Sebastian Vettel continued his imperious march towards a fourth consecutive Formula One world championship by storming to pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday after dominating the two days of practice.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
The Mercedes driver was fastest in every phase of qualifying to take pole with a time of one minute 42.553 seconds, a track record.
British racing driver Sean Edwards has been killed in a crash at the Queensland Raceway in Australia.
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.
Sebastian Vettel's hopes of fighting champions Mercedes for victory in Sunday's Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix went up in smoke before the start when his Ferrari's engine blew on the formation lap.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and his team will take centre stage, hoping for another year of dominance after winning both titles for the past six years and ending up fastest in winter testing. Ferrari can be trusted to provide plenty of headlines with four-times champion Sebastian Vettel fighting to reassert himself at the team after being outshone by quick newcomer Leclerc, a double winner in 2019.
Mexican Sergio Perez qualified second for Force India but will drop five places due to an unscheduled gearbox change after he crashed in final practice on the Baku street circuit.
Fernando Alonso can see a brighter future for McLaren, despite turning up at his home Spanish Grand Prix on Thursday with a stye in his eye.
Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel limbered up for a Japanese Grand Prix that could bring him a fourth successive title on Sunday with the fastest time in Friday practice.
Jenson Button won a 'Legends Trophy' esports race on Saturday with fellow retired Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve going from last to sixth on his virtual debut.
World No 4 Petra Kvitova sealed the Fed Cup title for the Czech Republic by beating Angelique Kerber 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to give her country an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Germany in the final on Sunday.
The triple champion, who started the race from a record 69th career pole position, led Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas to a runaway one-two finish in front of the massed ranks of red-shirted Ferrari fans.
MotoGP: KTM's Oliveira powers to victory in Barcelona thriller
The Briton's Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas will line up alongside on the front row of the starting grid with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel behind them.
This year marks the first that two quadruple champions are competing in the same season and their battle to see who joins Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio in second place on the all-time list with five titles promises to light up the series.
Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix for Mercedes after a first-lap scare on Sunday but the Briton will have to wait another week to wrap up his sixth Formula One world championship. Hamilton's 10th win of the season, and 83rd of his career, was also a 100th for Mercedes as a constructor.
Lewis Hamilton landed an early psychological blow ahead of Formula One's Abu Dhabi title showdown by lapping faster than Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in both Friday practice sessions.
The pole was Charles Leclerc's second in a row
Danish Formula One driver Kevin Magnussen is leaving McLaren after being informed by email on his birthday that the team had no place for him.
Reigning F1 champ warns Bottas about Hamilton rivalry
'In Lando and Daniel we have a hugely talented and exciting driver line-up, and this announcement is a strong signal of commitment to the next chapter for McLaren from 2022 onwards.'
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.
Formula One legend, Niki Lauda, thinks it's going to be a tighter fight between them, because the latter wants to make sure now he can beat the Briton.
Hamilton's flying lap of one minute 22.188 seconds set a new record at Albert Park but was only 0.268 seconds in front of German Vettel, offering the tantalising prospect of a competitive championship after three years of domination by the Silver Arrows.
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.
Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis won their first ever title on red clay, capturing the Internazionali BNL d'Italia trophy.
Team mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest to complete the front-row sweep, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.
The four times world champion is enjoying his best start to a season since he was at Red Bull in 2011, leading Lewis Hamilton by seven points after two wins and a second place from the first three races.
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.
Lewis Hamilton lapped in a league of his own on Saturday to seize pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix with Mercedes team mate and championship favourite Nico Rosberg joining him on the front row.
Fernando Alonso made a troubled start to testing McLaren's new Formula One car
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.
Fresh from his 50th Formula One win, triple world champion Lewis Hamilton remains convinced anything is possible in the title race even if he could lose his crown as early as Sunday.
A summary of sports events and sports 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.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova has been invited to play at the Madrid Open in May, which takes place less than two weeks after her 15-month doping ban expires, tournament organisers said on Wednesday.
Rediff.com gives you a throwback to an eventful 2017, in pictures.
Britain's Lewis Hamilton became Formula One world champion for the second time after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday.
'I think we're disappointed with it as F1 fans...All the drivers that I'm talking with, we're disappointed with what's going on with the cars, the lap times, it's just not stimulating for the drivers'
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