McLaren played down a report on Sunday that their world champion Lewis Hamilton had threatened to quit Formula One in disgust over a lying controversy.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton stormed to a Canadian Grand Prix victory on Sunday to become a magnificent seventh winner in seven Formula One races this season and seize the championship lead.
A week after making a leaden stage appearance as a Greek god, Lewis Hamilton cradled a diamond-studded helmet on Thursday and recast himself as Formula One's 'King of Bling'. "Bling bling, I love it," declared the 23-year-old McLaren driver after showing off the sparkling helmets that he and Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen will wear at next week's Monaco Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton wrapped up his pre-season testing with Mercedes in eye-catching style on Saturday with a lap that was easily the fastest seen so far this year in Barcelona.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado will start Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix on pole position for Williams after Lewis Hamilton was sent to the back of the grid because McLaren failed to put enough fuel in his car.
Jenson Button has hit out at former teammate Lewis Hamilton's description of McLaren as a team where he felt suffocated on Thursday, admitting the drivers work hard but describing the freedom they enjoy as "phenomenal".
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in 1:22.276 ahead of Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen in 1:22.319, on the first day of Formula One's final pre-season test in Barcelona.
McLaren's test driver Pedro de la Rosa was second in 1:19.287 with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica third on the timesheets at the Formula One testing in Jerez.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton boosted his Formula One title chances by taking pole position for Sunday's Japanese GP while Ferrari rival Felipe Massa could qualify only fifth. The Briton, who leads the standings by seven points from Massa with three races remaining, starts ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on the front row.
Britain's Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix in a McLaren one-two with team mate Jenson Button on Sunday.
Every young racer wants to be the next Lewis Hamilton but most are in too much of a hurry to give themselves the best chance of success.
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.
The Briton, a winner in 2009, clocked one minute 47.055 seconds in dry conditions to finish 0.365 seconds ahead of Mark Webber with the Australian's Red Bull team mate and runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel third fastest in 1:47.885.
Hamilton has won 71 races, 20 fewer than Schumacher, and four titles for Mercedes in the past five years. The first was with McLaren in 2008.
Lewis Hamilton will be pushing McLaren harder than ever over the next few months to make sure he does not have to endure another 'character-building' season like the one just finished. The 2008 world champion started the Formula One campaign with a disqualification, battered by a storm over lying to stewards in Australia and struggling with a car that was painfully off the pace.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the French Grand Prix on Saturday with Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas alongside him on the front row.
'Every great Formula One season is marked by a great rivalry. Last year it was our internal battle between Lewis and Nico and this year it seems that the fight is on between Ferrari and Mercedes and Lewis and Sebastian'
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will become Formula One's first rookie champion, as well as the youngest, if he wins in China on Sunday.
McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton drew praise from Formula One's most successful driver, seven times champion Michael Schumacher, on Friday.
Former Formula One World champion Lewis Hamilton set the Nice road in Bangalore afire with his McLaren Mercedes F1 car to thundering applause from spellbound spectators.
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.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton timed his final run to perfection to snatch pole position for the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday and shatter Red Bull's run of supremacy.
Lewis Hamilton surpassed Ayrton Senna's career haul of 65 pole positions in Formula One as he edged Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas to secure top spot the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, his landmark 51st career victory cutting Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's overall lead to 19 points and keeping the German waiting for a first title. The pole-to-flag victory was the triple world champion's eighth of the season and put him level with France's Alain Prost in the all-time lists of winners. Only Michael Schumacher (91) has more. Rosberg, who would have clinched the title had he won and Hamilton finished 10th or lower, crossed the line 8.354 seconds behind to anchor champions Mercedes to a sixth one-two finish of the season.
Lewis Hamilton battled back from an agonisingly slow start to win the Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday and slash team mate Nico Rosberg's Formula One championship lead to 22 points.
Lewis Hamilton has had enough of being an 'easy target' for his Formula One critics. McLaren's 2008 world champion said on Thursday that he was determined to bring back the good times, starting with Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, after the toughest season of his career.
Lewis Hamilton led every lap from pole position to chequered flag, banging in a fastest lap for good measure to emphasise his supremacy
Lewis Hamilton was stopped by police for behaving like a boy racer Friday only hours after he had wowed a Melbourne crowd with the fastest lap in Australian Grand Prix practice.
Lando Norris led a McLaren front row sweep in qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday
Hamilton has won half of the season's 20 races so far, propelling his team to an unprecedented sixth successive title double, but Brazil was a disappointing weekend with Valtteri Bottas retiring.
Lewis Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday, nursing his car's worn tyres to the finish in a nail-biting victory worthy of the team's late great Niki Lauda.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel battle to match the late Argentine's 1950s feat of five world championships.
Britain's Lewis Hamilton seized his first win for Mercedes in a sweltering Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel moved 38 points clear in the Formula One championship despite finishing third.
Mercedes will take a firm line with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to make sure their clash at the US Grand Prix has no repercussions for the team, says motorsports director Toto Wolff.
Sebastian Vettel lost his second-place finish after being disqualified by stewards for a fuel irregularity.
Images from the new Mercedes McLaren car launch, on Friday, by Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Lewis Hamilton put his McLaren on pole for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday, as the team locked up the front row of the starting grid for the second race in a row.
McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button said that they are keen to win the inaugural Indian Grand Prix and the remaining two races of the season so that they can lay a strong base for next year.
Red Bull's Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel took his fourth win in five races on Sunday in a Spanish Grand Prix that shed its reputation for predictable processions.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton says he can see something of himself in Manny Pacquiao, even if the Filipino lost the 'Fight of the Century' last weekend.
