BRACKLEY, U.K. – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport has confirmed that it has exercised its option with driver Valtteri Bottas for the 2020 Formula One season.

Bottas joined Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2017 and played a key role in the team’s victory in the constructors’ championship in the past two seasons.

“I am very happy and proud to be part of the team for a fourth season and wish to thank every team member and the board of Mercedes for their trust and belief in me,” Bottas said. “My performances have been getting better and better each year, and this is a great way to kick start the second half of 2019.”

The 30-year-old Finn is currently second to teammate Lewis Hamilton in the world championship standings with 188 points. During his two and a half seasons with the team so far, he has scored five race wins and 10 pole positions.

Bottas hopes to continue to improve.

“My overall target is to become Formula One world champion,” he said. “I believe that on paper, and from my experience with the team, Mercedes is the best option for me to achieve that goal in 2020.

“We have nine races to go this season and I am determined to keep improving at every one of them. Now, all my thoughts are on Spa and delivering a strong performance with the team this weekend.”

Team principal Toto Wolff addressed Bottas’ return to the team next season.

“For 2019, we set Valtteri the challenge of coming back even stronger than we saw him in the first part of 2018 – and he has achieved that, with some really impressive performances in the early races this year,” Wolff said. “Although it has been his most successful first half of a championship so far, he is hungry for more and determined to keep on improving and raising his level. That’s the mindset we want from all our team members.”

ENSTONE, England – After sitting on the sidelines this year, Esteban Ocon will return to Formula One competition in 2020 with Renault.

Ocon will replace veteran Nico Hulkenberg, joining forces with seven-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo at the French racing squad. Ocon signed a two-year contract with the team.

“We are very happy to work with Esteban for the next two seasons,” said Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal of the Renault F-1 Team. “Over his F-1 career Esteban has experienced the highs and lows of the sport, and fully understood the need to seize every possible chance. In addition to lending his natural talent, Esteban’s aim will be to focus his natural energy and drive, both of which have been intensified by a year away from racing. It is then up to us to infuse them into the next phase of the team’s progress.

“He has shown his ability to score points, has great professionalism on and off the track, plus his recent experience as reserve driver to the current world champions will be a valuable asset to the development of our entire team.

“I wish to thank Nico for his phenomenal involvement and massive contribution to our progress over the past three seasons. When Nico decided to join us, the team was ninth. He brought us to fourth place last year, and was classified seventh in the drivers’ championship. The imminent end of his contract made this decision a difficult one as Nico has been a pillar of this progress. The first part of this season has been more challenging, but I know we can count on him and deliver together throughout the second half of the year.”

Ocon, 22, was previously part of Renault’s program as a reserve driver in 2016 and was a Lotus junior program member prior to Renault taking over the Lotus F-1 program.

The native of France made his F-1 debut in 2016 with Manor Racing before moving to Sahara Force India F-1 Team in 2017. In his first full season in the sport, he collected 87 points and finished eighth in the drivers’ championship. In 2018, Ocon collected 49 before joining Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team as reserve driver for the 2019 season.

“First and foremost, I am very proud to become a Renault driver. I have grown up at Enstone, starting with Lotus in 2010 and then with Renault,” Ocon said. “I am very attached to this team and everyone who works there; they are the ones who opened the doors of top level motorsport for me. Secondly, I am pleased that a team with big ambitions has entrusted me with the opportunity to once again demonstrate my skills at the highest level of F-1. It is a responsibility I take very seriously. The confidence they have in me to help the progression of the team is a very positive pressure and I look forward to giving the best of myself.”

CALISTOGA, Calif. – At least four drivers from the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series will take on the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series regulars during the Louie Vermeil Classic this weekend at Calistoga Speedway.

For the first time in its 12-year history, the race will be an all-sprint car program, with the King of the West series replacing the USAC Western States Midget Series and joining the non-winged USAC/CRA series as they make their annual appearance at the half-mile oval in the Napa Valley for two nights of racing on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to the $6,000 winner’s purse for each series on each night, promoter Tommy Hunt has added a $2,000 bonus to any driver with the versality to win both a winged and non-winged main event on the same night.  To help teams run both ends of the program, Bianchi Farms of Sacramento and Hoosier Tire West will give away 10 tires a night (five to each series each night) to teams picked by a random draw.

Among the drivers taking up the challenge is former King of the West champion Bud Kaeding, who has won the Louie Vermeil Classic twice in a non-winged car.

“I enjoy non-winged racing, but we just don’t have many opportunities to do that anymore in Northern California,” said Kaeding, a three-time USAC Silver Crown champion who is also a three-time winner of the prestigious Oval Nationals.

