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• Vertsappen confident in Red Bull revival after taking 'good step' in Baku

  Max Verstappen is confident that Red Bull's mid-season struggles are now firmly in their review mirror ahead of the United States Grand Prix this weekend. 

  Verstappen started the season with seven wins from the opening 10 races, with the Dutchman on track to claim a fourth consecutive world championship at a canter. 

  However, a combination of Red Bull taking a wrong turn with car development and McLaren's resurgence has seen the campaign take on a new complexion for the final six races. 

  Verstappen has gone eight races without a victory, seeing his lead in the drivers' championship cut to 52 points by Lando Norris, with Red Bull also surrendering top spot in the constructors' standings to McLaren after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. 

  For now, Verstappen is optimistic that Red Bull have turned a corner after they introduced an update to their floor in Baku. 

  “Yes, it felt better,” Verstappen confirmed. “That was already a good step for us. I do think we are moving in the right direction now.

  "It will take some time. You can’t turn something like this around in one or two weeks. But I do think the team was happy with what they saw in Baku as well.

  “Yes, I do think so to be honest," Verstappen added about their season struggles being behind them. "Hopefully we can continue to make good steps from here.”

  If either Verstappen or team-mate Sergio Perez scores points in the United States, Red Bull will have put at least one of its two drivers in the points for 62 consecutive races, equalling the third-best run in Formula One history. 

  Red Bull are also 45 laps led away from reaching 7000, and would be the fifth team to reach this figure in the competition after Ferrari (15888), McLaren (11029), Williams (7584) and Mercedes (7255). 

  But that particular milestone could have come much sooner, with Verstappen saying he was surprised by Red Bull's dramatic drop-off after a dominant period on the track.

  “In the beginning, I was surprised as well, but if you look at what our problems were, then I fully understand it," Verstappen told Autosport.

  “At some point, we have gone in the wrong direction. The other teams have either not faced that particular point yet or they developed the car in a slightly different way.

  "That is always difficult to assess.”

• 'Supercharged' Germany have big ambitions – Nagelsmann

  Julian Nagelsmann hailed Germany's first-half display against the Netherlands as their best performance of 2024.

  And Nagelsmann said his "supercharged" team have big ambitions after Monday's 1-0 win in Munich, which came a year to the day since he took charge of his first game—a 3-1 friendly win over the United States.

  Germany are unbeaten in the Nations League after four games, and sit five points clear at the top of their group.

  The Dutch did not manage a single shot in the first half, with Germany having eight themselves, albeit Nagelsmann's team had to wait until the 64th minute to make the breakthrough as Jamie Leweling marked his senior bow with the decisive goal.

  "The first half tonight was the best we’ve played this year," said Nagelsmann.

  "The greed that the team embodied was a huge step [forward].

  "We did well and let very little in. We absolutely deserved to win.

  "We've got the ambition to keep going. There's a supercharged atmosphere in the dressing room—they want to win."

  An ecstatic Leweling told ZDF network: "We won as a team, I scored the 1-0, we won 1-0, but we did well and I'm just happy I could help out.

  "The Dutch are a top nation, but we played a good game."

  Leweling is the first debutant under Nagelsmann to score in his first appearance for Germany. Niclas Fullkrug was the last player to net on his senior debut, in 2022.

  At the other end of the pitch, Nagelsmann handed a debut to goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.

  Aged 34 years and 131 days, Baumann is the second-oldest Germany debutant (after Matthias Mauritz) in the post-war era and the oldest goalkeeper to make his debut for the national team.

  Not that Baumann had much to do. Indeed, he had only one save to make, with the Netherlands mustering only one attempt on target and a meagre 0.13 expected goals.

• Koeman fumes after coming up short in 'all facets of football' against Germany

  Ronald Koeman believed his Netherlands side fell short in "all facets of football" after they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Germany in the Nations League on Monday.

  Jamie Leweling netted the only goal of the encounter at the Allianz Arena, marking his senior international debut in style to put his nation on the brink of qualification. 

  The Netherlands struggled during the contest, ending the game with an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.13, with Donyell Malen's 89th minute effort their only attempt on target.

  Koeman's side also managed just eight touches in the opposition box compared to Germany's 26, despite edging the possession at the full-time whistle. 

  "If you go back too far, you bring that on yourself," Koeman said.

  "We came up short on all sides, perhaps in all facets of football. We did things differently at half-time and then we got a bit more rest. But they were much better today.

  "I am not satisfied by our performance. The Germans were the better, faster and physically stronger. They created more chances.

  "We lost too many balls in the midfield. We went too far back. That was not the plan. The plan was to put pressure forward on the right side. But it did not happen."

  The result leaves the Netherlands in second in Group A3, level on points with Hungary after Dominik Szoboszlai's double handed them a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

  Stand-in captain Stefan de Vrij echoed Koeman's thoughts after the encounter, saying his side deserved to lose against Germany.

  "It seems clear to me that it was a deserved defeat," said De Vrij.

  "The first half was very mediocre. We were very sloppy and gave away a number of balls just like that, which allowed them to become dangerous.

  "In the second half it was a bit better, but it's hard to create chances."

  The Lazio defender took the armband in place of Virgil van Dijk, who was suspended following his red card against Hungary.

  Though the Netherlands did not do enough in attack, De Vrij said that Van Dijk's absence from the team had an impact. 

  "Yes, of course you miss him. He's a very important player and he's our captain. And he's a great defender, so it makes sense that he's missed," De Vrij concluded.