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.
Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg stormed to pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix in a mixed Saturday qualifying session for Mercedes, with world champion Lewis Hamilton left at the back of the grid after engine trouble prevented him setting a time.
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.
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.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz will make a dream move to Ferrari next year, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo replacing him at McLaren, as Formula One's driver carousel took another big twirl on Thursday with the 2020 season yet to start. Ferrari said 25-year-old Sainz, who replaces four times World champion Sebastian Vettel alongside young Monegasque Charles Leclerc at the sport's most glamorous team, had signed for 2021 and 2022.
Spain's double World champion Fernando Alonso and Britain's Jenson Button will drive for McLaren next season, the Formula One team announced on Thursday.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday.
'If we want to go to Asia, or America, I think it's going to be when we get on planes and have to fly overseas where I think the risk will start to potentially get greater.'
McLaren's Jenson Button was handed a time penalty that cost him 13th place in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
The Renault Formula One team will be renamed Alpine F1 from 2021, competing in French colours to showcase the carmaker's sportscar brand, new company CEO Luca de Meo announced on Sunday.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen became Formula One's youngest race winner on Sunday in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix that saw dominant Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide on the opening lap.
Three rookies are set to make their race debuts and Azarbaijan will make it's Formula One debut even as Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg pose to challenge odds on favourite Lewis Hamilton.
The McLaren Racing team has withdrawn from this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix after a team member tested positive for coronavirus, the team said on Thursday. The positive test at McLaren follows four crew members of fellow Formula One team Haas being quarantined due to the outbreak.
Nico Rosberg will have Formula One history in his sights in Spain this weekend, even if Dutch teenager Max Verstappen seizes his share of the limelight. The championship leader has won seven races in a row, including the last three of 2015, and can join fellow-German Michael Schumacher (2004) and Britain's Nigel Mansell (1992) as the only drivers to start a season with five successive victories. The chances of that happening looked remote this time last year, when Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton had won three of the first four and was heading for a third title, but Rosberg is now 43 points clear of the Briton. As 18-year-old Verstappen would agree, after his rapid promotion from Toro Rosso in a swap with demoted Russian Daniil Kvyat, Formula One moves fast off the track as well as on it. "I'm just enjoying the moment and the form I'm in, doing my best to keep it going and hoping I can carry it through to the end of the season," said Rosberg, 11/10 at bookmakers' William Hill with Hamilton at 5/4.
Nico Rosberg vowed 'maximum attack' in a new title battle Lewis Hamilton.
Nico Rosberg ended the Formula One season on a winning high in Abu Dhabi on Sunday with team mate and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton following him home in a record 12th one-two finish for dominant Mercedes.
Nico Rosberg swept to his fifth successive pole position on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton qualifying alongside on the Brazilian Grand Prix front row.
Enduring a dismal season this year, defending champion Sumit Nagal Monday began his campaign at the USD 150,000 Bengaluru Open with a bang by defeating last year's finalist Briton's Jay Clarke in the opening round.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene welcomed back the Kimi Raikkonen of old on Sunday.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Aryna Sabalenka moved one step closer to defending her Wuhan Open crown after dispatching world number one Ash Barty in straight sets with a 7-5 6-4 victory in the semi-final on Friday
This is the German's 50th career win
Thunder, lightning and torrential rain washed out second practice at the U.S. Formula One Grand Prix on Friday after Nico Rosberg went fastest for Mercedes in a largely meaningless morning session.
Max Verstappen was fastest on the opening day of practice for the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo as world champions Mercedes chose to focus on race preparation. Verstappen set a benchmark time of one minute 48.085 seconds, 0.256 quicker than Ricciardo on a hot and sunny day at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Rediff.com brings you a glance of all the action from the week gone by.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was first and last in Austrian Grand Prix practice on a Friday that team principal Maurizio Arrivabene will not forget in a hurry after nearly being run over by Felipe Massa.
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 pole, Vettel's 47th, ended a run of 18 in a row for world champions Mercedes who had Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton right behind the two red cars in third and fourth places.
The double world champion failed to score a point in his final race for McLaren, finishing tantalisingly close in 11th place after making up four positions, but the Spaniard went out fighting to the last.
Formula One leader Nico Rosberg put Mercedes on pole position for his home German Grand Prix on Saturday after a brake failure dumped title rival and team mate Lewis Hamilton out of qualifying.
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.
Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his teammate.
While Formula One rivals head to the sea or mountains at the start of the August break, Max Verstappen has some driving lessons on the horizon.
Sebastian Vettel justified his favourite tag for the Singapore Grand Prix when he stormed clear of his rivals in Friday's second free practice, lapping more than half a second quicker than Red Bull team mate Mark Webber.
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher turned 50 on Thursday with Formula One and his fans paying tribute to the sport's most successful driver with a mixture of celebration and sorrow.
Nico Rosberg won the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix in a Mercedes one-two finish on Sunday to stretch his championship lead over team mate Lewis Hamilton to 29 points after eight races.
Dutch rookie Max Verstappen, signed controversially as a 16-year-old by Toro Rosso, has swept a hat-trick of awards after confounding his critics in an impressive debut Formula One season.
Ross Brawn will stand down as principal and leave the Mercedes Formula One team at the end of the year, Mercedes said in a statement on Thursday.
US Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen has always been known as 'The Iceman' but Formula One fans could soon have much more of an insight into just how cool he really is in the heat of battle.
