A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Lewis Hamilton broke ranks with other drivers who said they were comfortable with assurances received from the governing FIA, even as other sports cancel events and competitions around the globe.
Sergio Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position in a Red Bull one-two on Sunday with Max Verstappen staying top of the championship after racing from 15th to second.
Michael Schumacher was second and Narain Karthikeyan 17th on the start grid for Sunday's Canadian GP.
Jordan's Indian ace posted his third finish in four races in the Formula One championship.
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.
Vettel will be sharing Ferrari testing duties with the 20-year-old at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit next week after the second grand prix of the season.
Credit rating agency Moody's changed Formula One's outlook to negative from positive on Thursday to reflect the impact of the coronavirus crisis on a global sport that has yet to race in 2020.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Haryana's 3000m steeplechaser Priti Lamba was on Monday added to the Indian athletics team for the Hangzhou Asian Games
Charles Leclerc seized pole position for the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel who completed a front row lockout for Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton has had more success in Shanghai than any other Formula One driver, which makes Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix the ideal location for the triple world champion to end Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's winning streak. While Rosberg has started the season with a perfect 50 points from two races, and a run of five successive victories dating back to last November, Hamilton is ready to turn the tables. The Briton has won four times in Shanghai and is on for three in a row after last season becoming the only driver to win the race in successive years. "It's not been a smooth start to the season for me, so to be in the championship position I'm in right now is actually pretty positive," said Hamilton, who lies second in the standings after a second and a third place. "Now we go to China for the next battle. It's a track that's been good to me over the years... so hopefully this race can be the turning point." Hamilton has not won since he took his third world championship in Austin, Texas, last October but the 31-year-old has started both races this season on pole position.
Ferrari were already feeling the frustration and Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix added a measure of embarrassment to the mix for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
The Briton eased his Mercedes across the line 6.2 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, with Max Verstappen, who started 16th, finishing a surprise third for Red Bull.
Sahara Force India made it official that Mexican driver Sergio Perez will continue racing with the team in 2015 and beyond.
While Valtteri Bottas claimed a dominant win for Mercedes and his team mate Lewis Hamilton held off Red Bull's Max Verstappen for second, Ferrari's drivers were left scrambling for minor points in a sobering start for the Scuderia.
The youngest Ferrari race driver since 1961 proved he has what it takes to handle the weight of expectation that comes with driving for the sport's most successful and glamorous team.
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.
Can Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton add to his record tally of 103 victories?
Red Bull's Mark Webber faces a 10-place grid penalty at the Korean Grand Prix after being reprimanded for hitching a lift on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari at the end of Sunday's race in Singapore.
Kimi Raikkonen is enjoying being at Ferrari more than ever this season.
A Chinese Grand Prix podium hostess who had champagne sprayed in her face by race winner Lewis Hamilton has played down the incident.
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.
The Briton will be toiling flat out on May Day, the international workers' holiday, to deny his German rival a seventh successive win and fourth of the sport's longest ever season.
'We've still got work to do to get both cars home in the points. We'll take positives from today, but we're trying to find a bit more every weekend.'
'I'm the first one to say we shouldn't be speaking bad about things on TV, but I think the new qualifying format is pretty rubbish'
Rediff.com encapsulates all the sporting action from the past week in this eye-catching photo feature.
Four-time Formula One champion and Red Bull racer Sebastian Vettel has warned his team that they might be facing a debacle unless they improve their car before the season opens at the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.
Hamilton, the sport's only Black driver and its most successful racer, has used his platform and profile increasingly to push for equal opportunities and speak out against racial injustice.
The Finn lapped the six-km Baku street circuit in one minute, 40.495 seconds, just 0.059 seconds faster than team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
As part of the transaction, Daimler will reduce its stake from 60%, while Wolff will up his shareholding from 30%, the statement said.
Verstappen took his 26th career win 0.9 of a second ahead of Spaniard Sainz,
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap reached the second round of Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after scoring easy victories in Lucknow.
Bernie Ecclestone's 40-year reign as Formula One's commercial supremo ended on Monday with the sport's new owners Liberty Media replacing the 86-year-old Briton with American Chase Carey.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia will be the first in more 35 years to be held without spectators after organisers introduced tighter measures to protect against the coronavirus. Here is a list of international sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
Mexican Sergio Perez said he was on the up after finishing third in Sunday's Russian Grand Prix to hand Force India only the third podium finish in the team's Formula One history.
MotoGP: KTM's Oliveira powers to victory in Barcelona thriller
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Formula One world championship leader Nico Rosberg's contract with the Mercedes team has shown up in the Panama Papers, leaked documents which reveal offshore financial dealings, German broadcaster ARD reported on Monday.
Formula One and the 10 teams would seek reassurance on issues including human rights, gender equality and media freedom before any race could happen.
