Five-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes front-row lockout with a blistering pole position at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton's lap of one minute 25.892 seconds is a track record at the Silverstone circuit.
A look at the main Tour de France contenders ahead of Saturday's first stage, a 14-km individual time trial in Duesseldorf:
Ferrari made a strong start to the first day of Formula One testing, on Monday, with four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel top of the timesheets at lunchtime with 72 laps completed.
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice on his LA Galaxy debut, including a winner in stoppage time, as his new team battled back from three goals down to defeat the upstart LAFC 4-3 in a thrilling match on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 at the top of the timesheets for the first free practice session at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, while McLaren's hopes of a clean start were tempered by reliability issues.
Lewis Hamilton took a big step towards clinching his fifth Formula One title after putting his Mercedes on pole position at the U.S. Grand Prix on Saturday with Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel starting fifth.
IMAGES from the English Premier League match played between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday.
Sahara Force India's six-race point streak ended at the German Grand Prix as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished 11th and 13th respectively, at the Nurburgring circuit on Sunday.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of 21-year-old Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc who was unable to repeat his Bahrain Grand Prix pole of two weeks ago.
Monaco's Leclerc, who had started on pole position for the first time, lost power with 10 laps to go while leading and finished third with an extra point for the fastest lap.
The defending champion came seventh, one second behind stage winner Michael Matthews of Australia as Aru, who started the day with the yellow jersey on his shoulders, lost 25 seconds to the Briton in the final effort, a 600-metre climb at an average gradient of 9.6 per cent.
Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata scored a goal and then missed a penalty as his side began their La Liga campaign with an eventful and nervy 1-0 win at home to Getafe on Sunday which saw both teams reduced to 10 men.
Team mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest to complete the front-row sweep, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.
Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel pumped in a stunning late lap to snatch pole position from team mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari dominated Chinese Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
The Briton lapped the Albert Park circuit in a searing one minute and 21.164 seconds to cross the line 0.664 seconds clear of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheets in final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, ending the stranglehold of previously dominant champions Mercedes. Vettel lapped the Sakhir Circuit in a best time of one minute 31.683 seconds, 0.040 faster than team mate Kimi Raikkonen on the supersoft tyres. It was the first time this season that any driver from outside the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton had ended practice on top. Hamilton was quickest in all three sessions in Australia two weeks ago while championship frontrunner Rosberg led his team mate in Bahrain practices one and two on Friday. Rosberg was third fastest in practice three, his time of 1:32.104 slower than Friday when he did 1:31.001, with Hamilton fourth.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position for Mercedes on Sunday to go into the August break with a 24-point lead over Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi added another feather in his cap. The 20-year-old continued his brilliant form and clinched the Politiken Cup 2013 after emerging with a fine score of nine out of a maximum possible 10 points, in Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday.
British journeyman Stephen Cummings earned South African team MTN-Qhubeka a landmark victory on Mandela Day when he spoiled a French party to take a surprise win in the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.
The latest updates from the Tamil film industry.
The French Formula One Grand Prix will return in 2018 after a 10-year absence with the race scheduled to take place at the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France, regional politician Christian Estrosi said.
Chris Froome remains in contention for a fourth Tour de France title after Team Sky put the pressure on their rivals with a perfectly executed plan in Friday's 13th stage, won on Bastille Day by France's Warren Barguil.
Formula One is facing fresh calls to consider closed cockpits after French driver Jules Bianchi's accident in Japan last weekend, though opinions are mixed about the potential benefits. Cockpit covers were tested by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) after Brazilian Felipe Massa suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by a bouncing spring in Hungary in 2009. In 2012, tests were carried out using a forward roll hoop -- a metal structure placed right in front of the driver -- after other experiments with a jet fighter-style canopy and windshields. None were developed beyond the testing stage, but drivers and teams suggested at the Russian Grand Prix they could be revisited after Bianchi suffered a severe brain trauma when his Marussia crashed into a recovery tractor at Suzuka.
Chris Froome got a brutal reminder of the unpredictable nature of the Tour de France when he crashed to the ground in Sunday's second stage, recovering to finish with torn shorts as German Marcel Kittel powered to victory at the end of a huge sprint.
Red Bull's quadruple World champion Sebastian Vettel won the US Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first Formula One driver to take eight consecutive victories in a single season. Starting from pole, the 26-year-old German was again in a class of his own, taking the chequered flag 6.2 seconds clear of Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus.
The German, winner of the season's first two races, had been second before coming in for a fresh set of tyres while Hamilton won with one stop from pole position.
The win also set a record, one that Hamilton had previously shared with seven times champion Michael Schumacher, of 41 wins from pole position.
Unai Emery's side were heading for a demoralising defeat, three days after losing meekly to Sheffield United in the Premier League, but substitute Pepe's late intervention kept the Gunners top of Group F with a maximum nine points.
The German was joined on the front row of the grid by reigning world champion and closest rival Lewis Hamilton, in a Mercedes.
Quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel continued to set the pace at the U.S. Formula One Grand Prix, topping the final practice time sheets in another Red Bull one-two on Saturday.
Reigning champions Manchester City took the lead after 24 seconds but suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United.
Hamilton, Bottas's team mate, started in eighth place after a grid penalty triggered by an unscheduled gearbox change and finished fourth.
Max Verstappen won Red Bull's home Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton suffered his first race retirement since 2016 and lost the Formula One championship lead to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride towards a fourth Formula One title on Sunday with victory in an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix after Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out at the start.
Sebastian Vettel handed Ferrari their first Canadian Grand Prix pole position since Michael Schumacher in 2001 on Saturday while Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth for Mercedes. Vettel, 14 points behind the Briton, will start from the front for the fourth time at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after setting a track record of one minute 10.764 seconds on a sunny afternoon.
AS Roma needed a penalty from 40-year-old forward Francesco Totti in the seventh minute of stoppage time to scrape past second-tier Cesena 2-1 in their Coppa Italia quarter-final on Wednesday.
Mercedes's brilliant pitstop strategy spoiled the game for Max Verstappen in Hungarian Grand Prix, says Rediff's F1 columnist Raja Sen.