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.
Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton smashed the Suzuka track record to seize a dominant Japanese Grand Prix pole position on Saturday with Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel lining up alongside on the front row.
The glass was half full for Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene after Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, even if Kimi Raikkonen filled it almost to the brim before sloshing the contents around.
Nico Rosberg drew first blood for Mercedes in the new Formula One season with a dominant Australian Grand Prix victory on Sunday after pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and world champion Sebastian Vettel retired with reliability problems.
The 21-year-old is the first Ferrari driver since seven times champion Michael Schumacher to take four consecutive poles in a single season.
Mark Webber is not interested in taking favour from Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel to end his win drought this season, at Sunday's Indian Grand Prix.
The prospect of seeing Sebastian Vettel beaten for the first time since last July is just one of the many novelties Sunday's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix promises to deliver.
Red Bull dropped Daniil Kvyat to sister team Toro Rosso following his disastrous weekend at the Russian Grand Prix and promoted Max Verstappen as his replacement ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton survived another first corner clash with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on Sunday to take a fifth Canadian Grand Prix victory and cut the German's championship lead to nine points.
Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton smashed the Bahrain circuit lap record on Saturday to take pole position ahead of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg for Sunday's grand prix. The Briton's best lap of one minute 29.493 seconds was the fastest ever at the Sakhir track. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen qualified third and fourth for the second race of the season.
Lewis Hamilton won the French Grand Prix on Sunday as Formula One champions Mercedes put on another show of dominance with their 10th victory in a row and 50th one-two finish.
Outgoing Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel and Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo were sent to the back of the grid at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday after stewards ruled Red Bull had used an illegal front wing.
As part of the transaction, Daimler will reduce its stake from 60%, while Wolff will up his shareholding from 30%, the statement said.
Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas finished third, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, in a race aimed at providing more thrills for fans over the three days of track action and potentially shaking up the starting grid.
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.
Fernando Alonso hailed the Briton as a Formula One great and said he was happy to see him stand on the brink of a fifth world championship.
Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton is now just three wins short of Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time record 91.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of 21-year-old Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc who was unable to repeat his Bahrain Grand Prix pole of two weeks ago.
Nico Rosberg said it was 'business as usual' after beating Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the fourth race in a row on Saturday in the first Formula One qualifying held in Mexico since 1992
Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg chalked up his seventh win in a row at the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday with team mate Lewis Hamilton fighting back from 10th on the grid to seal a Mercedes one-two finish.
Monaco's Leclerc, who had started on pole position for the first time, lost power with 10 laps to go while leading and finished third with an extra point for the fastest lap.
Formula One leader Valtteri Bottas put his Mercedes on pole position by a massive margin at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday with team mate Lewis Hamilton having to settle for second in a front row lockout.
Spain's Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday to extend his overall Formula One championship lead to 34 points.
Mercedes set for proper fight with Ferrari in Melbourne
Nico Rosberg crossed the line a mammoth 37.7 seconds ahead of German compatriot Sebastian Vettel, who recovered after colliding with his Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, to claim his third win from three races this season.
Mercedes had won eight of the nine previous races and their non-executive chairman Niki Lauda had stirred things up when he blamed Ferrari rather than his team's dominance for making the sport seem boring.
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.
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.
Champions Red Bull claimed a Formula One first on Sunday by sending a female team member up to the podium to collect their constructors' trophy after Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Protesters blocked several roads and police fired teargas at a school in Bahrain on Sunday, activists said, as the Gulf state staged a Formula One race promoted by the government as pure sport but seen by the opposition as a public relations stunt.
Finland's Valtteri Bottas took his first Formula One pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday with a sizzling lap that ended Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton's bid for a seventh in a row.
Sebastian Vettel's 'stab-in-the-back' Malaysian Grand Prix win revived an age-old debate about team orders in Formula One but trust, or the lack of it, could be more of a headache for champions Red Bull in the weeks ahead.
Mercedes's Valtteri Bottas snatched pole position for the US Grand Prix on Saturday, breathing life into his remote title hopes while signalling to Lewis Hamilton he will not be gifting a sixth drivers' crown to his team mate.
Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday after French driver Romain Grosjean had a miraculous escape from a fiery first-lap crash that ripped his car in two.
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.
Finland's Kimi Raikkonen won the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix for Lotus on Sunday, beating Ferrari's Fernando Alonso into second place at Albert Park.
The victory was a landmark 70th for the Briton, who is well on his way to a fifth title and is now 21 wins behind the all-time record of 91 held by seven times champion Michael Schumacher.
Sebastian Vettel's rivals, perhaps more in hope than expectation, are looking to this weekend's Australian Grand Prix to usher in a season where the German and his Red Bull team have their three-year monopoly of Formula One titles broken.
