Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to cut Max Verstappen's overall Formula One lead to eight points with two races remaining.
Exactly how that coup came about has been cloaked in mystery since the news burst like a bombshell on an unsuspecting Formula One last December.
An angry Leclerc dropped to fourth after Ferrari called him in again for slicks and then told him, too late, to stay out after Sainz also pitted and went directly from wets to the dry tyres.
Russian race walker Lashmanova banned, to be stripped of 2012 London Olympics gold
Renault's Chinese test driver Guanyu Zhou won a virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday as Formula One sought to entertain fans with esports action in a season stalled by the spreading coronavirus. The first seven rounds of the real championship have been cancelled or postponed, including the showcase Monaco Grand Prix, and it remains to be seen how many there will be ultimately.
McLaren's Australian Daniel Ricciardo will join the Dutch 23-year-old on the front row for the first time since the pair were team mates at Red Bull in 2018.
Formula One has put almost half its staff on furlough until the end of May due to the novel coronavirus with chairman Chase Carey and senior management also taking a pay cut, an F1 spokesman said on Tuesday. Sources said those on furlough were mainly employees whose work was focused on race weekend activities and who could not carry out duties remotely. The Liberty Media-owned company employs in excess of 500 people.
Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen has announced he will hang up his helmet and gloves and call time on an illustrious Formula One career at the end of the season.
Hamilton already had more race wins, pole positions and podium finishes than any other driver in the history of the sport.
Formula One got back on track in changed circumstances on Friday but with Mercedes bringing a familiar look to the timing sheets as six times World champion Lewis Hamilton led team mate Valtteri Bottas one-two in Austrian Grand Prix free practice. The Briton did 41 laps and lapped with a best time of one minute 04.816 seconds in a damp and overcast session, 0.356 faster than the Finn.
Fernando Alonso, who left Formula One at the end of 2018 after a final season with McLaren, won his championship titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006.
Australian Grand Prix was cancelled due to worries about the coronavirus outbreak, after a McLaren team member tested positive before the first practice session was scheduled to get underway at Albert Park.
Formula One world champion Max Verstappen won the inaugural Miami Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday, slashing Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc's overall lead from 27 to 19 points after five races.
Says he rejected Red Bull offer
Vettel will be sharing Ferrari testing duties with the 20-year-old at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit next week after the second grand prix of the season.
The Briton, who started his career working for the Hesketh team in 1977, died in Melbourne of a pulmonary embolism, it said.
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.
Formula One teams are keeping a close eye on the health situation in Vietnam after the Chinese Grand Prix was postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic, McLaren boss Zak Brown said on Thursday. The sport is due to make its debut in the country, which borders China, on April 5 with a street race in the capital H
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton overtook main rival Max Verstappen and Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas to win the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday and go eight points clear in the Formula One standings.
'Kartik is an outsider, so he takes nothing for granted. That's why he will do well.'
All Formula One drivers, teams and personnel have tested negative for COVID-19 ahead of the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, the sport said on Saturday. Anyone entering the paddock at the Red Bull Ring must have a clean bill of health and is being tested every five days by private medical teams.
Hamilton, who had also topped Saturday morning's final practice session, never look like being challenged throughout the qualifying hour.
Lewis Hamilton managed to make the most of the adverse conditions to take pole position for Sunday's race.
Team boss Christian Horner said Verstappen's lap of one minute 22.109 seconds was one of his best of the year and the Dutch driver sounded remarkably relaxed given the amount of pressure on him.
"The comparison? I see still Ayrton winning the game because in the end Ayrton was such a charming guy and a personality. And obviously if someone loses his life and stays with us in the way of a legend, it's always something special. But I try to see it from a performance point and from a performance point, Lewis is going from one pole position to the next one and Lewis is going from one race win to the next one. Just like Ayrton did."
World champion Lewis Hamilton, back in the car after his COVID-19-enforced absence at last week's Sakhir Grand Prix, was third but only 0.086 seconds off the pace.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Britain's Jenson Button will stand in for Fernando Alonso at next month's Monaco Formula One Grand Prix while the Spaniard competes in the Indianapolis 500 on the same day, McLaren announced on Friday.
If British industry succeeds in saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic it will be due in part to the pioneering role played by Formula One racing teams in the country. Seven of the 10 Formula One teams have joined forces with leading aerospace and engineering companies to ramp up production of ventilators while Mercedes has also worked with medics and academics to produce an alternative breathing aid.
Lewis Hamilton hopes fellow Briton Jenson Button will make a comeback and replace McLaren's Fernando Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix when the Spaniard is away competing in the Indianapolis 500 in May.
The double world champion failed to score a point in his final race for McLaren, finishing tantalisingly close in 11th place after making up four positions, but the Spaniard went out fighting to the last.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen went fastest in Styrian Grand Prix practice, on Friday, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo crashed his Renault
Charles Leclerc crashed at the end of qualifying for his home Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday
Former world champion Fernando Alonso doubts he will make it onto the Formula One podium this season after also enduring his worst points tally last year, but has no immediate plans to retire.
Hamilton has won the last three races, out of four so far in this COVID-19 affected season, and will start as favourite again.
'If we want to go to Asia, or America, I think it's going to be when we get on planes and have to fly overseas where I think the risk will start to potentially get greater.'
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Verstappen leads seven times world champion Hamilton by six points with six races remaining and the pole at Austin's Circuit of the Americas was the ninth of the season for the Dutch 24-year-old -- and eighth in the last 11 races.
He won a high-profile privacy case against the News of the World newspaper in 2008 after it said he had taken part in a "sick Nazi orgy".
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances