Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on pole position for their 200th race at the German Grand Prix on Saturday while engine problems dashed Ferrari's hopes.
Jenson Button made the best possible start to his quest for a third successive Formula One victory by setting the quickest lap time in Friday's two practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Briton, who won the first two races of the season from pole position, again showed the pace of his Brawn GP car with a storming lap of one minute, 35.679 seconds late in the second session.
Jenson Button clinched his second pole position in a row for the new Brawn GP team at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday while McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton could qualify only 12th.
Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in Malaysian Grand Prix practice on Friday with the world champions back up to speed after a difficult start to the season. Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion who won at Sepang last year, fired in a quickest lap of one minute 35.707 seconds in the afternoon to end Nico Rosberg's four-session run at the top of the timesheets. Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa was second quickest in 1:35.832.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix (listed in championship order):
Brazilian Grand Prix stewards cleared BMW's Sauber's Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld and Williams' Nico Rosberg of alleged fuel irregularities.
Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will start Sunday's French Grand Prix at the back of the grid after being eliminated in the first qualifying session in Magny-Cours. Due to the 10-pace grid penalty on Williams' Nico Rosberg from the Canadian Grand Prix, Fisichella and Sutil avoided a 19-20 start by finishing 18th and 19th respectively.
Some Formula One drivers never experience the pride and passion of racing in a home grand prix, their countries unlikely ever to appear on the calendar, but Mexican Sergio Perez will not be one of them after this weekend.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday.
Lewis Hamilton has one big fight on his hands already this season and he is not spoiling for another, not even for charity and against the man with the broadest smile in Formula One.
Sunday's British Formula One Grand Prix was stopped on the opening lap after Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen speared heavily into the barriers.
Japan's Kazuki Nakajima will race for Williams next season, the Formula One team confirmed on Wednesday.
McLaren have formally lodged an appeal against the decision not to penalise three drivers in the Brazilian Grand Prix because of fuel irregularities.
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.
Outgoing Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel and Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo were sent to the back of the grid at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday after stewards ruled Red Bull had used an illegal front wing.
Williams halted a pre-season Formula One test at Barcelona's circuit de Catalunya on Friday after Japanese rookie Kazuki Nakajima crashed the team's new car into the barriers.
Ferrari were the fastest in pre-season testing, raising suspicions that their new SF70H car has closed the chasm between Mercedes and the rest.
Germany's Nico Hulkenberg will be Williams' official test driver next season.
Lewis Hamilton avoided mayhem around him to open the F1 season with a pole-to-flag victory in a crash-strewn Australian Grand Prix.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's US Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
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.
Lewis Hamilton spent the off-season crisscrossing the globe to party with A-list celebrities but Formula One's reigning champion is adamant there will be no hangover when he returns to work at this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton's Formula One rivals should beware the backlash because the four-times world champion's dip in form will not last long, his former Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg has warned.
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.
The Sahara Group has sought Supreme Court's permission to sell its shares in the Force India Formula 1 team as part of its effort to raise funds for the release of conglomerate's jailed chief Subrata Roy.
Valtteri Bottas seized his first pole position of the Formula One season in Austria on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and world championship leader Lewis Hamilton having to settle for second.
Force India's Sergio Perez has said he is yet to decide if he will drive for the Formula One team next season.
France striker Olivier Giroud ended a run of 10 international games without a goal by netting a stunning winner as the world champions claimed a deserved 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in their Nations League clash on Sunday.
Sebastian Vettel trimmed Lewis Hamilton's Formula One lead to 17 points with eight races remaining.
Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the semi-finals of the $55,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition in Calgary, Canada.
Angel Di Maria is working hard on his fitness for the chance to play a part in Argentina's Copa America Centenario final against title holders Chile on Sunday after bad luck in two previous finals.
Sebastian Vettel has made clear his future is with Ferrari as Mercedes look to replace newly-retired Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg for next season.
Lewis Hamilton survived another first corner clash with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on Sunday to take a fifth Canadian Grand Prix victory and cut the German's championship lead to nine points.
Austrian test driver Alexander Wurz will replace Mark Webber in the Williams race line-up next season.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from pole position after setting the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday.
The Shanghai weather all but wiped out the first two practice sessions for the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Friday with poor visibility in the city forcing the grounding of the medical support helicopter.
Lewis Hamilton helped Mercedes reassert their authority over Ferrari by leading home team mate Nico Rosberg in a dominant display.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton stormed to his third successive pole position of the season, and third in a row in China, after edging team-mate Nico Rosberg in a front-row lockout for Mercedes on Saturday.
Five-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes front-row lockout with a blistering pole position at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.
