The Briton will be stand-in driver for Fernando Alonso at Monaco GP
Renault's Fernando Alonso refused to rule out a Monaco Grand Prix hat-trick on Wednesday while tipping former employers McLaren as favourites for Sunday's showcase race. Renault have not won a race since 2006 and Alonso has yet to appear on the podium since he left McLaren after one acrimonious season.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday after a furious Max Verstappen was forced to abandon his fastest lap for fear of running out of fuel.
Formula One champions Mercedes expect to be beaten by Ferrari this season and also see McLaren catching up fast after a dismal 2015 for the Honda-powered team, engine head Andy Cowell said.
Fernando Alonso could take his third Formula One title in Brazil next week but neither Ferrari nor his rivals expect that to happen after a weekend win in South Korea that owed more to luck than strategy.
The Spaniard told reporters at the US Grand Prix, where he was ninth fastest in a wet first practice on Friday, that McLaren needed to find another two and a half seconds of pace to match Mercedes.
McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button stepped onto the Formula One podium for the first time this season on Saturday -- but only in jest after yet another qualifying nightmare in Brazil.
Charles Leclerc swept to pole position for the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with Carlos Sainz qualifying second in a surprise Ferrari front-row lockout.
Fernando Alonso hailed his surprise Japanese Grand Prix victory as a gift from God.
Title contenders Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher were pushed out of the top 10.
Lewis Hamilton feels McLaren want him to win the Formula One title more than team mate Fernando Alonso.
World champion Nico Rosberg's retirement announcement on Friday came as a complete surprise even to the man who knows most of Formula One's best-kept secrets, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The German roared around the twisty Hungaroring circuit in one minute 19.882 seconds.
Germany's Nick Heidfeld was second for Williams with Australian team mate Mark Webber third for his first podium finish.
Narain Karthikeyan finished 17th in the first qualifying round at the San Marino Grand Prix
Leclerc took pole in Monaco in 2021, but did not start the race due to a driveshaft failure, and 2022 when he ended up fourth.
Max Verstappen won the season opener as Red Bull registered a dream start with a one-two finish at the Bahrain GP.
Verstappen's hopes of a record-extending 11th successive victory looked a long shot on a city circuit where overtaking is never easy.
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 Brazilian said he would never forget the team's support for him after his near-fatal head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
'Thanks to you, I have had an amazing engine,' the Spaniard told some 250 employees at the factory near Paris.
Max Verstappen celebrated a record 10th win in a row by leading Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez one-two at Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix
Lando Norris capitalised on a bit of good fortune to win the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday
IMAGES from the Belgian F1 Grand Prix
Carlos Sainz lapped Monza's "Temple of Speed" with a fastest time of one minute 20.294 seconds, 0.013 quicker than Max Verstappen's final flying lap.
Lewis Hamilton emphasised his loyalty to Mercedes while leaving open the possibility that he might one day be tempted to race for Formula One glamour team Ferrari.
Unlike the Australian GP, where the majority of drivers carried out only one pit-stop, of Sunday's second race of the season, at Sepang, Malaysia, will see at least two, says Raja Sen.
Carlos Sainz put Ferrari on pole position for the US Formula One Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, with Red Bull's double World champion Max Verstappen joining the Spaniard on the front row.
It was the first time Verstappen, winner of a record 19 of 22 races last year, has won the first two races of a season. He has also won 19 of the last 20.
Briton now 18 wins away from Michael Schumacher's all-time record
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso gave a teasing hint about his Formula One future on Sunday by saying the decision would seem obvious once announced and he was unlikely to drive for a Mercedes-powered team.
It was Hamilton's first pole position since Saudi Arabia in December 2021.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton became the first Formula One driver to take 100 pole positions after lapping fastest for Mercedes in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
The writing has been on the wall for Sebastian Vettel since September 2018 when Ferrari announced Charles Leclerc as his Formula One team mate. The German, who will leave the Italian team at the end of a pandemic-hit 2020 season that has yet to start, was top dog at Maranello at the time but Leclerc was young, hungry and determined.
Jenson Button says he has no plans to race again in Formula One after Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, even though McLaren are keeping the door open for a possible return in 2018. "I go into this weekend thinking it is going to be my last race. I think that is the best way to be," the 2009 world champion told reporters on Thursday. "At this moment in time I do not want to be racing in Formula One past this race. I think of this as my last race and hopefully everybody else does as well."
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