Fernando Alonso is aiming to silence speculation that his heart is set on a move to Ferrari by winning a third Formula One title with Renault this season.
Martin Whitmarsh took over from Ron Dennis as McLaren team principal on Sunday with the immediate task of helping Lewis Hamilton become the first British driver to retain the Formula One title. Dennis announced at the launch of the new McLaren MP4-24 car in January that he would stand down as principal on March 1 after 28 years in the role.
Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton clinched a record-extending 92nd career pole position in a Mercedes front-row lockout with team mate Valtteri Bottas at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.
Six time world champion Lewis Hamilton enjoys a 30-point lead in the championship after four races and is set to equal Schumacher's seven crowns.
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.
Ferrari, expecting rain, sent Vettel and team mate Kimi Raikkonen out on the intermediate tyres at the start of the final shootout phase of qualifying.
Kawasaki have pulled out of motorcycling's MotoGP world championship as part of the company's efforts to cut spending amid the global financial crisis. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd on Friday became Japan's latest motorsport casualty after a trio of the country's carmakers announced similar plans last month.
'We're absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead'
Formula One's governing body on Tuesday named Lotus as the 13th team for the 2010 championship.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the French Grand Prix on Saturday with Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas alongside him on the front row.
Meet Lando Norris, who pipped Lewis Hamilton in the Austrian F1 on July 5 for a podium finish.
Germany's Sebastian Vettel won Formula One's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the first race to start in daylight and end at night, in a Red Bull one-two finish on Sunday. The 22-year-old German beat Australian Mark Webber by a comfortable 17.8 seconds under the floodlights for his fourth win of the season to make sure of second place overall in the championship.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said he is still feeling the after-effects of COVID-19 after qualifying third for Formula One's Abu Dhabi season-ender but vowed to give his all in Sunday's race.
Mexican Sergio Perez was waiting for the go-ahead to race in Formula One's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix after ending quarantine for COVID-19 on Thursday.
'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'
India's return to Formula One will have to wait until at least 2016, by which time a new race in Azerbaijan could also be on the calendar, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Some Formula One drivers never experience the pride and passion of racing in a home grand prix, their countries unlikely ever to appear on the calendar, but Mexican Sergio Perez will not be one of them after this weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen gave Lotus a dream start to the Formula One season on Sunday with a winning strategy carried out to perfection in the Australian Grand Prix.
Australian Mark Webber seized pole position for the South Korean Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with title-chasing Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel having to settle for second place on the starting grid.
Jordan said the Indian driver's debut in F1 had been "remarkable" and the team had managed to emerge as one of the most reliable ones in the championships.
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.
Formula One carmakers are prepared to set up their own championship without Ferrari if need be, said Renault team president Patrick Faure.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed his first Formula One victory on Sunday in a thrilling British Grand Prix halted by a first-lap crash and with the added mayhem of a track invasion by protesters.
Speaking at last weekend's title deciding US Grand Prix in Austin, the 84-year-old Briton told reporters he hoped to add more American venues to a series that is already set for a record 21 races next year.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
No financial details were given. Briton Hamilton, 23, was championship runner-up in his rookie season last year with four wins for the Mercedes-powered team.
Renault announced the Formula One comeback of Danish driver Kevin Magnussen at the launch on Wednesday of a new-look team that will put the French carmaker back on the starting grid as a constructor.
A decade on from their last driver's title, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, Ferrari emerged from eight days of testing in Spain with the fastest lap times coupled with impressive reliability.
Max Verstappen dashed Ferrari's home hopes and won the Italian Grand Prix
No one was happier to see Formula One back in America on Sunday than McLaren's Lewis Hamilton as the Briton picked up where he left off in 2007 by winning the United States Grand Prix.
Images from the US Grand Prix held at the at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel committed no infringement during the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Formula One's governing body the FIA said on Friday, meaning the German keeps his world title.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix and extended his championship lead on Sunday in a Mercedes one-two that clinched the team's first constructors' title.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's season-ending Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix (listed in championship order).
Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's season-ending Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix on pole position in his farewell to McLaren, with teammate Jenson Button alongside.
It was Hamilton's third victory of the season and also his third in a row at the sun-bathed but windswept Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The retired seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was still in coma.
Formula One's 'halo' head protection device makes its race debut this season in a 21-round championship with France and Germany back on the calendar and some new faces joining the old favourites on the starting grid.
