Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, his landmark 51st career victory cutting Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's overall lead to 19 points and keeping the German waiting for a first title. The pole-to-flag victory was the triple world champion's eighth of the season and put him level with France's Alain Prost in the all-time lists of winners. Only Michael Schumacher (91) has more. Rosberg, who would have clinched the title had he won and Hamilton finished 10th or lower, crossed the line 8.354 seconds behind to anchor champions Mercedes to a sixth one-two finish of the season.
Lewis Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to miss last year's penultimate Sakhir Grand Prix in December.
Lewis Hamilton seized pole position in the dying seconds of qualifying for the first Portuguese Grand Prix in 24 years on Saturday to deny and dismay Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas once again.
Hamilton held off a mid-race challenge from Red Bull's Max Verstappen to register a record-equalling fourth triumph at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit track, while Vettel finished third to slip further behind in the title race.
After pipping Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel with a lap of one minute 23.599 seconds in the first practice, the Briton shaved almost a second in FP2, his quickest lap clocked at 1:22.60.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, winner of 52 races, has gone more than a year since he tasted victory at last year's Belgian race.
The pole was a record-extending 88th of Hamilton's career and fifth of the season.
Four days before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Horner said his team still had plenty of ground to make up, however.
Briton now 18 wins away from Michael Schumacher's all-time record
The inaugural Formula E race in Hyderabad is scheduled for February 11 next year, joining the likes of New York, London and Rome on the calendar.
Valtteri Bottas won the battle but Lewis Hamilton won the war, securing his sixth Formula One world championship on Sunday, despite finishing second to his Mercedes team mate at the US Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel will drop three places in next week's Japanese Grand Prix as punishment for tipping championship leader Nico Rosberg into a spin at the start of Sunday's Formula One race in Malaysia.
Formula One's 10 teams will be limited to a maximum 80 people each at races held without spectators when the delayed season gets going in July. Formula One is hoping to start racing behind closed doors in Austria in early July, followed by a number of races in similar conditions elsewhere in Europe.
The German, whose last victory was in Belgium in August 2018, took the chequered flag 2.641 seconds ahead of Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc, who had started on pole position for the third race in a row.
Formula One offered fans a glimpse of the future on Thursday with a presentation of what cars will look like next season when the sport undergoes a rules revamp to make racing closer and more exciting.
'I could never have dreamed of being where I am today.'
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.
The Mercedes driver smashed the Monza track record with a sensational lap of one minute 18.887 seconds to lead team mate Valtteri Bottas in another front row lockout.
IMAGES from the Silverstone F1 GP on Sunday
The front row lockout was a record-equalling 65th for champions Mercedes.
Hamilton said he only realised the significance of what he had done when he came into the pitlane after taking the chequered flag.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen has won Formula One's Driver of the Day award for the third time in nine races after finishing second for Red Bull in Austria on Sunday.
Replays showed the driver leaping over the barriers and away from the flaming wreckage of his car.
Lewis Hamilton lapped fastest overall for Mercedes in Hungarian Grand Prix practice
Valtteri Bottas took pole position for Formula One's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix ahead of championship-leading Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton on Saturday.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix (listed in championship order):
'I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me be here, to raise the bar and lift the cup'
Images from the Tuscan F1 Grand Prix held at at Mugello, Scarperia e San Piero in Tuscany, Italy, on Sunday.
The pole was Charles Leclerc's second in a row
This is the German's 50th career win
'Just the fact that people have mentioned it, it's already an honour, but it's not been something that I've been chasing in my life'
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, last year's winner at his team's home circuit, qualified third.
Lewis Hamilton became Britain's first four-times Formula One world champion on Sunday after fighting back from last place following an opening-lap collision with arch-rival Sebastian Vettel at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Briton eased his Mercedes across the line 6.2 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, with Max Verstappen, who started 16th, finishing a surprise third for Red Bull.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third, after a power unit scare in the second phase sent mechanics scrambling to fix his car, with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly a stunning fourth on the grid.
George Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas and race for Mercedes next season in an all-British line-up with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One team said on Tuesday.
Hamilton has won half of the season's 20 races so far, propelling his team to an unprecedented sixth successive title double, but Brazil was a disappointing weekend with Valtteri Bottas retiring.
The 21-year-old is the first Ferrari driver since seven times champion Michael Schumacher to take four consecutive poles in a single season.
Hamilton is seven points clear of Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas after five of the 21 races.
Six time world champion Lewis Hamilton, winner of the British Grand Prix from pole position at the same circuit last weekend and 30 points clear of Valtteri Bottas after four races without spectators, was 0.138 seconds slower.
