McLaren Formula One driver Fernando Alonso will miss this week's final pre-season test in Barcelona after leaving hospital on Wednesday following a big crash three days ago.
Formula One could start the season behind locked gates due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the glamour sport will likely have to slim down considerably to get the green light to go racing. Across Europe, bans on mass gatherings and public events have been extended into July and August even as countries begin to emerge from the strict lockdowns that have put sporting activities on hold.
'The team is developing and closer together year by year so I hope that this year we get to have a lot of fun -- fun means win a lot of races and then ultimately you are fighting for the championship'
Triple Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton expressed 'pure respect' for Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg on Wednesday after the pair cleared the air following their Spanish Grand Prix collision.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton has warned that Formula One's new cars, while better looking and thrilling to drive, may not do much for the racing when the season starts in Australia on March 26.
Ferrari were top in three of the four days in Jerez and second fastest on both days in Barcelona.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg will be given more freedom to race each other this season, Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff said on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton had his first taste on Friday of the Mercedes car that he hopes will make him Britain's first four-times Formula One world champion this season.
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.
Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg's hopes of an eighth successive win, and fifth of the season, disappeared on Sunday after a collision with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix.
The next time the four-time world champion will get behind the wheel will be for first Friday practice at Melbourne's Albert Park on March 23.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fastest in Formula One's pre-season testing at a chilly Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday while Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton took one for the team and "sacrificed" his scheduled stint.
The gap between Mercedes and the rest has narrowed and Ferrari "have something up their sleeve" at this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, according to champion Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren unveiled their new Formula One car on Sunday, certain it cannot be any worse than last year's but still unsure when they might get back to winning ways after their longest drought in decades. The former champions have not won a race since 2012 and finished last season, the first of a new partnership with Honda, ninth of the 10 teams with just 27 points compared to 703 for dominant Mercedes. The three years without a win is the team's longest barren stretch since their absence from the top step of the podium in 1994-96. "As we embark on the second year of our renewed McLaren-Honda partnership, all of us remain united in our purpose. That purpose is to develop our team towards our shared ambition: to win," said McLaren boss Ron Dennis. "We'll make no predictions as to when those wins will come," he added. The new MP4-31 car was presented online in a predominantly black livery with some prominent new sponsors in LVMH's sparkling wine brand Chandon and watchmaker Richard Mille replacing the departed Tag Heuer.
Fernando Alonso can see a brighter future for McLaren, despite turning up at his home Spanish Grand Prix on Thursday with a stye in his eye.
Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes suffered a rare mechanical failure on Friday as Formula One teams wrapped up pre-season testing in Barcelona with Ferrari back on top of the timesheets.
A new qualifying format will shake up the Formula One starting grids this season, adding to the stress on teams and drivers and making races more exciting.
'It's a great job by the team. Usually in the first day you don't get that many laps so I'm really happy'
The German, winner of the season's first two races, had been second before coming in for a fresh set of tyres while Hamilton won with one stop from pole position.
Lewis Hamilton will have a chance to equal his childhood hero Ayrton Senna's tally of three world titles. It is a goal that has the Englishman giddy with excitement.
Nico Rosberg denied world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton a fifth pole position in a row by seizing the top slot for Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton says he can see something of himself in Manny Pacquiao, even if the Filipino lost the 'Fight of the Century' last weekend.
Mercedes set for proper fight with Ferrari in Melbourne
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Lewis Hamilton has had more success in Shanghai than any other Formula One driver, which makes Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix the ideal location for the triple world champion to end Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's winning streak. While Rosberg has started the season with a perfect 50 points from two races, and a run of five successive victories dating back to last November, Hamilton is ready to turn the tables. The Briton has won four times in Shanghai and is on for three in a row after last season becoming the only driver to win the race in successive years. "It's not been a smooth start to the season for me, so to be in the championship position I'm in right now is actually pretty positive," said Hamilton, who lies second in the standings after a second and a third place. "Now we go to China for the next battle. It's a track that's been good to me over the years... so hopefully this race can be the turning point." Hamilton has not won since he took his third world championship in Austin, Texas, last October but the 31-year-old has started both races this season on pole position.
'I appreciate the quest for safety but this is Formula One and the way it is now is perfectly fine' 'I am sad for the sport... it doesn't look right from outside when in one week we change the qualifying format three times'
Nico Rosberg beat Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton for the first time this season and cut the Formula One world champion's lead to 20 points with a commanding victory in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
'I was never Mad Max. I was just Max who was trying to get the best result for the team'
One winning streak ended with a bang for Nico Rosberg in Spain but Monaco's tight, metal-fenced streets could see the continuation of another remarkable run for the Formula One championship leader on Sunday.
The British Grand Prix is set for a record 150,000-strong crowd in July with home hero Lewis Hamilton an even bigger draw after recent setbacks, Silverstone circuit managing director Patrick Allen said on Thursday.
Ferrari presented the SF90 with plenty of fanfare at their Maranello factory.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Formula One champions Mercedes ran their new car for the first time at Silverstone on Wednesday with title holder Lewis Hamilton saying he felt 2019 could turn out even better than last season.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Formula One starts a new season in Australia on March 15 with a number of changes to the rules and regulations, as well as new faces in the paddock. Check out what's different for 2015.
Lewis Hamilton spent the off-season crisscrossing the globe to party with A-list celebrities but Formula One's reigning champion is adamant there will be no hangover when he returns to work at this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Susie Wolff will be back at the wheel of a Williams Formula One car in Barcelona on Friday with little in the way of fanfare but a clear aim in mind.
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