Lewis Hamilton acknowledged it is "impossible to keep up" with Red Bull right now after Max Verstappen's latest win at the Styrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen's third victory in four races – and Red Bull's fourth in a row – dealt another blow to Hamilton's Formula One title defence.
The seven-time champion finished over 35 seconds behind Verstappen, who was never under threat after taking pole at the Red Bull Ring.
The Dutchman became the first driver to win three times at the circuit, a home race for Red Bull.
Four victories in 2021 make this Verstappen's best season to date, too, and Hamilton – now only one race shy of his longest single-season winless run in the Hybrid Era (five, twice in 2016) – did not enjoy his distant view of proceedings.
"It was a bit of a lonely race, really," the Briton said on the podium, having finished second.
"I was trying to keep up with those guys, but the speed they have, they've obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races. It's impossible to keep up.
"I don't know where we're losing all the time, but their long runs seem to be a bit better, they seem to be able to continue putting out those laps.
"Obviously, on the straight, we lose a lot, or it feels like we lose a lot down the straights.
"Nevertheless, we got good points as a team today and we've just got to keep pushing."
Asked how concerned he was by Red Bull's performance, Hamilton replied: "I try not to concern myself with it.
"They're just faster than us. There's not a lot that I can do, in that respect. I've just got to try to do the best job I can next weekend.
"We need to find some performance. We need an upgrade of some sort."
Next weekend sees the teams back at the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix, the third leg of a triple-header. Verstappen has won the first two.
"That's very positive, but of course we have to show it again next week," Verstappen said.
"We'll definitely have a look at what we can do better. I'm looking forward to next week.
"It's looking really good. We just have to keep on going, keep pushing really hard, and I'm confident that we can do a good job again."
It was suggested Verstappen has never had an easier drive and he responded: "You never know, of course, how it's going to end up, but straight away I felt good balance on the car.
"It was good to manage the tyres basically from the start. It felt like at the end I had tyres left.
"They pitted one lap earlier than us, we reacted to that and kept on going, trying to hit our lap times. That worked really well today."
Afghanistan advance to Super 8s and seal New Zealand elimination
Afghanistan booked their place in the T20 World Cup Super 8s with a seven-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea, while eliminating New Zealand from the competition.
Rashid Khan's side claimed a third successive win to maintain their perfect start in Group C, which they top ahead of co-hosts West Indies with a superior net run-rate.
Afghanistan chose to bowl and made a fast start in San Fernando, dismissing captain Assad Vala, Lega Siaka and Sese Bau within four balls to leave the Barramundis at 12-3 early in the third over.
Wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga top-scored with 27, before they were bowled out for 95.
Their opponents were also steady out of the blocks, having been reduced to 22-2 inside the third over.
However, Gulbadin Naib's unbeaten 49 from 36 balls - featuring four fours and two sixes - steadied the ship, while his unbroken stand of 46 with Mohammed Nabi helped get Afghanistan comfortably over the line.
Data Debrief: Farooqi leads the charge to condemn Black Caps to early exit
Fazalhaq Farooqi (3-16) led from Afghanistan's field again, with the tournament's leading wicket taker increasing his tally to 12 from three innings.
The side note to their victory was the sealing of New Zealand's fate with a match to spare.
Runners-up in 2021 and semi-finalists in the last three tournaments, it is the first time the Black Caps have failed to advance beyond the first group stage at the T20 World Cup.
Suryakumar leads India into T20 World Cup Super 8s after overcoming USA
India secured their place in the T20 World Cup Super 8s with a game to spare after recovering from a slow start to see off the United States.
Suryakumar Yadav hit an unbeaten half-century as India successfully chased down their opponents' target of 111 for a seven-wicket victory - and their third win in as many Group A matches.
The tournament co-hosts also entered the contest with a perfect record from their opening two games, but endured a poor start as Arshdeep Singh claimed Shayan Jahangir and Andries Gous in the first over.
That left them at 3-2, but they managed to settle with Steven Taylor (24 from 30 balls) and Nitish Kumar (27 off 23) top-scoring as their side finished at 110-8.
However, the States made a purposeful start in the field. With the second ball, Virat Kohli was gone for a duck as Gous caught him from Saurabh Netravalkar, who also dismissed Rohit Sharma for just three.
Suryakumar (50 off 49 not out) stepped in and held the fort alongside Shivam Dube (31 off 45 not out), though India were still in danger of a potential shock, needing 35 off the final 30 balls.
Nevertheless, an untimely five-run penalty was awarded to them as the USA took longer than a minute between overs for the third time.
That swung the pendulum firmly in India's favour. Successive boundaries from Suryakumar eased the pressure as they saw out what was eventually a comfortable win.
Data Debrief: India through, but Kohli's struggles continue
It was not as comfortable as India would have hoped for but, nevertheless, they managed to get the job done, with Suryakumar leading the charge.
However, the form of Kohli will be a cause for concern. His dismissal for a golden duck means he has now scored just five runs in his nation's opening three matches.
The five-run penalty proved a crucial moment in the contest, with USA the first team to be penalised by the stop-clock rule, but they can take plenty of positives from their display in New York.
The pride of Italy: Sinner's route to world number one in Opta numbers
Step aside Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, tennis has a new world number one on the block in Jannik Sinner.
The 22-year-old, born in San Candido, ended a 51-year wait for Italy to boast the ATP's best player in the world rankings after moving to top spot this month.
Sinner overtook Djokovic at the summit of the men's game after his French Open performance, reaching the Roland-Garros final before falling in a five-set thriller to the battling Alcaraz.
Having already secured his first major at the Australian Open earlier this year, Sinner's remarkable rise continued in Paris – but how has the Italian managed to do so?
Here, we unpack the best of the Opta data to delve into Sinner's surge to world number one.
Major champion in Australia
Sinner was crowned a grand slam champion for the first time in his career back in January, defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final after overcoming a two-set deficit in Melbourne.
Sweeping aside Djokovic in the last four and Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals, his route to glory was far from straightforward, too.
Aged 22 years and 165 days at the time of his Melbourne Park triumph, Sinner became the youngest-ever player to achieve successive ATP top-five wins in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of a major, surpassing Michael Stich – 22 years and 262 days at Wimbledon in 1991.
That Medvedev victory, at the time, also marked Sinner's fourth top-five scalp of 2024.
Since 1973, Sinner is the only fourth player aged under 23 to claim four such wins in the opening three months of a season, after Bjorn Borg (1978-79), Miloslav Mecir (1987) and Andy Murray (2007 and 2009).
Special 2023 sets tone for this year's success
Sinner enjoyed a remarkable campaign last year, winning his first Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open and finishing the season by reaching the showpiece of the ATP Finals.
He finished with a win-loss record of 64-15 in 2023, breaking the Open Era record previously held by Corrado Barazzutti (55, 1978) for most ATP match wins by an Italian in a calendar year.
En route to the Indian Wells semi-final defeat to Alcaraz, Sinner also claimed a 19th consecutive ATP match win after overcoming Jiri Lehecka, breaking Adriano Panatta's record for the longest winning streak at ATP level of any Italian in the Open Era.
It is hard to argue with his position at the top, too.
Sinner became only the fifth player before turning 23 to defeat the men's world number three times in a calendar year, having overcome Alcaraz and Djokovic (twice) in a remarkable 2023 season.
The Italian also helped his country lift the Davis Cup, though major individual honours were always around the corner for the excellent right-hander.
The best in the world
Australian Open successes and a fine 2023 campaign brought Sinner to his crowning moment in June as he became the first Italian to reach world number one since the ATP rankings started in 1973.
Sinner is one of four players in the past two decades to hold the ATP's number-one ranking before the age of 23, along with Roger Federer, Nadal and Alcaraz.
Since 2000, Sinner is also just the third male player taller than 188 centimetres to reach the summit of tennis before turning 23, along with Andy Roddick and Marat Safin.
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