Nico Rosberg had his Formula One world championship lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton cut to one point after the German was demoted from second to third place in the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
The German's hopes of winning a fifth Formula One title this season moved away from slim and closer to non-existent at Suzuka.
Sebastian Vettel may need to rely on a stroke of luck at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday if the German wants to keep alive his diminishing hopes of claiming a fifth Formula One title.
Lewis Hamilton's Formula One rivals should beware the backlash because the four-times world champion's dip in form will not last long, his former Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg has warned.
Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg hailed Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton as one of the greatest drivers of all time on Wednesday but ruled out forging any friendly ties with the Briton as long as they raced each other. Rosberg, who lost out to Hamilton in the previous two years, made it third time lucky when he clinched his maiden title with a second-place finish behind the triple world champion at the season finale in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Michael Schumacher's son Mick has followed in his father's footsteps by signing a contract with Ferrari to join the Formula One team's young driver academy. The 19-year-old German, whose father won five of his record seven championships with the Italian team, will be competing in Formula Two this year after winning the European F3 title in 2018.
Formula One breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after the sport's new 'halo' head protection device saved Charles Leclerc from what might have been a potentially serious impact.
Formula One's governing body is to investigate an incident that saw cars cleared to race while a marshal was still on track following a Singapore Grand Prix safety car period on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Charles Leclerc put Ferrari on pole position for their home Italian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday in a qualifying session that ended in farce and with drivers under investigation.
Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg has apologised for colliding with team mate Lewis Hamilton during Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix and has been disciplined, his Mercedes team said on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton was 'shocked' with the pace of Mercedes after notching a record-extending eighth pole position at the Australian Grand Prix ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas as they thrashed their Formula One rivals in qualifying on Saturday.
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.
Mercedes Formula One boss Toto Wolff has dismissed plans for the world's first driverless motor racing series as having little to do with sport, despite the German carmaker's interest in the technology.
Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and retook the Formula One lead from team mate Lewis Hamilton after a fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.
Finland's Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the Russian Grand Prix on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton having to settle for second place on the starting grid.
The German is 40 points adrift of Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton with six races remaining and is running out of time to reassert himself in the battle of the four times world champions.
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 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.
Mercedes set for proper fight with Ferrari in Melbourne
Lewis Hamilton has told his Mercedes Formula One team mates they are all 'legends' after completing a fifth successive constructor and driver title double in Brazil on Sunday
For Mercedes to be denied in Brazil, Ferrari will have to score 13 points more than Mercedes -- a feat they have managed only twice in 19 races so far this year.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Niki Lauda expects departing Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn to return to Formula One in some capacity once he has gone fishing and taken time out.
The Mercedes driver is 14 points clear of his rival and fellow four-times world champion after winning in France on Sunday and heads to Spielberg confident of continuing the momentum.
Lewis Hamilton's record already bears comparison to Michael Schumacher's, and in some areas exceeds the great German's achievements.
Ferrari are closer to Mercedes than results have suggested in this season's two races and look like posing a real challenge, according to Formula One world championship leader Nico Rosberg.
Formula One's post-season shake-up took another spin on Tuesday with Williams announcing the departure of technical head Pat Symonds while Valtteri Bottas moved closer to Mercedes and Felipe Massa's retirement looked to be coming to an end.
World champion Nico Rosberg's retirement announcement on Friday came as a complete surprise even to the man who knows most of Formula One's best-kept secrets, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The administration was triggered by Force India's Mexican driver Sergio Perez, supported by engine provider Mercedes and team sponsor BWT who were also owed money by a team struggling financially.
Max Verstappen was compared to Formula One greats Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher on Sunday after the Dutch teenager's sensational drive to third place in a wet and chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Even father and former racer Jos, the 19-year-old Red Bull driver's biggest fan and fiercest critic, was astonished. "What Max showed here today was really special," he said of a race likely to go down in the sport's annals as one for the ages. In the last 15 laps, after a change to extreme wet tyres, Verstappen passed more than half the starting grid as he went from 16th place to the podium.
Formula One has lost another of its principals.
French driver Esteban Ocon will race for Force Indianext season after agreeing a multi-year deal, the Silverstone-based Formula One team said in a statement at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Thursday. Ocon replaces experienced German Nico Hulkenberg, who is moving to Renault, alongside Mexican Sergio Perez at a team co-owned by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya and currently fourth in the championship. The 20-year-old is contracted long-term to Mercedes, Force India's engine provider, and made his debut this year with the lowly Manor team as a mid-season replacement for Indonesian Rio Haryanto.
'I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me be here, to raise the bar and lift the cup'
Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday to dash Mercedes' hopes of extending their dominance into a fourth successive season of Formula One.
Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, putting Mercedes on top of the timesheets and leaving his Formula One rivals with plenty to ponder before the weekend.
Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton blamed a rare 'off day' for an error-filled qualifying performance on Saturday at the Baku street circuit that hosts Azerbaijan's first grand prix.
Formula One said a tribute was in the works, with details to be confirmed. A minute's silence is likely before the race.
Nico Rosberg is refusing to get carried away by thoughts of celebrating a maiden Formula One title triumph at the end of the season, despite getting one hand on the championship crown with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix. The German eased to a maiden win from pole position at the Suzuka circuit on Sunday, chalking up his ninth win of the year, to lift himself 33 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the overall standings.
World champion Hamilton stormed to pole with a record lap of one minute 21.164 seconds at Albert Park, with a gap of more than six-tenths of a second to the second placed Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
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