship with just five more victories even if Leclerc finishes second to him in all of them. That puts him on track to claim the crown at the Japanese Grand Prix.
And perhaps Verstappen winning the next five races is unlikely — he’s yet to win more than three in a row this season — but with Mercedes potentially in the mix, he may have a team to pick points off Ferrari and Leclerc, in which case just finishing with one or two cars between him and the Monegasque regardless of their finishing position would probably be enough to get the job done.
The weekend wasn’t perfect of course. A power unit problem was part of the reason he qualified poorly, and a clutch issue spun him around in the race, temporarily costing him the lead. He’ll also need to serve a penalty for a new power unit at some point in the second half of the year, having installed his third and final motor this weekend.
But the gap is easily wide enough to absorb that pressure, and with Leclerc needing at least one more round of power unit penalties, it’s extremely difficult to imagine a scenario in which Verstappen doesn’t win the title with at least two rounds to spare
Max spins but still wins in Hungary | 01:11
MERCEDES UNEXPECTEDLY FAST BUT UNSURE ABOUT PERMANENCE
Mercedes arrived in Budapest in the brace position, appeared to be justified by its lackluster Friday performance, but by the end of the weekend it had collected its first pole of the year with George Russell and a second straight double podium.
Lewis Hamilton had even been on a late an unlikely charge for victory that team boss Toto Wolff said could’ve ended in success had he qualified higher up the grid rather than suffer a DRS failure in Q3.
What’s more, the Hungaroring layout should have been a struggle circuit for the car, which tends to prefer faster tracks — Hamilton almost won at Silverstone, both drivers showed good pace in Austria before crashing out of qualifying, and the team got both cars onto the podium in France.
Wolff, however, said it was less a case of not understanding the reasons for its speed in Budapest but rather figuring out if those reasons applied universally or only to the specific characteristics of the Hungaroring.
“It’s not that we have no clue why the car has been fast,” Wolff said, per The Race.
“We had directions during the season where we believed it would unlock the potential of the car, and it didn’t.
“So here we have another direction, and that was very quick on the stopwatch.
“But I don’t want to have another false dawn and we come to the realization tomorrow and Spa that it didn’t reap the benefits that we were hoping to have.
“In that respect, let’s just wait and see where this is going.”
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In that respect Mercedes must be frustrated to have to wait three weeks to try to validate its progress, though the triple-header comprising three distinct track types will be the ultimate test of its solution.
The team is long out of championship contention, but the W13’s fortunes are still relevant to the title outcome.
Potentially now quick enough to contend for regular merited podiums and perhaps victories at some tracks, how well Mercedes does on any given weekend will decide three things: how soon Verstappen wins the title — or, if you’re extremely optimistic, whether he wins the title; where Ferrari will finish in the constructors standings; and whether Leclerc will finish second in the drivers standings.
George Russell is now just 20 points behind Leclerc in the battle for a second, with Hamilton 12 points further back, and the team is now only 30 points short of Ferrari in the teams title battle.
It’s too late for the major prizes, but the minor placings are still very much up for grabs.
McLAREN STILL IN TOUCH FOR FOURTH DESPITE RICCIARDO PENALTY
The battle for best of the midfield is similarly still very much alive, with McLaren maintaining its four-point deficit to Alpine in fourth on the constructors title table.
Ricciardo pulls off epic double pass | 00:46
This was an improved weekend for Woking, one week after it introduced its major upgrade package at the French Grand Prix. Not only did Lando Norris again outqualify both French cars, but this week he retained his place ahead of them despite a slow first pit stop, ensuring maximum midfield points with seventh place.
He had Alpine’s unlikely one-stop strategy to thank in part. Alpine did n’t have a second set of medium tires for either driver, having burnt through them during practice, and so he had little choice but to go long, meaning he neither could challenge the leading Briton.
Daniel Ricciardo was the only weak point for McLaren. The Australian had been marginally off Norris’s pace through the race but quick enough to be running behind him before the first stops, even makingthat excellent double pass around the two battling Alpine drivers to hold the place.
But his struggles really started during his final stint on the hard tire and intensified once he was lapped, costing him precious tire temperature each time he was waved a blue flag.
The lack of grip on the white-walled tire was also behind him running wide and into Lance Stroll at turn 2, earning him a five-second penalty, when he was trying to let the Canadian by.
It left him out of the points, allowing a superb drive by Sebastian Vettel to be rewarded by one point, the German having recovered from 18th by avoiding that troublesome hard tire.
I’m going to make an argument that might make you scoff: To be born a prince or princess in
the British royal family would be a rotten fate.
Oh yes, I know about the castles, the family’s $645 million wealth and the just under $3 billion trusts which only some members hav access to, not to mention the indescribably vast collection of jewels including questionable Romanov pieces, rubies the size of quail’s eggs and that their Gan Gan owns the world’s largest private collection.
To live life, from your first squalling breath, as an HRH means nearly unthinkable privilege, far too much venison and always getting to board a RyanAir flight first.
But, it would still be a rubbish life.
Exhibit A) the video released by William and Kate, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Instagram and Twitter accounts on Sunday night ahead of England’s Lioness soccer team playing in the Euro 2022 final. There the duke sat in some bucolic garden somewhere in England of the sort that Beatrix Potter would have given her best bonnet to sketch. On his knee he sat Princess Charlotte, age seven-years-old, with what looked like a plastered-on, slightly forced smile.
You can see her eyes dart off to the side, possibly to her mother the duchess who, as we know, is a dab hand with a camera. William wishes the team luck before Charlotte gets to deliver her line from Ella at the end, saying “Good luck, I hope you win, bye,” and offering a cheery wave.
