German Open winner Arvind Bhat and Malaysia Open finalist Sourabh Varma advanced to the pre-quarter-finals of New Zealand Open with straight-game victories in the men's singles of the US $50,000 Grand Prix event in Auckland.
The five-time world champion went from pole position to last on a chaotic afternoon, the Briton hitting the barriers and spinning before finishing 11th in a race won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton has turned his fire on Formula One rivals Red Bull for suggesting after a controversial Malaysian Grand Prix that he has joined Mercedes as their clear No 1.
The hand that last year pointed the finger of blame at Mark Webber was extended in grateful thanks on Sunday as Red Bull celebrated a healing one-two Turkish Grand Prix finish.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
'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'
Force India are hoping Nico Hulkenberg's triumph at the Le Mans 24 Hours race will have a knock-on effect for them at next weekend's Austrian Formula One Grand Prix.
Six-times World champion Lewis Hamilton expects Formula One drivers to be united against racism at Sunday's season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, and that could mean taking a knee before the start. There has been plenty of speculation about how the Mercedes driver might signal his support for the Black Lives Matter movement and those campaigning against racial injustice and inequality.
Briton Jenson Button was second fastest for Honda, ahead of Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello.
The Australian would be favourite to replace Alonso at Renault if the world champions fail to secure Kimi Raikkonen from McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton is planning to get plenty of rest over the next few days
Wurz, 31, has been a McLaren tester for the last five seasons after racing for Benetton from 1997 to 2000.
Few Formula One teams or sponsors will be too dismayed if this year's French Grand Prix turns out to be the last at Magny-Cours.
The 22-year-old Briton is the first to finish on the podium in his debut race since Jacques Villeneuve finished second in Melbourne 11 years ago.
Italy's Jarno Trulli topped the timesheets for Toyota in Saturday's final Malaysian Grand Prix practice as championship leader Giancarlo Fisichella spun his Renault into the gravel.
Hamilton has won the last three races, out of four so far in this COVID-19 affected season, and will start as favourite again.
Lauda won two world championships in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and a third in 1984 with McLaren. His rivalry with British driver James Hunt, the 1976 champion for McLaren, was intense and became the subject of the acclaimed 2013 film "Rush".
Much has been written about that afternoon, and the Brazilian's career and epic rivalry with Frenchman Alain Prost, with questions still asked about what caused the crash. What is certain is that it changed Formula One, triggering a major safety review and altering the course of sporting history.
The Flying Finn was clipped by Christian Klien's Red Bull and spun off the track
Austrian Alex Wurz won the battle of the test drivers by topping the times in the first practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday.
"The comparison? I see still Ayrton winning the game because in the end Ayrton was such a charming guy and a personality. And obviously if someone loses his life and stays with us in the way of a legend, it's always something special. But I try to see it from a performance point and from a performance point, Lewis is going from one pole position to the next one and Lewis is going from one race win to the next one. Just like Ayrton did."
Nico Rosberg won the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix for the second year in a row in a Mercedes one-two finish with team mate Lewis Hamilton on Sunday.
Formula One said a tribute was in the works, with details to be confirmed. A minute's silence is likely before the race.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton said he still has "the utmost respect" for Formula One title rival Sebastian Vettel after accepting a public apology from the Ferrari driver on Thursday.
Formula One title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are under huge pressure as they enter the final straight, however much they try to hide it, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said on Friday. "I think that generally, all of us, we underestimate the pressure that is on these guys," Wolff told reporters at the U.S. Grand Prix. "It's a couple of races towards the end of the season, there is all to win and all to lose," added the Austrian in response to a question about triple world champion Hamilton's behaviour towards the media in Japan two weeks ago.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
The first race at the Red Bull Ring would be on the July 3-5 weekend.
'I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me be here, to raise the bar and lift the cup'
Red Bull, drivers' and constructors' champions for four years in a row from 2010, have fallen out with underperforming Renault and are casting around for a replacement engine provider with Ferrari their only real option given Honda's woes.
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.
Formula One leader Nico Rosberg felt sore enough at losing Sunday's Italian Grand Prix without then having to face conspiracy theories suggesting he had done it deliberately.
Niki Lauda pondered the mystery of the disappearing Mercedes on Sunday after Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished one-two in the Japanese Grand Prix but barely featured in television coverage.
Defending champion H S Prannoy eked out a thrilling win over China's Qiao Bin to advance to the quarterfinals of the $120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday.
Lauda was so badly injured in that accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix that a priest gave him the last rites as he lay in a coma.
Norris said he had also been on pain-killers for a back problem and had not felt confident in the car, limiting his track time in the afternoon.
Formula One and the championship-leading Red Bull team mourned the death of the energy drink company's Austrian founder Dietrich Mateschitz on Saturday at the age of 78.
Valtteri Bottas seized his first pole position of the Formula One season in Austria on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and world championship leader Lewis Hamilton having to settle for second.
Ferrari won the race in one-two formation, with Sebastian Vettel leading Charles Leclerc, for their third successive victory.
Lewis Hamilton's record already bears comparison to Michael Schumacher's, and in some areas exceeds the great German's achievements.
