Max Verstappen was surprised by his Red Bull car's performance as the F1 defending champion took third place in qualifying for the season-opening race.
Max Verstappen won Formula One's first Chinese Grand Prix in five years on Sunday.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame joined Max Verstappen on stage when the Red Bull driver collected the F1 champion's trophy for the fourth year in a row.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday in a triumphant return two weeks after appendicitis surgery as Red Bull's World champion Max Verstappen suffered his first retirement in two years.
But there were no bold statements on race day as he struggled to take a point and his team mate Charles Leclerc laboured to an eighth-place finish.
Max Verstappen, who could seal his fourth successive championship on Saturday, will line up fifth on the starting grid
Drivers returned to the pits, under a darkening sky, with engineers using torches in the garages before back-up generators came on and the session resumed about an hour later.
Stewards at the Brazilian race summoned Leclerc on Friday, acting on a report from the governing FIA's media delegate and after reviewing a written transcript.
Max Verstappen held off a late charge by McLaren's Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record on his way to a stunning first sprint race pole for Ferrari in China on Friday.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian Grand Prix in a stunning McLaren one-two with Lando Norris at Monza on Sunday.
Verstappen took pole position for the Saudi Arabian Formula One Grand Prix on Friday with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualifying alongside on the front row.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday to end Formula One leader Max Verstappen's record run of 10 wins in a row.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified fourth with Mexican Sergio Perez, Verstappen's closest title rival and team mate but a massive 151 points adrift after 15 of 22 rounds, fifth and 0.773 off his team mate's pace.
Mercedes' George Russell celebrated a surprise Austrian Grand Prix win on Sunday after Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris collided late in the race
Red Bull's Max Verstappen equalled Ayrton Senna's record of eight pole positions in a row.
The pole was the 26th of Charles Leclerc's career, and third of the season.
Red Bull suffered a second trophy malfunction in a week on Sunday after the one handed to the winning constructor at the Belgian Grand Prix was broken after a celebratory team photograph.
Lewis Hamilton will launch his bid to win the drivers' championship at a third F1 team when he makes his much-anticipated debut for Ferrari in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren could clinch their first constructors' crown since 1998 on Sunday if they outscore Ferrari by 21 points at the Qatar F1 Grand Prix.
Hamilton held on for fourth, but slipped from 18 to 32 points behind Verstappen in the championship standings.
World champion Max Verstappen took the first pole position of the Formula One season in Bahrain on Friday.
Mexican team mate Sergio Perez qualified second fastest in a front row lockout for Red Bull, 15 years after the team took their first win at the Shanghai International Circuit with Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull's triple World champion Max Verstappen wrapped up a year of unprecedented dominance with his record-extending 19th win in 22 races at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
Max Verstappen will have a five place grid penalty for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after a gearbox change.
Lewis Hamilton raced one last time for Mercedes on Sunday, Formula One's most successful driver and team partnership ending in a cloud of tyre smoke
Max Verstappen won the first sprint race of the Formula One season at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday.
Jehan Daruvala's racing career may not have taken the path he envisioned, but the Indian driver isn't dwelling on missed opportunities.
Max Verstappen took his fifth pole position in a row at the British Grand Prix.
The world of esports came to the rescue in the absence of a race in Melbourne or indeed of any single-seater series with the Formula E and IndyCar calendars also ravaged by the fast-spreading virus. Red Bull's Verstappen finished 11th in an 'All-star Esports battle' while McLaren's Norris finished sixth in another virtual race.
Red Bull have won 20 of the 21 races so far, another F1 record, and Verstappen has won in Abu Dhabi for the past three years. Both titles have already been clinched.
Max Verstappen won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday
'I find it ridiculous what happened, so why should I then give full answers?'
Red Bull's Formula One World champion Max Verstappen took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday with Carlos Sainz qualifying alongside on the front row for Ferrari two weeks after undergoing surgery for appendicitis.
Max Verstappen leads Red Bull front row sweep in Bahrain
World champion Max Verstappen got back to winning ways on Sunday with a third straight pole-to-flag victory at the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix, leading teammate Sergio Perez across the line for a Red Bull 1-2 at Suzuka.
Lewis Hamilton will bring down the curtain on his Mercedes career in Abu Dhabi on Sunday as his past and future Formula One teams, McLaren and Ferrari, fight for a constructors' title to end years of waiting.
Mercedes driver George Russell has been disqualified and lost his Belgium Grand Prix win on Sunday, after his car was found to be underweight, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was promoted to first place.
The victory at Suzuka was the Dutch driver's 13th in 16 races this season and left him on the brink of a third world title.
Charles Leclerc seized pole position for the Italian Formula One Grand Prix and sent Ferrari hopes soaring on Saturday while Mercedes' George Russell joined him on the front row once penalties were applied.