It’s short, sweet and should be nothing more than a source of a few million more likes.
Except that, watching the video, something occurred to me. Here we have the future king delivering his lines with genuine warmth and enthusiasm and a small child staring down the barrel of a totally new sort of royal childhood, one where she and brothers Prince George and Prince Louis won’t just be obliged to occasionally appear. in public but will be required to help churn out the social content needed to keep the monarchy afloat.
Sure, all royal kidlets, including a cherubic Queen in the 1920s, have been rolled out to charm and delight the masses, tiny curiosities, waving gamely, that the press could slap on their front pages with glee abandon.
However, what sets the youngest Cambridges totally apart is that they are now also required to help their parents keep the pipeline of photos and videos for social media purposes coming.
Not only are George, Charlotte and Louis already expected to take part in key ceremonial family moments but on top of that, their childhoods are going to be intruded upon in an unprecedented way in the royal annals all in the name of likes, retweets and views .
You can already, clearly, see this pattern emerging if you contrast William and Charlotte at seven.
The year the prince was that age, he took part in the carriage procession for Trooping the Color and the later Buckingham Palace balcony waving session, appeared at the Beating Retreat military parade, and was photographed attending two weddings (his uncle, now the Earl Spencer , and that of the Duke of Hussey’s daughter) and alongside his brother Prince Harry on the younger boy’s first day at school.
Contrast that with the 12-months to date for Charlotte. In August last year she appeared in a Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Instagram post about a conservation effort called the Big Butterfly Count; there was the family’s Christmas card image, snapped during a private holiday to Jordan, that was shared widely; she attended the memorial service for her de ella Great Grandfather Prince Philip in March and the royal easter service in April, before the usual birthday shots of her were released in May.
Come June, Charlotte and her siblings took part in their first Trooping the Colour, did the balcony waving thing, undertook her first official engagement with her parents and George in Cardiff where she participated in an official walkabout, before taking center stage with her family during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, along with filming a video baking cakes with Kate, George and Louis.
Also in June, the Cambridge Three appeared in a sweet family shot, taken in Jordan, that was posted to mark UK Father’s Day.
Sure, the young Cambridges may never know the hell of being chased by the paparazzi, but often in the coming months and years we are very likely only going to more regularly see their small faces popping up on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook feeds. (A gambling woman would put money on William and Kate making a foray onto TikTok soon too.)
For the duke and duchess, being on most of the major platforms means they have agreed to a post-industrialist Faustian bargain. They can plug their brand of royalty – an accessible, warm and relatable one – directly to Britons via the most powerful marketing platforms ever created. The cost? They have to energetically and regularly generate the sort of personal and intimate photos and videos that are expected in these environments, that is, they are going to have to serve up their children at times.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, about 160 years ago, had the canny idea of remaking the monarchy’s image by marketing their own family unit (and all nine children). This they did by releasing photos of what had hitherto been entirely personal moments such as christenings and the family on holiday. (In the 1860s, tens of thousands of copies of souvenir photos called carte-de-visites of the family were sold in the UK.)
This is a very similar strategy to the one that William and Kate are pursuing now, with their Happy Normal Family routine one of the building blocks of Cambridge Inc.
Cast your mind back to April last year when the duo released a totally unexpected departure of a video of the family gambolling on a beach, playing in a pristine garden and roasting marshmallows, to mark the duke and duchess’ tenth wedding anniversary.
The whole thing looked and felt like a commercial for a luxury station wagon, complete with atmospheric guitar music.
That was not an accident because fundamentally, William and Kate’s job comes down to the same thing a German car brand does: selling. In their case, selling the UK on a hereditary monarchy again and again to ensure it survives well into the 21st and 22nd centuries.
And, while every generation of royal parents have made their children accessible to the world via whatever the new technology of the day is, before now there was at least some sort of line between their private and public selves.
What sets George, Charlotte and Louis apart is that that distinction, that line, has quietly blurred in the last couple of years. We have seen content shot during family holidays, while ensconced on their private estates and after school in the Kensington Palace garden, shared on social media by their parents.
Obviously William and Kate are deeply protective of their children but they also have a responsibility to the monarchy too and that means embracing whatever new marketing weapons they can add to their arsenal.
Social media is a beast that must be fed and in recent years William and Kate have seriously upped their game on this front, hiring David Wakins, who formerly ran the Sussex Royal social media accounts, and launching a YouTube channel with a charming sizzle reel of sorts.
We are now served up, via the various Cambridge accounts, made-for-social content to promote their good works or news, such as when Kate was named as the Patron of the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football Union in February, with Kensington Palace putting out a sweet 30 second video starring the duchess amongst others.
These days it is hours, at the very most, after they attend any sort of engagement or event that videos and/or multiple images taken by the Cambridge team are posted, chirpily informing the world of what they have been up to and increasingly offering behind -the-scenes access.
Take their recent, somewhat disastrous tour of the Caribbean where they paid for their own photographer Matt Porteous to record their trip and where the couple’s digital team put out daily videos and photo montages.
A video of them scuba diving, shot by Porteous, to view marine conservation work was an interesting first – an official engagement conducted while the credentialed press pack were nowhere in sight and which was exclusively shared with the world via social media.
Clearly, William and Kate are devoting time, energy and budgetary resources to building up their social media presence as they inch ever closer to the throne but that is a path that involves their kids, whether any of them like it or not. (I’d wager it’s the latter.)
To be seven-years-old and on school holidays, and yet to be expected to take a break from your childhood to record a video in service of an ancient, stultifying institution? I’m not sure there are enough emeralds in the world to make up for that.
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
