London, December 1 (IANS): Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has tested positive for novel coronavirus and will thus miss this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix, Mercedes announced on Tuesday. Hamilton, who sealed this year's title in Turkey and won Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, was tested three times last week including Sunday afternoon as part of the regular testing program, returning a negative result each time, according to Mercedes. However, on Monday morning, he

MANAMA, November 30 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday after French driver Romain Grosjean had a miraculous escape from a fiery first-lap crash that ripped his car in two. Grosjean's Haas was engulfed in flames after it careered off the road at high speed and speared through the protective barriers lining the floodlit Sakhir track. The 34-year-old managed to free himself from the wreckage and jump clear. He suffered burns

MANAMA, November 28 (Reuters): Seven times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took his 98th career pole position in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas alongside on the front row. Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third. Hamilton's fastest lap of one minute 27.264 seconds was a track record time.    

November 23 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton has been breaking down barriers since he arrived in Formula One and deserves a knighthood for his achievements on and off the track, former world champion Damon Hill has said. Hamilton, the most successful grand prix racer of all time and the only Black driver in F1, sealed a record-equalling seventh world title with his victory in Turkey this month, fuelling expectations of a knighthood. The 35-year-old Briton, who comes from an under-privi

LONDON, November 19 (Reuters): Seven times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is confident his sport has a bright and more diverse future but he will not take his foot off the accelerator in pushing for change. The Mercedes racer, Formula One's first Black driver and champion, told Reuters Television in an interview that he also looked forward to more success with a team that has dominated the past seven years. The Briton is Formula One's most successf

LONDON, November 17 (Reuters): Mercedes expect to start contract talks with Lewis Hamilton in the next few days now the Briton has clinched a record-equalling seventh Formula One world championship, team boss Toto Wolff has said. The 35-year-old Hamilton's current deal ends next month. "Flying back from a seventh drivers' championship, you can't talk about a contract. It wouldn't do justice to the achievement," the Austrian told the BBC. "We

LONDON, November 16 (Reuters): Lewis Hamilton's record-equalling seventh Formula One world championship has fuelled expectations of a knighthood but the Briton, overlooked in the past, pointed instead to the ranks of 'unsung heroes'. The most successful grand prix racer of all time, and the only Black driver, has been regularly tipped in recent years to join Britain's other sporting knights only to be just as frequently ignored. Tennis player Andy Murray, run

(Reuters): Lewis Hamilton was further down the starting grid than he has been all year on Saturday but closer than ever to winning a record-equalling seventh Formula One world championship and becoming the sport's most successful driver of all time. The Mercedes driver, the sport's record polesitter and race winner, qualified sixth for the Turkish Grand Prix -- a race returning for the first time since 2011 and Hamilton's first chance to clinch the title. Until S

LONDON, November 13 (Reuters): Six times world champion Lewis Hamilton called for more women in motorsport after the all-female W Series announced on Thursday it will be supporting Formula One at eight grands prix next season. There are no female drivers in Formula One, with Italian Lella Lombardi the last to compete in a race in 1976, and women racers are a rarity in the junior series that feed into the top category. Hamilton said the partnership with W Series, which u

(Reuters): Lewis Hamilton can match Michael Schumacher's record seven world championships and overtake the former Ferrari great as the most successful Formula One driver of all time in Turkey on Sunday. The Mercedes ace, who has a record 93 race wins, will be champion again at the Istanbul Park circuit if his team mate and sole title rival Valtteri Bottas fails to score eight points more. The 35-year-old Briton leads Bottas by 85 points, with 78 remaining to be won after

LONDON, November 2 (Reuters): Six times world champion Lewis Hamilton led Formula One drivers past and present in consoling George Russell after a costly error in Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Williams driver had been heading for a long-awaited first top 10 finish when he speared off the track at Imola and into the barrier while trying to get heat into his tyres as he followed the safety car. The 22-year-old Briton crouched down on the grass, his unhappine

LONDON, November 2 (Reuters): Lewis Hamilton stands on the brink of becoming the most successful Formula One driver of all time but a record-equalling seventh world title looks more certain than his racing future. Speaking after he won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday, the 93rd victory of his F1 career, and his Mercedes team took a record seventh successive constructors' championship, the Briton raised doubts. "I would like to be here next year but t

(Reuters): Lewis Hamilton took a record-extending 93rd career win at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday as his Mercedes team clinched an unprecedented seventh successive Formula One constructors' title with four races to spare. They did it in one-two formation, the six-times world champion taking the chequered flag at Italy's Imola circuit 5.783 seconds ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas, who had started on pole position. Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished thi

IMOLA, Italy, October 31 (Reuters): Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes at the top of the time sheets in the sole practice session on Saturday ahead of the Emilia Romagna Formula One Grand Prix. The 35-year-old clocked one minute 14.726 seconds on a cool but sunny morning at Italy’s Imola circuit, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.297 seconds. The Briton’s team mate Valtteri Bottas was 0.492 seconds slower in third. Mercedes, winners of a

LONDON, October 28 (Reuters): Six times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton looked forward on Tuesday to driving change, and accelerating a push for diversity and sustainability, as a team owner when the Extreme E electric off-road series starts in March. The Briton will be up against some familiar faces, with former Mercedes F1 team mate and rival Nico Rosberg entering his own outfit while McLaren boss Zak Brown is involved in another. "I’ve always wanted t

LONDON, October 28 (Reuters): Nico Rosberg hailed Lewis Hamilton's record 92nd Formula One win and sporting longevity as a great achievement on Tuesday but said the way the Briton was using his platform to raise awareness for global issues was just as impressive. The 35-year-olds were team mates and fierce rivals at Mercedes from 2013 until the German won the 2016 title and immediately retired. Rosberg was also team mate to Michael Schumacher, whose record Hamilton broke

LONDON, October 26 (Reuters): Mercedes Formula One boss Toto Wolff jokingly suggested he would have to sell the factory to keep Lewis Hamilton after the Briton's record 92nd career win in Portugal on Sunday. Hamilton is out of contract at the end of the year, by which time the 35-year-old is likely to have won a record-equalling seventh championship and rank as the most successful driver in the history of the sport. He and Wolff have yet to sit down and hammer out the de

(Reuters): Lewis Hamilton put no limits on what he could achieve after roaring past retired Ferrari great Michael Schumacher on Sunday as the Formula One driver with most wins in the history of the sport. The Mercedes driver's 92nd victory was one of his most crushing, Hamilton lapping all but three rivals at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Hamilton took the chequered flag a huge 25 seconds ahead of second placed team mate Valtteri Bottas, who had led at the end of the first

(Reuters): Six-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton donned a T-shirt protesting against police violence in Nigeria for a pre-race television interview at the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday. Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which rights groups have for years accused of extortion, harassment, torture and murders. "I've got to show this," Hamilton, Formula One's only Black dri

(Reuters): Lewis Hamilton seized pole position in the dying seconds of qualifying for the first Portuguese Grand Prix in 24 years on Saturday to deny and dismay Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas once again. The pole, in a session delayed for half an hour while loose drainage covers were fixed, made it 12 out of 12 for Mercedes this season and was a record-extending 97th for the six-time world champion. It was also a bitter blow for Bottas, 69 points behind Hamilton in the c