'Tomorrow's going to be a challenge, I've never driven this car in the rain.'
Australian Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday to take the lead in the Formula One world championship
McLaren's Lando Norris hailed the best qualifying lap of his career after beating F1 leader Max Verstappen to pole position at the US Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was surprised by his Red Bull car's performance as the F1 defending champion took third place in qualifying for the season-opening race.
Carlos Sainz completed a double race distance for previously struggling Williams and pushed his Ferrari successor Lewis Hamilton off the top of the testing
But there were no bold statements on race day as he struggled to take a point and his team mate Charles Leclerc laboured to an eighth-place finish.
McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint on Friday with Mercedes' George Russell denying the Formula One leaders a front row.
In the constructors' standings, Ferrari closed the gap to McLaren to 24 points.
Bernie Ecclestone says his money is still on Red Bull's Max Verstappen to win the Formula One championship
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrated pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, his 50th Formula One race, while dejected championship-leading teammate Lando Norris qualified sixth and said he had been "clueless on track".
Drivers returned to the pits, under a darkening sky, with engineers using torches in the garages before back-up generators came on and the session resumed about an hour later.
Lando Norris led a McLaren front row sweep in qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday
McLaren's Lando Norris dominated the Singapore Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday to take another chunk out of Max Verstappen's Formula One championship lead.
Lewis Hamilton smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record on his way to a stunning first sprint race pole for Ferrari in China on Friday.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday with the battle for the constructor's title going down to next weekend's Abu Dhabi season-ender
Rwandan President Paul Kagame joined Max Verstappen on stage when the Red Bull driver collected the F1 champion's trophy for the fourth year in a row.
Lewis Hamilton will launch his bid to win the drivers' championship at a third F1 team when he makes his much-anticipated debut for Ferrari in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The final phase of qualifying was halted, with only Piastri and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg having set times, when Sainz slammed backwards into the barriers at the final corner as he prepared to start his flying lap.
Charles Leclerc won the US Grand Prix in a Ferrari one-two with Carlos Sainz on Sunday as Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris a significant setback in their title battle.
Lando Norris roared to his second successive pole position, and third in four races, in a McLaren front row sweep with team mate Oscar Piastri
Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen followed up a Saturday sprint win with a statement pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix, with McLaren's Lando Norris again alongside on the front row.
Lando Norris put McLaren on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday
The win was a first for Ferrari in Mexico since 1990 and fourth of Carlos Sainz's career.
Stewards at the Brazilian race summoned Leclerc on Friday, acting on a report from the governing FIA's media delegate and after reviewing a written transcript.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris a shattering blow in their Formula One title battle by winning a wet and chaotic Sao Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid.
Lewis Hamilton shed pent-up tears of joy after ending a 945-day wait for a win with a record ninth British Grand Prix victory in front of his home fans on Sunday.
Lando Norris capitalised on a bit of good fortune to win the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday
Max Verstappen claimed his sixth victory from nine races this season and the 60th of his Formula One career.
Lewis Hamilton raced one last time for Mercedes on Sunday, Formula One's most successful driver and team partnership ending in a cloud of tyre smoke
Oscar Piastri won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and sent McLaren top of the constructors' standings in a race that finished with a virtual safety car after a penultimate lap collision between Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
George Russell led Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes front-row lockout in qualifying for the British Grand Prix on Saturday with McLaren's Lando Norris completing a rare one-two-three of home drivers.
Red Bull's Verstappen, who had been on pole at Zandvoort every year since the circuit returned in 2021 and has yet to be beaten there, will still line up alongside the Briton on the front row.
Red Bull are concerned about their constructors' title defence being weakened at a time when McLaren are emerging as a threat
Red Bull make changes to car after discussions with FIA
McLaren could clinch their first constructors' crown since 1998 on Sunday if they outscore Ferrari by 21 points at the Qatar F1 Grand Prix.
Leclerc was 11 seconds clear with seven laps to go and 8.3 ahead with five remaining as the massed ranks of 'tifosi' willed him on.
Max Verstappen, who could seal his fourth successive championship on Saturday, will line up fifth on the starting grid
McLaren are leading the constructor's championship but are only 29 points ahead of Ferrari, with Leclerc an obvious threat and team mate Carlos Sainz qualifying fifth and Mercedes' George Russell sixth.
Lewis Hamilton will bring down the curtain on his Mercedes career in Abu Dhabi on Sunday as his past and future Formula One teams, McLaren and Ferrari, fight for a constructors' title to end years of waiting.
Formula One world champion Max Verstappen took pole position for a third straight year at the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, with Sergio Perez qualifying a close second to ensure a Red Bull front-row lockout.
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