McLaren's Lando Norris edged out championship-leading teammate and Formula One title rival Oscar Piastri to take pole position for what could be a wet and chaotic Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc stunned favourites McLaren by seizing pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday as Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton described himself as useless and suggested he should be replaced.
'I know some people didn't understand it at the time but I was right to make the move then and it's the feeling I have again now. I'm excited to see what I can bring to this new opportunity and what we can do together.'
Lewis Hamilton's long-awaited new deal with Mercedes could be announced at the showcase race of the Formula One season in Monaco next week.
Lewis Hamilton believes his Mercedes Formula One team can live up to their advance billing as favourites when the season starts in Australia next week.
Double Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has agreed a new three-year contract that will keep him at Mercedes until the end of 2018, the team announced on Wednesday.
Verstappen is third overall in the standings, 61 points behind Piastri who leads Norris by 15, and chasing his third win of the campaign to make up for retirement in Austria last weekend.
The six times world champion took the chequered flag at Imola 5.783 seconds ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole position.
Hamilton, who clinched his fourth world championship in Mexico two weeks ago, started from the pitlane after crashing in qualifying but led the race after 31 of 71 laps when others pitted.
Leclerc brought out the red flags when he hit the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing extensive damage to his Ferrari.
Verstappen collided with Leclerc and twice with Mercedes' George Russell after the safety car restart.
'When you think about so many people in the world that have lost their jobs, people that are unemployed, then to sit and negotiate a big contract -- it just doesn't seem like the most important thing that I need to apply time to right this second.'
Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen will join the Australian on the front row.
The German driver joined Mercedes from Williams in 2010 and has won 19 Grands Prix for the team, including five this year. He has helped Mercedes to the manufacturers' title for the last two seasons.
The win from fourth on the grid was Australian Oscar Piastri's third in a row, after Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and fourth of the season. McLaren have so far been beaten only once.
George Russell took Mercedes' first win of the Formula One season in Canada on Sunday while McLaren's Oscar Piastri went 22 points clear in the championship after teammate Lando Norris smashed into him and retired.
The gap between Mercedes and the rest has narrowed and Ferrari "have something up their sleeve" at this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, according to champion Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton does not believe he is taking a gamble by leaving McLaren for Mercedes next season, saying the move could catapult him into Formula One's pantheon of greats even if it does not pay out immediately.
George Russell put his Mercedes on pole position in Canada for the second year in a row on Saturday with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen alongside on the front row.
Verstappen starts new Red Bull era with Spa sprint win
Australian Oscar Piastri roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris on Sunday.
Six-times Formula One World champion Lewis Hamilton will be back on track at Silverstone next week for the first time since February as Mercedes gear up for the start of the delayed Formula One season. Mercedes said on Twitter that Hamilton will be in his title-winning 2018 Mercedes W09 car on Wednesday, with team mate Valtteri Bottas driving on Tuesday, to practise protocols for the July 5 Austrian opener.
Lando Norris lucked in to win a rain-hit and crash-strewn Miami Grand Prix sprint race in a McLaren one-two on Saturday.
It was the first time in seven races that Ferrari had failed to get at least one of their cars into the top 10.
Mercedes' George Russell celebrated a surprise Austrian Grand Prix win on Sunday after Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris collided late in the race
Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix and extended his championship lead on Sunday in a Mercedes one-two that clinched the team's first constructors' title.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be staying in Formula One for the next two years at least after he and Mercedes announced a contract extension on Saturday.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrated his 50th Formula One race with a pole-to-flag win in Bahrain on Sunday that sent him second overall.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri beat teammate and title rival Lando Norris in a rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix to stretch his Formula One lead to 16 points.
Lewis Hamilton won the French Grand Prix on Sunday as Formula One champions Mercedes put on another show of dominance with their 10th victory in a row and 50th one-two finish.
The governing FIA had reported both drivers to stewards after their cars failed post-race checks
Australian Piastri, winner of four of the last five races, lapped the Imola circuit with a fastest time of one minute 16.545 seconds on the softest tyre compound with Norris 0.032 slower on a sunny afternoon.
Lando Norris won his home British Grand Prix for the first time and shed tears of joy while McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri finished second
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton blamed miscommunication for a coming together in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton helped Mercedes reassert their authority over Ferrari by leading home team mate Nico Rosberg in a dominant display.
- Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's last lap coming together at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on Sunday put the sport on front and back pages, reviving a narrative of battling team mates going back to the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Hamilton collided with Mercedes team mate George Russell at the first corner at Lusail, abandoning his car in the gravel and crossing the track to return to the pit lane.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said the 2025 F1 season was turning into a two-horse race between the McLaren drivers after his team had a home Austrian Grand Prix to forget on Sunday.
Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who incurred a penalty that ensured he finished second behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at the Bahrain Grand Prix, has issued an apology to his Mercedes team.
Lewis Hamilton revealed he is a big Arsenal fan and 'has been waiting for' them to win the Premier League (PL) for his whole life.
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