Hamilton said he would still be "incredibly proud" to pull level with "an icon like Michael" and seven was way beyond his wildest dreams, but numbers and titles maybe meant more to those on the outside.
Lewis Hamilton feels he faces "pretty impossible odds" going into Formula One's Abu Dhabi title-decider while Mercedes team mate and rival Nico Rosberg says he will treat Sunday's race like any other. Both are being disingenuous, of course. Hamilton knows he still has a real chance and Rosberg is well aware just how much is at stake. While Rosberg is the favourite to win the 'Duel in the Desert', needing only to finish on the Yas Marina podium to become Germany's third world champion after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, he will still be on tenterhooks.
Williams' Nico Rosberg dominated Formula One's first day of practice at the Australian Grand Prix on Friday while McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton languished near the bottom of the timesheets. Germany's Rosberg, son of Finland's 1982 champion Keke, lapped quickest in both of the afternoon sessions at a sunny Albert Park while Hamilton was 18th of the 20 drivers in the second.
Starting second behind pole-sitter Hamilton, Bottas got the jump on the Briton during a typically messy start at Albert Park and ended up cruising to his fourth win by some 20.80 seconds after delaying a tyre-change.
Germany's Nico Rosberg will race for Mercedes next season, the team that this year won the Formula One championship as Brawn said on Monday. Rosberg has spent the last four years competing for Williams. Yet to win a race in 70 starts, the 24-year-old son of Finland's 1982 champion Keke finished seventh overall this season. His best finish is second place in Singapore in 2008.
Nico Rosberg drew first blood for Mercedes in the new Formula One season with a dominant Australian Grand Prix victory on Sunday after pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and world champion Sebastian Vettel retired with reliability problems.
Formula One has banned from next week's Singapore Grand Prix all radio communications that help improve the performance of the car or driver in a move that could add another twist to the title battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Germany's Nico Rosberg, who has yet to transform his practice pace into anything higher than sixth place in a race this season, put Williams on top of the timesheets at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday. Rosberg, son of 1982 champion Keke, lapped the Sakhir circuit in a time of one minute 33.339 seconds. The German has now been quickest in seven of the 11 practice sessions this year.
Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher will start in 14th place after replacing his engine.
Nico Rosberg lapped fastest in first practice for the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix on Friday to maintain his 100 percent record for the season.
The pole was Hamilton's eighth in nine races this season and the 46th of his career for the championship leader, who won at Silverstone last year and has a 10 point advantage over the German.
Attendance at the Singapore Grand Prix, one of the most popular races on the calendar fell this year, hurt by a slowdown in the local and global economy.
Images from the soccer matches played across Europe on Saturday.
Silverware stolen from the Red Bull Formula One factory in Milton Keynes has been found in a lake, police said on Tuesday.
Fernando Alonso won his first race in more than a year on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead.
Red Bull's Dutch 20-year-old Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in second place with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium for Ferrari and Australian Daniel Ricciardo finishing fourth for Red Bull.
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton crashed into the tyre wall but still stayed top of the timesheets after a rain-lashed Canadian Grand Prix practice on Friday.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc held off Lewis Hamilton to win his first Formula One race on Sunday in the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his teammate.
Jenson Button made the best possible start to his quest for a third successive Formula One victory by setting the quickest lap time in Friday's two practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Briton, who won the first two races of the season from pole position, again showed the pace of his Brawn GP car with a storming lap of one minute, 35.679 seconds late in the second session.
Reaction to the death of three-times Formula One champion Niki Lauda, who died on Monday at the age of 70
Jenson Button clinched his second pole position in a row for the new Brawn GP team at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday while McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton could qualify only 12th.
Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in Malaysian Grand Prix practice on Friday with the world champions back up to speed after a difficult start to the season. Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion who won at Sepang last year, fired in a quickest lap of one minute 35.707 seconds in the afternoon to end Nico Rosberg's four-session run at the top of the timesheets. Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa was second quickest in 1:35.832.
The last 24 hours have been a follow-through to that and other sporting events across the world. Rediff.com brings you five Best Sports Photos of all the action that sum up memorable events of the last 24 hours.
Brazilian Grand Prix stewards cleared BMW's Sauber's Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld and Williams' Nico Rosberg of alleged fuel irregularities.
Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on pole position for their 200th race at the German Grand Prix on Saturday while engine problems dashed Ferrari's hopes.
Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will start Sunday's French Grand Prix at the back of the grid after being eliminated in the first qualifying session in Magny-Cours. Due to the 10-pace grid penalty on Williams' Nico Rosberg from the Canadian Grand Prix, Fisichella and Sutil avoided a 19-20 start by finishing 18th and 19th respectively.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix (listed in championship order):
Some Formula One drivers never experience the pride and passion of racing in a home grand prix, their countries unlikely ever to appear on the calendar, but Mexican Sergio Perez will not be one of them after this weekend.
Japan's Kazuki Nakajima will race for Williams next season, the Formula One team confirmed on Wednesday.
McLaren have formally lodged an appeal against the decision not to penalise three drivers in the Brazilian Grand Prix because of fuel irregularities.
Sunday's British Formula One Grand Prix was stopped on the opening lap after Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen speared heavily into the barriers.
Lewis Hamilton has one big fight on his hands already this season and he is not spoiling for another, not even for charity and against the man with the broadest smile in Formula One.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday.
Williams halted a pre-season Formula One test at Barcelona's circuit de Catalunya on Friday after Japanese rookie Kazuki Nakajima crashed the team's new car into the barriers.
Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to equal the late Ayrton Senna's tally of 41 Formula One victories and move 48 points clear of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg with five races remaining.
Outgoing Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel and Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo were sent to the back of the grid at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday after stewards ruled Red Bull had used an illegal front wing.
Germany's Nico Hulkenberg will be Williams' official test driver next season.
Lewis Hamilton avoided mayhem around him to open the F1 season with a pole-to-flag victory in a crash-strewn Australian Grand Prix.