Two other regulars on the King of West tour, Geoff Ensign and Chase Johnson, also have accepted the challenge.

“I love racing without a wing,” said Ensign, a former Petaluma Speedway track champion who has raced in the Louie Vermeil Classic the last eight years.

“With two races on the same night, why wouldn’t we drive a non-winged car?” said a rhetorical Johnson, who won an early-season race this year in USAC’s Western States Midget Series.

Ryan Bernal, one of the most successful drivers in the USAC Western States non-winged machines before making the transition to the winged King of the West series, is looking forward to returning to Calistoga where he holds the track record for non-winged sprint cars.

“The Louie Vermeil Classic has been one of my favorite races since I was young and I always wanted to put my name in the winners list,” Bernal said.

The USAC/CRA sprint cars are led by six-time champion Damion Gardner, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area with a rare chance to race close to home, who is in a heated points battle with second-generation racer Brody Roa in an effort to win his seventh series’ title.

The Louie Vermeil Classic weekend begins on Friday night at the Napa County Fairgrounds, with an induction dinner for eight new members of the Calistoga Speedway Hall of Fame.

Manchester United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been included in Gareth Southgate's latest England squad, while Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been recalled.

Uncapped Wan-Bissaka left Crystal Palace to join United in a deal worth £50 million this summer and has promptly earned his first call up, as has Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount, who has scored twice this season following his loan spell at Derby.

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The inclusion of Wan-Bissaka, alongside Atletico Madrid's Kieran Trippier and Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, for Euro 2020 qualifiers at home to Bulgaria on Sept. 7 and Kosovo three days later, meant there was no place for Manchester City's Kyle Walker.

"We tracked him very closely last year and thought he had an outstanding season but we wanted him to stay with the under-21 group, he has adapted well and quickly to a high-profile move," Southgate said of Wan-Bissaka.

"We are looking at him and Trent, that is reason Kyle Walker is not with us."

Oxlade-Chamberlain has been included in an England squad for the first time since a 1-1 friendly draw with Italy at Wembley in March 2018, having suffered a serious knee injury a month later.

The ex-Arsenal man played just 19 minutes of the entire 2018-19 campaign following the injury, but has appeared in four of Liverpool's five matches across all competitions this term.

Leicester midfielder James Maddison has also been included, alongside Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings, who could earn his first cap.

Goalkeepers: Tom Heaton (Aston Villa), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley)

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Leicester), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Chelsea), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), James Maddison (Leicester), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool), Declan Rice (West Ham), Harry Winks (Tottenham).

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth).

Roma are pursuing a deal for Manchester United defender Chris Smalling in the final days of the transfer window, sources have told ESPN FC.

The Serie A side are one of a number of clubs to have expressed an interest in a loan deal for Smalling, who has been left out of the matchday squad in each of United's three games this season.

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Valencia, Inter Milan and Juventus have also made enquiries about signing Matteo Darmian before the European transfer deadline on Monday.

The Italy full-back is also yet to feature this season and has entered the final year of his contract at Old Trafford.

Smalling was at Carrington on Thursday morning as United continued their preparations for the visit to Southampton on Saturday.

The centre-back, who signed a new long-term contact last season, has slipped down the pecking order after the arrival of Harry Maguire from Leicester in the summer.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has paired Maguire with Victor Lindelof and picked youngster Axel Tuanzebe on the bench as cover leaving Smalling in the cold.

United knocked back a loan bid from Smalling from Everton ahead of the Premier League deadline.

Roma had been in the market for a new defender with Dejan Lovren and Daniele Rugani among their main targets, but have opted for Smalling instead.

Smalling, 29, joined United from Fulham in 2010 and has won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League.

He was also named the club's Players' Player of the Year for 2015-16.

Charlotte Edwards and Mahela Jayawardene have been appointed as the head coaches for the Southampton-based teams for The Hundred.

Jayawardene is the sixth coach to have his appointment confirmed for the tournament for a men's team. The two men's sides yet to have their head coaches announced are the Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets, with Tom Moody and Stephen Fleming expected to fulfil the respective roles.

That means than none of the men's sides will be coached by Englishmen, which Andrew Strauss, who stepped down as England's director of men's cricket last year, has labelled a "great opportunity" missed.

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"Personally I think that [The Hundred] was a great opportunity for English coaches to be appointed," Strauss said. "Each of those teams will have their own reasons for appointing experienced coaches, who have coached in T20 cricket elsewhere in the world.

"You can completely understand that, but there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation in that unless English coaches get an opportunity, how do they get the experience?"

Jayawardene, who has coached Mumbai Indians to two of the last three IPL titles, will work alongside another member of their staff in Shane Bond. Bond is bowling coach at Mumbai Indians, and head coach at Sydney Thunder, and will be an assistant coach in The Hundred.

Former Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams and former England assistant Richard Halsall will also be part of the staff.

The job is first head coach role for Edwards, who has spent the past two season as director of women's cricket at Hampshire. She has also worked as batting coach in the Big Bash for Adelaide Strikers, and said "it's the right time" to make the step up to head coach.

"I feel like I've learned a lot from coaching overseas and working with the Southern Vipers," she said. "It's my time to have a go and see what I can do.

"I think The Hundred is going to have a positive impact on the game at a grassroots level. I'm really looking forward to being there from the start and watching it all unfold. It's really exciting because I've been to Australia and seen the impact the Big Bash has had and you just feel like we can do exactly that and more."

Jayawardene said that the tournament would be "innovative and exciting" and that it was a "great privilege to be head coach of the Southampton-based team.

"I think The Hundred will interest the world's best players because England is a great place to play cricket," he said. "The structure of the tournament is good and that means most of the guys will put their name in the hat because this is a tournament that excites them."

Mark Nicholas has been appointed as the franchise's chairman.

The DDCA has re-signed former Delhi batsman KP Bhaskar as head coach of the senior team for the 2019-20 season. Bhaskar, a veteran of 95 first-class matches, helmed debutants Uttarakhand to the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in the previous season. Rajkumar Sharma has been named the bowling coach. Sharma, an off-spinning allrounder, played nine first-class matches for Delhi but is famously remembered for being Virat Kohli's childhood coach.

Bhaskar had left Delhi in controversial circumstances after then captain Gautam Gambhir criticised him for "creating an atmosphere of uncertainty" in the dressing room.

With just one win in eight games, Delhi finished bottom of Group B in 2018-19 Ranji Trophy. They finished runners-up to Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the 50-overs competition.

Earlier in the week, after months of speculation, Mumbai named Vinayak Samant, the former wicketkeeper, as head coach under controversial circumstances after Sulakshan Kulkarni alleged he wasn't given a fair contract. Under the initial agreement, the MCA was to pay Kulkarni a fee of INR 24 lakhs for the season. This was later whittled to INR 14 lakhs, which Kulkarni categorically rejected.

Elsewhere down south, Tamil Nadu have appointed former allrounder D Vasu as their head coach, with former batsman R Prasanna as his assistant. Vasu replaces Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the former allrounder, who has moved on to a coaching role at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Vasu scored 3001 runs and picked up 240 wickets during the course of his 15-year first-class career.

India A 327 for 6 (Dube 79*, Axar 60*, Fortuin 2-40) beat South Africa A 258 all out (Hendricks 110, Klaasen 58, Chahal 5-47) by 69 runs

Reeza Hendricks' 110 was not good enough for South Africa A as India A trumped the visitors in the first one-dayer by 69 runs. Allrounders Shivam Dube and Axar Patel struck quickfire fifties to rescue the hosts from a perilous position, after which their spinners - especially Yuzvendra Chahal, who took a five-wicket haul - dismantled South Africa A.

Sent in to bat, India A were in trouble when they lost their fifth wicket for 169 runs in the 28th over. The set duo of Manish Pandey and Ishan Kishan had fallen in the space of three deliveries and Krunal Pandya was to fall soon after. That's when No. 8 Axar joined No. 7 Dube, and the duo finished with nine fours and nine sixes between them, batting through the next 11.1 overs. In that period, they smashed 121 runs, especially severe on left-arm spinner George Linde who bowled his five overs at an economy of 9.80.

At the break, India A walked back for 327 for 6 in 47 overs, but the picture could've been much different had the seventh-wicket partnership not taken place. Each of their first six batsmen earned starts but failed to capitalise on them. Opener Shubman Gill fell four short of a half-century while Pandey and Kishan succumbed in their thirties. Rituraj Gaikwad made 10, Anmolpreet Singh made 29 while Krunal made a 25-ball 14.

In their chase, South Africa A were rocked by Janneman Malan's dismissal in the eighth over, out caught-behind off Chahal. Chahal soon removed Matthew Breetzke too, and when the South Africa A captain Temba Bavuma fell for eight, they were reeling at 81 for 3. The other opener Hendricks, though, went on to notch two useful partnerships with Khaya Zondo (30) and Heinrich Klaasen (58) and earn his 13th List-A hundred, giving South Africa A a window of opportunity.

But pinpoint bowling from the India A spinners, who bowled 27 of the 45 overs, helped the hosts control the game. And when South Africa A went for the late charge, they cashed in, with Axar collecting two wickets and Chahal a further three. For his allround contributions, Axar was named Player of the Match. The second of five one-dayers will be played on August 31.