The seven-time world champion, the sport's most successful driver with 105 grand prix victories and 202 podiums, said at an event for Ferrari partner Puma on Tuesday night that the excitement was building.
Mercedes's George Russell lapped the circuit in one minute, 18.518 seconds to win the Australian Open F1 Grand Prix qualifying.
Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified from the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix after their cars failed post-race checks on Sunday.
Mercedes said the W17 car completed 67 laps and nearly 200km without any problems.
Lewis Hamilton will bring down the curtain on his Mercedes career in Abu Dhabi on Sunday as his past and future Formula One teams, McLaren and Ferrari, fight for a constructors' title to end years of waiting.
Seven-times World champion Lewis Hamilton failed to stand on the podium all year for the first time in his career.
Lewis Hamilton said he was 'really enjoying' driving his Ferrari after ending the second morning of Formula One's pre-season testing in Bahrain
Formula One leader Oscar Piastri put his McLaren on pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday
Hamilton told reporters at pre-season testing in Bahrain that he had yet to broach the subject of 'Hammer Time' with race engineer Adami.
Lewis Hamilton will launch his bid to win the drivers' championship at a third F1 team when he makes his much-anticipated debut for Ferrari in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record on his way to a stunning first sprint race pole for Ferrari in China on Friday.
Four-times World champion Max Verstappen was given an aerodynamic tow by teammate Yuki Tsunoda to go top on his first flying lap.
Stewards at the Brazilian race summoned Leclerc on Friday, acting on a report from the governing FIA's media delegate and after reviewing a written transcript.
Former champions Renault followed Ferrari's lead on Wednesday and threatened to quit Formula One at the end of the season unless the governing body rewrites the 2010 rules. Champions Ferrari, Formula One's glamour team who have competed in every championship since 1950, issued a similar threat on Tuesday in response to the introduction of an optional 40 million pounds budget cap.
Oscar Piastri led McLaren teammate and Formula One title rival Lando Norris at the top of the timesheets in sole practice for the Qatar Grand Prix on Friday.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday but McLaren's Lando Norris had one hand on the Formula One title after finishing second and stretching his lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 30 points.
Ferrari Formula One boss Mattia Binotto has handed in his resignation and will leave at the end of the year, the championship runners-up said on Tuesday.
Toyota Gazoo Racing, the Japanese car maker's motorsport division, will become title sponsor of the Haas Formula One team next season in a deal that strengthens an existing technical partnership.
McLaren could clinch their first constructors' crown since 1998 on Sunday if they outscore Ferrari by 21 points at the Qatar F1 Grand Prix.
'But I think because he's such an enthusiast, this is just what he needs. And what Ferrari needs'
McLaren's Lando Norris won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to surge 24 points clear in the Formula One championship on Sunday.
Norris had shown his pace in final practice when he became the third different driver to top the timesheets in the three sessions, punching out an impressive lap 0.345 faster than anyone else.
A Ferrari Testarossa sports car stolen from Austrian Formula One driver Gerhard Berger during the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix weekend has been recovered by London police almost 29 years later.
The win was a first for Ferrari in Mexico since 1990 and fourth of Carlos Sainz's career.
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.
Felipe Massa will drive a Ferrari Formula One car again this year as the Brazilian continues his recovery from life-threatening head injuries suffered in July, Ferrari said on Sunday.
Norris last led the standings in April, a gap of 189 days, and had not won a race since Hungary in early August. Sunday was his sixth victory of the season, one less than Piastri, and career 10th.
Lando Norris can be crowned champion on Sunday but a win for Oscar Piastri would take the battle down to a final showdown in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
Lando Norris stretched his Formula One championship lead to nine points after winning Saturday's Sao Paulo sprint while McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed in a big blow to the Australian's bid to get back on top.
The aftershock of Sunday's double disqualification in Nevada hangs over champions McLaren ahead of a sprint weekend in Qatar that could hand Lando Norris his first F1 crown -- or erode his lead.
Seven times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton is set for a shock switch from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025 as replacement for Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, according to multiple media reports on Thursday.
Ralf Schumacher eclipsed his older brother Michael in Friday's first qualifying at the German Grand Prix.\n\n
Hamilton won Formula Three and GP2 (now Formula Two) championships with Vasseur's ART team in 2005 and 2006 before making a spectacular Formula One debut with McLaren in 2007.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri ended a long win drought with a pole-to-flag victory in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race in Doha.
Piastri now leads Britain's Norris by 14 points with five rounds and two sprints remaining, while Verstappen has slashed his gap to the Australian to 40 after being 104 behind at the end of August.
The two McLaren drivers were ruled out for excessive skid plank wear hours after the race had ended and the podium champagne been sprayed.
Mick Schumacher, son of seven times world champion Michael, made his Formula One test debut with Ferrari on Tuesday at the Bahrain circuit, where 15 years ago his father won the first Grand Prix in the Middle East.
Verstappen wins in Qatar to ensure three-way title showdown
