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.
Red Bull's quadruple World champion Sebastian Vettel won the US Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first Formula One driver to take eight consecutive victories in a single season. Starting from pole, the 26-year-old German was again in a class of his own, taking the chequered flag 6.2 seconds clear of Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus.
World number ones Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams completed a clean sweep for tennis as they won the Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards on Monday.
Team by team prospects for the 2016 Formula One season.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix to go seven points clear at the top of the Formula One standings on Sunday, with Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton staging a late charge to finish second.
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.
Before the start, Hamilton had spoken of Hungary fast becoming one of his favourite circuits.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton set the pace in an incident-filled opening Monaco Grand Prix practice on Thursday, with debris and a loose drain cover bringing an early end to the session.
Lewis Hamilton led every lap from pole position to chequered flag, banging in a fastest lap for good measure to emphasise his supremacy
Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheets in final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, ending the stranglehold of previously dominant champions Mercedes. Vettel lapped the Sakhir Circuit in a best time of one minute 31.683 seconds, 0.040 faster than team mate Kimi Raikkonen on the supersoft tyres. It was the first time this season that any driver from outside the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton had ended practice on top. Hamilton was quickest in all three sessions in Australia two weeks ago while championship frontrunner Rosberg led his team mate in Bahrain practices one and two on Friday. Rosberg was third fastest in practice three, his time of 1:32.104 slower than Friday when he did 1:31.001, with Hamilton fourth.
The pole was a record-extending 88th of Hamilton's career and fifth of the season.
Germany's Nico Rosberg won a dramatic British Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday after one of several explosive tyre failures scuppered team mate Lewis Hamilton's hopes of home victory.
The triple champion, who started the race from a record 69th career pole position, led Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas to a runaway one-two finish in front of the massed ranks of red-shirted Ferrari fans.
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.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to increase his lead over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg to 28 points with eight races remaining.
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.
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.
The pole, Vettel's 47th, ended a run of 18 in a row for world champions Mercedes who had Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton right behind the two red cars in third and fourth places.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Lewis Hamilton feels he faces "pretty impossible odds" going into Formula One's Abu Dhabi title-decider while Mercedes team mate and rival Nico Rosberg says he will treat Sunday's race like any other. Both are being disingenuous, of course. Hamilton knows he still has a real chance and Rosberg is well aware just how much is at stake. While Rosberg is the favourite to win the 'Duel in the Desert', needing only to finish on the Yas Marina podium to become Germany's third world champion after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, he will still be on tenterhooks.
As we prepare to cruise into the New Year, Rediff.com gives you a glance back, through photos, into all the sporting moments that made the last 12 months memorable.
Lewis Hamilton took a big step towards a second Formula One World championship on Sunday with his 10th win of the season in a US Grand Prix that saw Mercedes equal the record for one-two finishes. The Briton stretched his lead over team mate Nico Rosberg to 24 points with two races and 75 points remaining, a gap that guarantees the title chase will go down to the final round in Abu Dhabi whatever happens in Brazil.
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 has competed with Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Vettel, champions all of them, and he has come out on top.
Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix on Sunday and slashed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's Formula One lead to four points after the German retired for the first time this season.
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.
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.
Mercedes team mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton renew their sometimes hostile rivalry on the floodlit streets of Singapore this weekend at a circuit where mistakes or collisions normally result in race retirement.
Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to equal the late Ayrton Senna's tally of 41 Formula One victories and move 48 points clear of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg with five races remaining.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Italian Grand Prix for the third year in a row on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg joining the Briton on the front row of the grid.
Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel pumped in a stunning late lap to snatch pole position from team mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari dominated Chinese Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
From Cristiano Ronaldo picking up the third Golden Boot award of his career to Phoenix Suns cheerleaders, Rediff.com has it all snapped right here...
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.
The Briton lapped the Albert Park circuit in a searing one minute and 21.164 seconds to cross the line 0.664 seconds clear of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his teammate.
French driver Esteban Ocon will race for Force Indianext season after agreeing a multi-year deal, the Silverstone-based Formula One team said in a statement at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Thursday. Ocon replaces experienced German Nico Hulkenberg, who is moving to Renault, alongside Mexican Sergio Perez at a team co-owned by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya and currently fourth in the championship. The 20-year-old is contracted long-term to Mercedes, Force India's engine provider, and made his debut this year with the lowly Manor team as a mid-season replacement for Indonesian Rio Haryanto.
With its upgraded car set to be rolled out, Force India is hoping for a good show at the British Grand Prix this weekend as it sets its sight on fourth place in the Formula One constructors' championship.
Mercedes's brilliant pitstop strategy spoiled the game for Max Verstappen in Hungarian Grand Prix, says Rediff's F1 columnist Raja Sen.
Russian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton might cover the distance in a matter of minutes but it has taken more than half a century for Mercedes to add their names to the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams.
Lewis Hamilton joined the elite group of triple Formula One world champions on Sunday after winning a thrilling U.S. Grand Prix that kept the crowd on tenterhooks right to the very end.
