IMAGES from the Belgian F1 Grand Prix
Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton made the most of the changeable conditions to seize pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel on Saturday.
Hamilton is seven points clear of Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas after five of the 21 races.
The front row lockout was a record-equalling 65th for champions Mercedes.
Mercedes set for proper fight with Ferrari in Melbourne
Vettel, now 17 points behind the Briton after starting eight ahead, led from pole position until rain caused chaos in the closing laps, with the German skidding into the barriers in front of his home fans.
Lewis Hamilton was 'shocked' with the pace of Mercedes after notching a record-extending eighth pole position at the Australian Grand Prix ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas as they thrashed their Formula One rivals in qualifying on Saturday.
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row for Mercedes.
Formula One has a reputation for being exclusive and inaccessible compared to series like the world endurance championship, where fans have much more access to the paddock and drivers during race weekends. But the sport is set for a revamp.
Lewis Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to miss last year's penultimate Sakhir Grand Prix in December.
Red Bull's Dutch 20-year-old Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in second place with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium for Ferrari and Australian Daniel Ricciardo finishing fourth for Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton is now just three wins short of Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time record 91.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was condemned by the sporting community on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin's country losing hosting rights for the UEFA Champions League final while Formula One drivers said it was "wrong" to race there this year.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso put his faith in Formula One's governing body and Pirelli ensuring safety at the German Grand Prix on Thursday after multiple tyre blowouts at last weekend's British race.
Hamilton, who had also topped Saturday morning's final practice session, never look like being challenged throughout the qualifying hour.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed his first Formula One victory on Sunday in a thrilling British Grand Prix halted by a first-lap crash and with the added mayhem of a track invasion by protesters.
Lewis Hamilton won in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and took championship lead.
Sahara Force India enjoyed its second successive double points finish with Nico Hulkenberg finishing seventh and Sergio Perez ninth at their home race, British Grand Prix in Silverstone.
Formula One and the championship-leading Red Bull team mourned the death of the energy drink company's Austrian founder Dietrich Mateschitz on Saturday at the age of 78.
World champion Lewis Hamilton is better for Formula One than either Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg, the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Sunday.
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix with Alpine's Fernando Alonso leaping onto the front row alongside the Formula One championship leader in a wet qualifying on Saturday.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a wet and crazily chaotic German Grand Prix littered with crashes and safety car periods on Sunday with Mercedes' Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton failing to score.
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.
Daniel Ricciardo is of Italian descent and has long been considered an obvious target for Ferrari,
Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, who is still recovering from his 2013 skiing crash, is on the way to positive recovery.
Ferrari had all the tools to be successful this season but mistakes and mechanical issue thwarted the team's title ambitions, according to Kimi Raikkonen.
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.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has thrown doubt on this year's German Grand Prix taking place at either Nuerburgring or Hockenheim.
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 champion Lewis Hamilton crashed into the tyre wall but still stayed top of the timesheets after a rain-lashed Canadian Grand Prix practice on Friday.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed pole position at the end of Qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Rediff.com gives you a peek into these action-packed moments from the weekend, frozen in time...
Lewis Hamilton became Britain's first four-time Formula One world champion at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.
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.
In the interests of better visibility, teams were told last month they could fix mirrors to the halo head protection device that encircles the cockpit and that became mandatory this season.
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, the first British winner of the men's title for 77 years, was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday.
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.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen became Formula One's youngest race winner on Sunday in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix that saw dominant Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide on the opening lap.
Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and retook the Formula One lead from team mate Lewis Hamilton after a fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.
Germany's Nico Hulkenberg will replace Racing Point driver Sergio Perez at this weekend's British Formula One Grand Prix after the Mexican was ruled out by a positive COVID-19 test result. Hulkenberg, a veteran of 177 Grands Prix, raced for the team when they were known as Force India. He competed for Renault last season.
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