Nico Rosberg denied world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton a fifth pole position in a row by seizing the top slot for Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Spaniard told reporters at the US Grand Prix, where he was ninth fastest in a wet first practice on Friday, that McLaren needed to find another two and a half seconds of pace to match Mercedes.
Lauda won two world championships in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and a third in 1984 with McLaren. His rivalry with British driver James Hunt, the 1976 champion for McLaren, was intense and became the subject of the acclaimed 2013 film "Rush".
Sebastian Vettel led a Red Bull one-two in Friday's first free practice for an Indian Grand Prix that looks sure to secure the German a fourth successive Formula One title.
Sahara Force India returned pointless for the second consecutive time as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished a disappointing 11th and 14th, respectively at the Japanese Grand Prix Formula One Race in Suzuka on Sunday.
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 world champion Lewis Hamilton was fastest but teenage rookie Max Verstappen stood out with an eye-catching practice performance on a rainy Thursday at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg joining the triple Formula One world champion on the front row. On a damp and overcast Sao Paulo afternoon, it was the 60th pole of the Briton's career, eight short of Michael Schumacher's record, and his first in Brazil since 2012 when he was at McLaren. With his title on the line, it was also one of Hamilton's most important in a roller-coaster season marked by mechanical setbacks.
'The hunger is always there. After one year and a half without being close to the podium, I have more motivation. I come out as a lion in every race'
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for the second year in a row on Sunday with Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg finishing second.
Sergio Perez expressed his shock at McLaren's decision to drop him on Thursday and hoped he would find another Formula One drive for next season despite time being against him.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took the first Monaco Grand Prix pole position of his career on Saturday to deny Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg a hat-trick.
Lewis Hamilton heads into Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix fired up to complete a hat-trick of victories and seize the lead in the Formula One title race for the first time this season.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and overall leader Nico Rosberg set to start seventh after a grid penalty. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg joined the Briton on the front row, only his second career top-two start, although the German was under investigation by stewards for a possible flag infringement.
Aggrieved McLaren boss Ron Dennis says Formula One teams must decide whether a driver is fit to race, rather than the governing body's doctors, after Fernando Alonso was barred from the Bahrain Grand Prix.
World champion Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets for Mercedes in both practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix on Friday but team mate Nico Rosberg crashed as waterlogged conditions put a dampener on Formula One's season opener.
McLaren unveiled their new Formula One car on Sunday, certain it cannot be any worse than last year's but still unsure when they might get back to winning ways after their longest drought in decades. The former champions have not won a race since 2012 and finished last season, the first of a new partnership with Honda, ninth of the 10 teams with just 27 points compared to 703 for dominant Mercedes. The three years without a win is the team's longest barren stretch since their absence from the top step of the podium in 1994-96. "As we embark on the second year of our renewed McLaren-Honda partnership, all of us remain united in our purpose. That purpose is to develop our team towards our shared ambition: to win," said McLaren boss Ron Dennis. "We'll make no predictions as to when those wins will come," he added. The new MP4-31 car was presented online in a predominantly black livery with some prominent new sponsors in LVMH's sparkling wine brand Chandon and watchmaker Richard Mille replacing the departed Tag Heuer.
Lewis Hamilton lost a battle but regained a rival after Sebastian Vettel won Sunday's Australian season-opener for Ferrari.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix for a record sixth time on Sunday to stretch his lead over Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas to 39 points.
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.
Lewis Hamilton continued his season's sweep of qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday to seize the championship lead from team mate Nico Rosberg for the first time this season.
Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday after a last-lap collision with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg as they fought for the lead.
Fernando Alonso made a troubled start to testing McLaren's new Formula One car
Reaction to the death of three-times Formula One champion Niki Lauda, who died on Monday at the age of 70
Fernando Alonso would be top of the list for Mercedes if Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton fails to agree a new deal with the team beyond this year.
Fernando Alonso is leaving Ferrari at the end of the season because he wants a fresh environment and needs to be winning again, the Formula One team's ex-chairman Luca di Montezemolo said on Wednesday.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole position for the first Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on Saturday with team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg having to settle for second.
A prototype 'halo' head protection device made its Formula One test debut in Spain on Thursday, with Kimi Raikkonen declaring visibility to be 'okay' after lapping with it attached to the cockpit of his Ferrari.
Mercedes are expected to wrap up the constructors' championship on Sunday with three races to spare, having won 12 of the 15 so far with eight one-two finishes.
Lewis Hamilton lapped in a league of his own on Saturday to seize pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix with Mercedes team mate and championship favourite Nico Rosberg joining him on the front row.
Nico Rosberg drew first blood for Mercedes in the new Formula One season with a dominant Australian Grand Prix victory on Sunday after pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and world champion Sebastian Vettel retired with reliability problems.
Former FIA president Max Mosley has warned that Formula One risks serious difficulties unless it changes direction and cuts costs.
The 35-year-old Williams driver, who won 11 races for Ferrari between 2006 and 2008 and finished overall runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 world championship, is out of contract at the end of the year.
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.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel put himself on pole position for a fourth successive Formula One title after lapping the Indian Grand Prix circuit faster than any driver ever before on Saturday.
Formula One rolls into Malaysia this week for the second round of the championship at the Sepang International Circuit, where talk surrounding the utter dominance of Mercedes will for once take a back seat to the belated arrival of Fernando Alonso.
Paul di Resta suffered his third retirement in a row and Adrian Sutil sneaked into the top-10 in the last lap as Sahara Force India added one point to their tally from the exciting Singapore Grand Prix, where fortunes swung like a pendulum for the Indian F1 team.
Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who started on pole for the first time in nine years but lost the lead in the pitstops, made sure of a Ferrari one-two with Hamilton finishing seventh for Mercedes after starting 13th.
Mercedes opened their Formula One season by dominating practice at the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, with Nico Rosberg edging his world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton in both sessions at Albert Park.
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