Indian racer Kush Maini completed his first official Formula 1 test of the season with BWT Alpine F1 Team at the Circuit Zandvoort, driving the Alpine A521 as part of the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme.
New cars, new engines, change in qualifying, one rookie are among the many updates from the 2026 F1 season.
Red Bull's Verstappen, who had been on pole at Zandvoort every year since the circuit returned in 2021 and has yet to be beaten there, will still line up alongside the Briton on the front row.
Lando Norris can be crowned champion on Sunday but a win for Oscar Piastri would take the battle down to a final showdown in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
Formula One will have two races in Spain next season with Madrid's new street circuit making its debut in September and Italy's Imola dropping off the 24-round calendar, F1 and the governing FIA announced on Tuesday.
Four-time world champion Verstappen said he understood, with Monza having a contract to 2031 for the Italian Grand Prix, but also felt the loss.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will line up alongside on the front row after a final qualifying session that ended with Verstappen's Mexican team mate Sergio Perez crashing at the final corner.
Max Verstappen won his home Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday and took the Formula One championship lead in front of a roaring, dancing army of fans hailing their hero with orange flags and flares.
Lando Norris roared to his second successive pole position, and third in four races, in a McLaren front row sweep with team mate Oscar Piastri
Formula One will have a record 24 races in the season that starts in Bahrain on Saturday.
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.
Miami makes its debut in May while Qatar drops off for a year due to hosting the football World Cup and China is still missing due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Formula One will have a record 24 races next season with Las Vegas making its floodlit debut in November and Monaco signing a new deal to secure its place on the calendar until at least 2025.
Australia was given a new date of Nov. 21 for the race in Melbourne.
IMAGES from the Belgian F1 Grand Prix
The Thai's victory over his Ferrari rival gave Red Bull something to celebrate on a day that should have seen the return of Max Verstappen's home Dutch Grand Prix after a 35-year absence.
The Singapore Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Formula One plans to start its coronavirus-ravaged season in May after cancelling this weekend's opener in Australia on Friday and postponing the next three races in Bahrain, Vietnam and China. Confusingly, while Formula One said in a statement it expected to begin the championship in Europe at the end of May, the governing FIA's statement referred to May 1. Both may prove optimistic as the virus spreads across the continent.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
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