Lewis Hamilton collected his champion's trophy at a glittering gala in Paris after ending the year in touching distance of Michael Schumacher's records for wins and titles.
Bookmakers William Hill have the Briton as 15/8 favourite for the 2018 drivers championship, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at 3/1 and Red Bull's Max Verstappen at 10/3.
The world of esports came to the rescue in the absence of a race in Melbourne or indeed of any single-seater series with the Formula E and IndyCar calendars also ravaged by the fast-spreading virus. Red Bull's Verstappen finished 11th in an 'All-star Esports battle' while McLaren's Norris finished sixth in another virtual race.
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.
Williams claimed a first on Wednesday by revealing their 2015 car before any of their Formula One rivals had taken the wraps off theirs.
Lewis Hamilton, who won from pole position to take the championship lead after three races, again took a knee while wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, but some drivers were either too late or remained standing.
'I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me be here, to raise the bar and lift the cup'
Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes suffered a rare mechanical failure on Friday as Formula One teams wrapped up pre-season testing in Barcelona with Ferrari back on top of the timesheets.
Lewis Hamilton shed pent-up tears of joy after ending a 945-day wait for a win with a record ninth British Grand Prix victory in front of his home fans on Sunday.
World champion Max Verstappen took maximum points from Formula One's Imola sprint weekend, leading a Red Bull one-two on Sunday as Ferrari's homecoming turned sour for overall leader Charles Leclerc and his Italian team.
Sebastian Vettel will have to be the best of the best if he is to join Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to have won three successive Formula One titles.
Lewis Hamilton, once the young sensation of Formula One, is starting to feel his age as a new generation of drivers sweeps into the sport and old hands like Jenson Button and Felipe Massa head for the exit.
Max Verstappen signed off on a dominant 2022 Formula One campaign with a record-extending 15th win of the year
McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint on Friday with Mercedes' George Russell denying the Formula One leaders a front row.
Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton blamed a rare 'off day' for an error-filled qualifying performance on Saturday at the Baku street circuit that hosts Azerbaijan's first grand prix.
Sainz took the first pole position of his Formula One career in a wet qualifying for the British Grand Prix
Renault announced the Formula One comeback of Danish driver Kevin Magnussen at the launch on Wednesday of a new-look team that will put the French carmaker back on the starting grid as a constructor.
Lewis Hamilton can win his third Formula One world championship on Sunday but the Mercedes driver will have to wait a while longer before he can be truly hailed as one of the greats, according to Jackie Stewart.
New Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel will drive his Red Bull on a lap of honour through central Berlin on Saturday in front of tens of thousands of German fans, his team said.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen made a flying start to the Formula One season on Friday with the fastest times in free practice for the Australian Grand Prix.
Formula One has a reputation for being exclusive and inaccessible compared to series like the world endurance championship, where fans have much more access to the paddock and drivers during race weekends. But the sport is set for a revamp.
Red Bull's double World champion Max Verstappen swept to pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday with his sights set on a record 14th victory of the season.
Formula One unveiled its longest and fastest street circuit on Thursday, predicting top speeds of 322kph and wheel-to-wheel racing when Saudi Arabia hosts a race for the first time in Jeddah in December.
Fernando Alonso hailed the Briton as a Formula One great and said he was happy to see him stand on the brink of a fifth world championship.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone caused a social media storm on Tuesday when he said women racing drivers would not be taken seriously in the sport and dismissed the contribution of immigrants to Britain.
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.
Mercedes brought intrigue to Formula One testing on Thursday with television images showing Lewis Hamilton moving his car's steering wheel forwards and backwards as he drove. The mechanism appeared to alter the alignment of the front wheels, with the six-times world champion pulling the wheel towards him on the straights and pushing it back as he approached corners.
Champions Mercedes are chasing a sixth successive double, and Lewis Hamilton his sixth drivers' title, but the task looks tougher than ever.
Red Bull are hoping that engine and chassis upgrades will help them beat Ferrari and Formula One champions Mercedes more often after Max Verstappen's Spanish Grand Prix victory on Sunday.
Six times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and MotoGP great Valentino Rossi are preparing for a ride swap in Spain on Monday, with the Briton "super excited" at the prospect.
Sauber's cars will sport the blue logo of Champions League finalists Chelsea from next week's Spanish Grand Prix as part of a deal between the Swiss-based Formula One team and the English Premier League club.
MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi said on Thursday he could have been a good Formula One driver if he had made the switch three years ago.
F1, Silverstone still optimistic despite UK quarantine rules
Lando Norris led a McLaren front row sweep in qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
Formula One approved changes to its power unit penalty system with immediate effect on Friday and also tweaked super-licence rules for 2016 to give more drivers a chance to enter the sport from other series.
Sebastian Vettel announced on Thursday his retirement from Formula One at the end of the 2022 season.
"Of course its over! Write that. I'm ready to sign that," the two times Formula One world champion said.
Hamilton said he would still be "incredibly proud" to pull level with "an icon like Michael" and seven was way beyond his wildest dreams, but numbers and titles maybe meant more to those on the outside.
Lewis Hamilton vowed to continue speaking out despite Formula One's governing body clamping down on drivers
