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George Russell lost ‌his tag of Formula One title favorite to Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli on Sunday but remained confident the momentum would swing back his way.

The Briton had started the season as frontrunner for the championship, and won the opener in Australia, but after three wins in a row for the Italian is now 20 points adrift.

"Clearly Kimi’s in ‌a ⁠really great place ⁠at the moment and momentum is with him," said Russell, who finished fourth at the Hard Rock Stadium.

"But I’ve got enough experience myself in championships I’ve won on how momentum swings throughout a year and also looking at the ⁠championship last year.

“To be honest, I’m ‌not even considering it. ‌I just want to get back onto the ‌top step of the podium."

The next race is ‌Canada and Russell won from pole with fastest lap in Montreal last year while Antonelli was third.

Russell was also on pole there in 2024, before ‌Antonelli was a Formula One driver, and finished third.

Antonelli, at 19 the youngest ⁠leader ⁠of the Formula One world championship, said he was surprised to be where he was.

"It’s still a very long season and there’s so many things that can change. George for sure is going to be super strong in Canada, he’s always been very strong there, so he’s for sure going to be back at the top," said the Italian.

"But I think I feel much more comfortable in the car, much more in control as well."

Inter Milan coach Cristian ‌Chivu said his own experiences as a player helped him guide the club to a 21st Serie A title after Sunday’s 2-0 home win over Parma left them with an unassailable lead at the top of the table.

The 45-year-old, appointed in June, spent seven seasons at Inter as a player and was part of Jose Mourinho’s treble-winning side in 2010. ‌He took ‌charge after last season’s bitter ‌finish, ⁠when Inter lost ⁠the title on the final day before suffering a 5-0 Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain.

"I just try to be the best version of myself, to help these lads who sometimes need the carrot, sometimes the stick," ⁠Chivu told DAZN Italia.

"I try to ‌draw on the experience ‌I had in many locker rooms, and try ‌not to repeat the errors I dealt ‌with as a player.

"I try to be empathetic, understanding, not to think about the consensus of critics outside, but only on what those who love ‌me think. I am the coach, I will always be up for ⁠debate and ⁠at risk, that’s the job."

Inter have scored 82 goals this season - 30 more than Napoli - reflecting their aggressive approach under Chivu.

"We always wanted to be proactive, then depending on the opponents, we had different options, like two playmakers," the Romanian manager said.

"It’s also about understanding various moments of the game."

Inter moved to 82 points with three matches left, 12 clear of second-placed Napoli. They travel to Lazio on Saturday.

A North Korean women's football club will become the first sports team from the country to play in South Korea since 2018 when they visit this month, Seoul's unification ministry said Monday.

The neighbors remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and sporting and cultural exchanges between them are very rare.

Naegohyang Women's FC will play the South's Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League.

The visiting delegation will include 27 players and 12 club staff, the ministry said. South Korea's football association told AFP that the team would arrive on May 17.

They will fly into Incheon airport on an Air China flight from Beijing, a unification ministry official told reporters.

The winner of the match at Suwon Sports Complex, south of the capital Seoul, will play the final of Asia's top women's club competition against either Australia's Melbourne City or Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza on May 23.

"The losing team in the semi-final will return home on Thursday, May 21, with no third-place playoff scheduled," the ministry said in a press release.

The match will be the first time a North Korean sports team has played in the South since shooting, youth football and table tennis delegations travelled there in 2018.

The last time Pyongyang sent a women's football team to the South was in 2014, when the North Korean national team took part at the Asian Games in Incheon.

Founded in 2012 and based in the North Korean capital, much of Naegohyang's squad is "made up of national team-level players", the ministry said.

North Korea's national team is one of the dominant forces in Asian women's football, winning multiple international titles in recent years, especially at youth level.

The most recent one came in November last year, when they defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the final of the U-17 Women's World Cup.

- Peace overtures -

The announcement comes as Seoul seeks rapprochement with Pyongyang after years of bad blood.

South Korea's dovish President Lee Jae Myung has called for talks with the North without any preconditions, saying the countries are destined "to make the flowers of peace bloom".

The North has not responded to the Lee administration's overtures and has repeatedly labelled the South its "most hostile" adversary.

For Seoul, the match is an opportunity to establish "at least a basic communication channel between North and South Korea", Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at the South's Kyungnam University, said.

"It could become a chance to test peaceful coexistence," he told AFP.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to boost his nuclear forces, and Pyongyang conducted four missile tests in April, the most in a single month for over two years.

Pyongyang has also drawn closer to Russia, sending troops and artillery shells to support its invasion of Ukraine.

Observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.

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