The Dutchman won a maiden Formula One title after a last-lap overtake on Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed pole position at the end of Qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The front row lockout was a record-equalling 65th for champions Mercedes.
Red Bull's Mexican Sergio Perez was a distant third, struggling with dehydration after a water bottle failure in the Texas heat.
Silverstone can provide the antidote to Austria for Lewis Hamilton this weekend, with a record sixth British Grand Prix win -- and his fifth in a row -- there for the taking.
Sebastian Vettel's hopes of vaulting back into the overall Formula One world championship lead were wrecked by a first corner collision on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen will be doing all he can to stop six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton completing a Mercedes hat-trick and matching another of Michael Schumacher's Formula One records in Hungary this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel battle to match the late Argentine's 1950s feat of five world championships.
The Singapore Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Formula One got back on track in changed circumstances on Friday but with Mercedes bringing a familiar look to the timing sheets as six times World champion Lewis Hamilton led team mate Valtteri Bottas one-two in Austrian Grand Prix free practice. The Briton did 41 laps and lapped with a best time of one minute 04.816 seconds in a damp and overcast session, 0.356 faster than the Finn.
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.
Formula One is braced for the next episode of the Max Verstappen show as Red Bull's teen sensation heads for Ferrari's home circuit only days after making the Italian team's drivers see red. While triple world champion Lewis Hamilton is aiming for his 50th grand prix win on Sunday, to become the first since Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s to win three years in a row at Monza, Verstappen will be the talk of the town.
Max Verstappen was compared to Formula One greats Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher on Sunday after the Dutch teenager's sensational drive to third place in a wet and chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Even father and former racer Jos, the 19-year-old Red Bull driver's biggest fan and fiercest critic, was astonished. "What Max showed here today was really special," he said of a race likely to go down in the sport's annals as one for the ages. In the last 15 laps, after a change to extreme wet tyres, Verstappen passed more than half the starting grid as he went from 16th place to the podium.
Formula One photographer Mark Sutton had reported seeing the German getting into the passenger seat of Szafnauer's Ferrari after the race at Silverstone, but was unable to take pictures.
Fernando Alonso indicated his Formula One future was in his own hands despite Red Bull announcing on Saturday that four time world champion Sebastian Vettel was leaving to join Ferrari.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has received a flurry of criticism from the Formula One world, including legendary driver Niki Lauda who asked him to consult a psychiatrist after the teenage driver was involved in a three-car collision in last week's Belgian Grand Prix.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and his team will take centre stage, hoping for another year of dominance after winning both titles for the past six years and ending up fastest in winter testing. Ferrari can be trusted to provide plenty of headlines with four-times champion Sebastian Vettel fighting to reassert himself at the team after being outshone by quick newcomer Leclerc, a double winner in 2019.
Formula One could start the season behind locked gates due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the glamour sport will likely have to slim down considerably to get the green light to go racing. Across Europe, bans on mass gatherings and public events have been extended into July and August even as countries begin to emerge from the strict lockdowns that have put sporting activities on hold.
The last time Kimi Raikkonen stood on top of a Formula One podium, Lewis Hamilton had just joined Mercedes with one championship to his name and Sebastian Vettel was riding high with Red Bull.
Max Verstappen gave himself a perfect 20th birthday present by winning the last Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton stretched his Formula One world championship lead to 34 points.
'It was probably one of the most difficult decisions to take in my career so far. But I thought that it was time for me to take on a fresh and new challenge'
Shanghai sports authorities have recommended the suspension of all sporting events in the city due to the coronavirus outbreak, casting further doubt on whether the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix will take place. This year's calendar has a record 22 races, leaving little chance of any rescheduling. Russia, whose race is in September but has previously been held in April, has already ruled out a date swap.
Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix for the third year in a row on Sunday with Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg finishing second but under a stewards' investigation.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position for Mercedes on Sunday to go into the August break with a 24-point lead over Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel.
Fernando Alonso is leaving Ferrari at the end of the season because he wants a fresh environment and needs to be winning again, the Formula One team's ex-chairman Luca di Montezemolo said on Wednesday.
The four-time world champion's fifth win of the season for Mercedes left him on 213 points to 189 for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, and relishing the prospect of a stress-free family holiday.
'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'
'I was never Mad Max. I was just Max who was trying to get the best result for the team'
Reversed starting grids, one of several proposals under discussion by Formula One team bosses on Tuesday in meetings about the sport's future look and direction, would spell "disaster", according to French driver Romain Grosjean. The concept of setting the grid by reversing the order of the top 10 drivers from qualifying, so that the fastest starts 10th, has been discussed previously to make races less predictable. The usual front-runners would then have to fight through the field rather than pulling clear at the front without being challenged. Championship points would be awarded for qualifying to give drivers every incentive to chase pole position. Grosjean, now with the new U.S.-owned Haas F1 team, experienced the reversed format on his way to winning the GP2 feeder series. "Disaster," he told Reuters when asked about the idea during pre-season testing. "I've been doing it in GP2 and it's probably why you win the title but it's not why you win races." Grosjean said making cars harder and more physical to drive, and drivers more susceptible to fatigue and mistakes, would have the same end result in terms of adding to the excitement without being artificial.
Hamilton said he would still be "incredibly proud" to pull level with "an icon like Michael" and seven was way beyond his wildest dreams, but numbers and titles maybe meant more to those on the outside.
Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, putting Mercedes on top of the timesheets and leaving his Formula One rivals with plenty to ponder before the weekend.
Bernie Ecclestone risks losing his decades-old grip on Formula One motor racing this year, when legal action stemming from the sale of a stake in the sport eight years ago reaches a climax.
'I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me be here, to raise the bar and lift the cup'
Formula One teams say they will race in Russia, despite the crisis in Ukraine and downing of a Malaysian airliner, unless the country's debut Grand Prix in October is called off or they are ordered not to go.
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