I am with my dream team, says Mercedes driver
No spectators, sponsors or VIP guests have been allowed to attend but Formula One has said it hoped that might change later in the year.
Hamilton held on for fourth, but slipped from 18 to 32 points behind Verstappen in the championship standings.
As impressive as those results have been, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner took the opportunity after the race to issue a scary warning that his team is capable of winning every grand prix this season.
Mercedes were summoned by stewards post-race for the infringement.
Qualifying took place at a sunny Suzuka on Sunday morning after being postponed from its usual Saturday slot due to the approach of Typhoon Hagibis.
Valtteri Bottas took pole position for Formula One's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix ahead of championship-leading Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton on Saturday.
Max Verstappen added his name to the list of triple Formula One World champions on Saturday after Red Bull team mate and sole title rival Sergio Perez crashed out of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race.
Television images showed six drivers standing behind the 14 who knelt, including Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Formula One leader Max Verstappen handed his Red Bull team a home pole position for Saturday's sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix after Mercedes rivals Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crashed in qualifying.
Verstappen took his 26th career win 0.9 of a second ahead of Spaniard Sainz,
The German, whose last victory was in Belgium in August 2018, took the chequered flag 2.641 seconds ahead of Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc, who had started on pole position for the third race in a row.
Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on pole position for their 200th race at the German Grand Prix on Saturday while engine problems dashed Ferrari's hopes.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed his first Formula One victory on Sunday in a thrilling British Grand Prix halted by a first-lap crash and with the added mayhem of a track invasion by protesters.
Ferrari won the race in one-two formation, with Sebastian Vettel leading Charles Leclerc, for their third successive victory.
Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position to stretch his Formula One championship lead to 53 points.
Lewis Hamilton dominated Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position, with a bonus point for fastest lap, to take a five point lead over Bottas, the winner of the Austrian season-opener.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the penultimate race on this year's Formula One calendar
Verstappen, who is 145 points clear of team mate Sergio Perez in the championship and set for a third title well before the end of the season, suggested Wolff should focus on his own team.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to cut Max Verstappen's overall Formula One lead to eight points with two races remaining.
It was Hamilton's first pole position since Saudi Arabia in December 2021.
Max Verstappen fought back from a slow pitstop to win the US Grand Prix in Austin on Sunday as his Red Bull team clinched the Formula One constructors' title a day after the death of billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
Formula One's 'halo' head protection device makes its race debut this season in a 21-round championship with France and Germany back on the calendar and some new faces joining the old favourites on the starting grid.
Max Verstappen won his home Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday and took the Formula One championship lead in front of a roaring, dancing army of fans hailing their hero with orange flags and flares.
Mick Schumacher, who will face intense scrutiny as embarks on his Formula One career, said for now he was simply overwhelmed to be following in his father's footsteps and called his promotion a dream come true.
Six time world champion Lewis Hamilton, winner of the British Grand Prix from pole position at the same circuit last weekend and 30 points clear of Valtteri Bottas after four races without spectators, was 0.138 seconds slower.
Max Verstappen took pole position on Saturday in a wet qualifying for a Canadian Grand Prix
Formula One will have a record 24 races in the season that starts in Bahrain on Saturday.
Max Verstappen led a soggy Monaco Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of 21-year-old Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc who was unable to repeat his Bahrain Grand Prix pole of two weeks ago.
Max Verstappen won the Miami Grand Prix from ninth on the starting grid with a masterful display of tyre management on Sunday.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified third with team mate Sebastian Vettel a distant seventh on a distinctly off day for the German.
Ferrari's new team principal Mattia Binotto said earlier in the year that Vettel, as the team's "champion", would be given priority over Leclerc in certain racing situations, though he later clarified the drivers would be "free to fight".
Verstappen took a grid penalty at the previous race in Russia and finished second after starting at the back of the field, his progress helped after late rain caused problems for others.
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton is now just three wins short of Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time record 91.
Sebastian Vettel has never been one for social media or had much time for esports but even the four-times world champion has shifted his stance, however slightly, under Formula One's coronavirus lockdown. Although the 32-year-old Ferrari driver is still not remotely tempted by Twitter or Instagram, he has acquired a gaming rig. Just how much the German uses it remains to be seen.
IMAGES from the Belgian F1 Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel was Ferrari's first choice to stay and partner Charles Leclerc in Formula One next year until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, team principal Mattia Binotto said on Friday. The four-times World champion, who won his titles with Red Bull, will now be replaced by Spaniard Carlos Sainz who joins from McLaren at the end of the season in a decision announced in May.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances