In a thrilling race with two safety car periods, reigning champion Hamilton went from pole position to the rear of the field before finishing second for Mercedes in a superb fightback. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third.
Rediff.com takes you in flashback as we rewind the best from the sporting world in the week gone by.
Lewis Hamilton refused to take questions from the media after qualifying second for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix due to "disrespectful" criticism of his behaviour during a news conference two days ago.
Canadian Formula One driver Lance Stroll said on Wednesday he tested positive for COVID-19 after the October 11 Eifel Grand Prix but is now clear and ready to race in Portugal this coming weekend.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix at a canter on Sunday to move 53 points clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the Formula One championship after six victories from 12 races.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
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.
Button said he was confident the team would overcome its "current difficulties" to achieve great successes in the future.
Malaysia will stage its final Formula One Grand Prix in October after the government and the sport's commercial rights holders announced on Friday that their hosting agreement would end a year early.
Adrian Sutil's 100th Grand Prix ended in disappointment having failed to finish the race even as Sahara Force India's lead over McLaren was reduced to just four points after a no-points show at the Hungarian Grand Prix, in Budapest on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal is in contention for the 'World Sportsman of the Year' award alongside six-time Formula 1 World champion Lewis Hamilton, six-time World MotoGP champion Marc Mrquez and six-time FIFA World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi.
Formula One's Australian season-opener lacked a vital ingredient, overtaking, and it will take years to fix the problem, managing director for motorsports Ross Brawn said on Monday.
Lewis Hamilton will head into his home British Grand Prix praying for the sake of the fans that angry Mercedes bosses continue to allow him and team mate Nico Rosberg to race each other freely.
Red Bull's quadruple World champion Sebastian Vettel seized pole position on Saturday for a US Grand Prix that could see him celebrate a record eighth successive win of the Formula One season.
Ferrari could lead other Formula One teams into an alternative championship if the sport becomes too much like the US-based NASCAR series.
Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride towards a fourth Formula One title on Sunday with victory in an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix after Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out at the start.
Nico Rosberg cruised to victory in the first Formula One race held in Azerbaijan on Sunday and increased his championship lead over Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to 24 points. While the German enjoyed an uneventful drive in the late afternoon sunshine, triple world champion Hamilton worked up a head of steam as he wrestled with his car's settings without the team being able to help.
Lewis Hamilton has competed with Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Vettel, champions all of them, and he has come out on top.
Formula One is seeking to make up the numbers after three races, including this month's traditional Monaco showcase, were cancelled and seven others postponed.
Media reports suggested the McLaren driver, whose wife is Japanese, was likely to announce at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix that he would be leaving Formula One at the end of the year.
The German becomes the fourth quadruple champion and only the third driver to land four titles in a row after Germany's seven-times winner Michael Schumacher and the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Ferrari felt the pain on Sunday after emerging with just two points from a hard day in front of their home fans at the Italian Grand Prix.
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.
Formula One needs to change its new qualifying format after it fell flat at Saturday's Australian season-opener and tweaks can be made before the next race in Bahrain, according to the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg put Mercedes on pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday and ended team mate Lewis Hamilton's hopes of a hat-trick.
The Briton, who started his career working for the Hesketh team in 1977, died in Melbourne of a pulmonary embolism, it said.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Meet Lando Norris, who pipped Lewis Hamilton in the Austrian F1 on July 5 for a podium finish.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took pole position for the showcase Monaco Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with world championship leading German team mate Sebastian Vettel alongside him on the front row.
Ferrari had every hope of winning their home Italian Grand Prix for the first time since 2010 on Sunday and they blew it.
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".
Quadruple Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel went for five on Friday with the German choosing to have that numeral on his car when he is eventually deposed as number one.
The clock is ticking for some of Formula One's big name drivers, with world champions and race winners out of contract at the end of the season and a restless young generation eager to take their places.
The 2019 Formula One world championship starts on March 17 with 21 races in a season that ends later than any since 1963.
Ferrari are giving Sebastian Vettel the Michael Schumacher treatment, according to the German's main title rival Lewis Hamilton.
Formula One has lost another of its principals.
Formula One rookie George Russell's earliest motorsport memory is of pedalling a toy tractor around Britain's go-kart paddocks.
