He and Sebastian Vettel get on well, with the German keen on him staying, and Kimi Raikkonen has shown his loyalty this season by accepting team orders to his detriment.
The Finn lapped the six-km Baku street circuit in one minute, 40.495 seconds, just 0.059 seconds faster than team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari had every hope of winning their home Italian Grand Prix for the first time since 2010 on Sunday and they blew it.
Verstappen goes into the Formula One record books as the pole setter for the weekend, however, regardless of where he starts on Sunday.
In an afternoon of heroes, Sebastian Vettel played the Bond villain at Silverstone, notes Raja Sen, who returns to Rediff.com as F1 columnist!
The pole was the second of the Dutch 22-year-old's Formula One career and the first in Brazil for engine partners Honda since the late triple champion Ayrton Senna in 1991 with McLaren.
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.
Ferrari were already feeling the frustration and Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix added a measure of embarrassment to the mix for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the upcoming Sakhir Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton has dismissed criticism from former Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg as the product of someone seeking "headlines".
For the first time in F1 history, two four-time champions are on the same grid and vying for their fifth title.
World champion Lewis Hamilton, back in the car after his COVID-19-enforced absence at last week's Sakhir Grand Prix, was third but only 0.086 seconds off the pace.
'I really do believe this weekend we will be in a better position than we were last year'
Hamilton's flying lap of one minute 22.188 seconds set a new record at Albert Park but was only 0.268 seconds in front of German Vettel, offering the tantalising prospect of a competitive championship after three years of domination by the Silver Arrows.
Lewis Hamilton dominated Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position, with a bonus point for fastest lap, to take a five point lead over Bottas, the winner of the Austrian season-opener.
Sports bodies moved quickly to strip Russia of events,
Lewis Hamilton was made to wait for his fifth Formula One world championship, on Sunday, after the Mercedes driver finished only third in a US Grand Prix won by Ferrari veteran Kimi Raikkonen.
Team mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest to complete the front-row sweep, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the US Grand Prix on Sunday while Red Bull's championship leader Sebastian Vettel failed to clinch his third consecutive drivers' title on his 100th career start.
Ferrari showed impressive pace during pre-season testing and are considered the team most likely to dethrone Mercedes.
World champion Max Verstappen took maximum points from Formula One's Imola sprint weekend, leading a Red Bull one-two on Sunday as Ferrari's homecoming turned sour for overall leader Charles Leclerc and his Italian team.
Spain's Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday to extend his overall Formula One championship lead to 34 points.
Hamilton wrapped up his record-equalling seventh title in Turkey last month and picked up his 11th win of the season in Bahrain on Sunday. Mercedes have already won the constructors' title for an unprecedented seventh year in a row.
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.
Singapore Grand Prix promoters have ruled out holding their Formula One race without spectators, casting further uncertainty over the likelihood of the September event going ahead. Formula One plans to start its stalled season in July with races behind closed doors in Austria and Britain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position, his third of the season, at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday after dominating the two days of practice.
Lewis Hamilton has competed with Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Vettel, champions all of them, and he has come out on top.
Three rookies are set to make their race debuts and Azarbaijan will make it's Formula One debut even as Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg pose to challenge odds on favourite Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen took his 26th career win 0.9 of a second ahead of Spaniard Sainz,
Alpine's target is to fight for the championship within 100 races of the start of Formula One's new rules era, which will begin with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Lewis Hamilton has raised his game but whether the Mercedes driver can deny Ferrari a second successive win of the season in China this weekend remains to be seen.
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.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was quickest for Mercedes in a rainswept final US Grand Prix practice session on Saturday that was held behind closed doors due to the weather conditions.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
The win was the third of the Finn's career and season, denying Hamilton a 10th of the campaign.
The Mercedes driver is 14 points clear of his rival and fellow four-times world champion after winning in France on Sunday and heads to Spielberg confident of continuing the momentum.
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 will be looking for answers in Formula One testing this week after champions Mercedes were more dominant than ever in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya reminded drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon that the team must take priority after a collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix wrecked hopes of a first win in Formula One.
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