Seven-time F1 champion 'in the very best of hands', says family
Charles Leclerc claimed a bittersweet first Formula One win on Sunday, the Monegasque's joy at fulfilling a long-held dream tempered by the death of French racer Anthoine Hubert. Leclerc crossed the line 0.9 seconds ahead of a hard-charging Lewis Hamilton, who still extended his overall championship lead to 65 points over Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished third.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace, the second goal a contentious penalty, to give Juventus a dramatic 2-1 win over Sampdoria who had a stoppage-time equaliser chalked off following a long VAR review in Serie A on Saturday.
The Finn lapped the six-km Baku street circuit in one minute, 40.495 seconds, just 0.059 seconds faster than team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
The shocked 21-year-old rookie was unhurt in the incident between turns two and three but Williams said the chassis would have to be replaced, sidelining the Briton until Saturday's final session before qualifying. Former world champions Williams are already facing plenty of problems with an uncompetitive car that is some way off their rivals' pace.
"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."
The team, who became Force India in 2008 after Indian beer baron Vijay Mallya bought Spyker F1, were taken over in August by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll after going into administration.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Ferrari, winners of 15 of last year's 18 races, have now gone three Grands Prix without a win
'Together we achieved outstanding results and in time our record will be recognised on its own merits'
Lewis Hamilton bared body and soul on Sunday after stripping down to his waist on the podium following his victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Briton now 18 wins away from Michael Schumacher's all-time record
Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrated his first Formula One pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Daniel Ricciardo is ready for tears, and maybe a few celebratory beers, as the cheerful Australian gears up for his 100th and last race with Red Bull in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Hamilton and Alonso happy to see old rival Kubica return
Lewis Hamilton is hoping rain will come to the rescue as a Hockenheim heatwave threatens to dash Mercedes's hopes of a home German Grand Prix win on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Rediff.com brings you some of the highlights from the sporting events held last week...
The Briton had won his own fifth championship in Mexico two weeks previously but the broader celebrations were kept in check until Interlagos.
Ferrari's record-breaking season may go down in the Formula One history books as the peak of Michael Schumacher's career.
Stewards said the sixth new turbocharger exceeded the driver's permitted allocation, triggering the automatic drop.
Lewis Hamilton has no plans to gift any wins to Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas despite having a fifth Formula One championship sewn up.
Starting second behind pole-sitter Hamilton, Bottas got the jump on the Briton during a typically messy start at Albert Park and ended up cruising to his fourth win by some 20.80 seconds after delaying a tyre-change.
Vietnam is a growing market for sponsors such as brewer Heineken and would be a fifth Asian race on the calendar, making up for the departure of Malaysia.
After pipping Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel with a lap of one minute 23.599 seconds in the first practice, the Briton shaved almost a second in FP2, his quickest lap clocked at 1:22.60.
Calderon, who is backed by the team's Mexican sponsor Telmex, was the first woman to drive a current Formula One car since Britain's Susie Wolff, who retired in 2015 after taking part in two grand prix practice sessions for Williams.
'The most important thing, I think, is really about finishing races and analysing and making sure you get as many race points as you can, of course'
The Formula One season starts in Australia on March 17 with new regulations, changed lineups, a trio of young rookies fresh from Formula Two and the comeback of Poland's Robert Kubica.
Lewis Hamilton feels a fifth Formula One title would be his proudest achievement and he wants to seal it by winning Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher led the team to a one-two victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Mick Schumacher, the 19-year-old son of seven-times Formula One world champion Michael, won the European Formula Three title.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday in a Mercedes one-two that ended Sebastian Vettel's bid for a fourth in a row.
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