Hamilton tried to chase down Russell at the end of the race, getting to within a second on the final four laps but couldn’t overtake his teammate.

Antonelli took over for George Russell in the opening practice session for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Monza

The 2020 season is now set to start in July with the Austrian Grand Prix - the first of several races scheduled to take place behind closed doors as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19.

F1 remains hopeful that the season can start in early July with a doubleheader at the Austrian Grand Prix. But even if it does, it will likely lack its usual festive atmosphere.

Lewis Hamilton says he's getting messages from fans desperate to see the return of Formula One, but the six-time world champion feels races without them will be "worse than a test day".

Lewis Hamilton admitted that his McLaren still needs a little more downforce after he finished fourth fastest behind the Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in Friday free practice

Lewis Hamilton said it had been a 'fantastic' weekend after the McLaren man took victory in the Canadian Grand Prix to lead the drivers' standings

Lewis Hamilton and Jessica Ennis-Hill's stellar sporting 2015 seasons have been recognised with nominations for the prestigious Laureus Awards.

Lewis Hamilton said racing without fans will be weird as they are the ones who really make that race.

Lewis Hamilton grateful for Grand Prix 'sabbatical'

Lewis Hamilton rocked up ready to have a crack at riding a MotoGP bike but was told it was too early.

Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed six years of success with Mercedes but Eddie Jordan thinks it's time for them to sell their F1 team.

Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have enjoyed some interesting battles over the years.

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have a fight on their hands in F1 with Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton has been linked with a move to Ferrari when his contract at Mercedes comes to an end.

Watch Lewis Hamilton and Sir Stirling Moss race vintage Mercedes Silver Arrows at Monza in 2015.

Lewis Hamilton says the lack of racing in Formula 1 so far this year has left him feeling "a big void".

• World champion not relishing racing without fans
• Hamilton appreciates sport’s importance to many

Lewis Hamilton believes returning to grand prix racing without fans will be an “empty” experience as Formula One prepares to launch the new season behind closed doors.

F1 expects to hold its first race on 5 July in Austria as a double header followed by two meetings at Silverstone, all without spectators. However, there remains the possibility that government quarantine restrictions may make travel for F1 teams unfeasible.

World champion Lewis Hamilton said Formula One's Coronavirus suspension had left a "big void" in his life as the sport waits to see if it can return in July. Hamilton, who began go-karting as a child and has risen through the ranks of motorsport, said he misses racing daily after the F1 season failed to get underway. "I miss racing every day. This is the first time since I was eight that I haven't started a season," the British Mercedes driver posted on Instagram.

"When you live and breathe something you love, when it's gone there's definitely a big void. But there's always positives to take from these times." The first practice session of the year was just hours away when the season-opening Australian Grand Prix was scrapped in March, triggering a succession of cancellations. F1 bosses are now hoping to start the delayed season at the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5, while fans will be barred from the British Grand Prix on July 19.

However, Hamilton said the virus shutdown—which has all but closed down professional sports and dramatically slowed economic activity—was not all bad news. "Right now, we all have time in the world to reflect on life, our decisions, our goals, the people we have around us, our careers," said Hamilton. "Today, we see clearer skies all over the world, less animals being slaughtered for our pleasure simply because our demands are much lower and everyone is staying in. Let's not come back the same as we went into this tough time. Let's come out of it with better knowledge of our world, changing our personal choices and habits."

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Lewis Hamilton and Heidi Klum

Formula One star Lewis Hamilton, 32, and supermodel Heidi Klum, 44, went on a dinner date in New York recently after attending a fashion bash in the wake of talk that Klum and her current boyfriend of three years Vito Schnabel, 31, are taking some time off their relationship.

Hamilton is now in Singapore for the F1 event. According to The Daily Mail, Klum was seen walking towards the waiting car with Hamilton in tow.

But the F1 driver made sure to maintain some distance from the America's Got Talent judge on their exit from their dinner.

"She was seen with Hamilton at the Harper's Bazaar event," said a source.

Lewis Hamilton

F1's Lewis Hamilton has said that he has gradually moved to veganism over the past two years after TV documentary inspired him to do so to improve his health and avoid harming the planet.

Mercedes driver, Hamilton said he had changed his habits after watching a documentary about the environmental impact of the meat industry.

"It is something I have been going towards anyway. I stopped eating red meat two years ago," he told the BBC.

"This year I stopped eating chicken and then kind of went back to it and now I've stopped again. So I have generally been pescatarian for the majority of the year and then I cut out fish too."

He added: "I have actually eaten plant-based food for the last two days and it has been amazing. So far, I don't feel as if I have been missing out. I don't know how easy it is going to be when I get home. That is going to be a real test."

Also see: Ex-cricketers in their current jobs: Uber driver, bus stand cleaner

Sparks fly off Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari (right) after he collides with teammate Sebastian Vettel's vehicle (left) in the Singapore Grand Prix yesterday. Raikkonen was eliminated immediately while Vettel retired later due to a damaged car. Pics/AFP

Sebastian Vettel pulled out a scorching lap in the dying stages of Saturday's qualifying session to seize pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver lapped the floodlit Marina Bay street circuit in one minute, 39.491 seconds, the fastest ever set around the 5-kilometer long track, in a dazzling display of speed.

Max Verstappen went second fastest and will start alongside Vettel on the front-row with his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo third.

A victorious Lewis Hamilton jumps off his Mercedes

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, Vettel's title rival, was only fifth ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas.

The Briton, seeing a hat-trick of wins this weekend, seized the championship lead with victory at the last race in Monza.

But starting on the third row, with the Red Bulls and Kimi Raikkonen's fourth-placed Ferrari between him and Vettel, Hamilton could well have to drive a race of damage limitation that could cost him his slim three-point advantage.

"I'm still full of adrenaline so maybe whatever I say doesn't make any sense," a breathless Vettel, who let out a loud whoop of joy over the team-radio, said immediately after qualifying.

"The car was tricky but it came alive and it was getting better and better as the night progressed, so really happy that we got it done."

Saturday's pole was the 49th of Vettel's career and an unprecedented fourth at Singapore.

It could prove to be an especially crucial one with seven of the last nine races in the city-state won by the pole-sitter.

But the German, who also has an unprecedented four wins at the twisty track, initially did not seem to have the pace to seize the top-spot.

Red Bull had topped the timesheets in every session over the weekend.

With Verstappen even topping the opening two parts of qualifying, the former champions had looked on course to score their first front row lockout since the United States Grand Prix in 2013.

But Vettel put it all on the line when it really mattered, vaulting to the top of the timesheets during the final 12-minute pole-position shootout.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Renault ahead of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, who put both McLaren's in the top-ten a day after the Woking-based squad agreed to swap Honda power for Renault.

Carlos Sainz, set to move to the works Renault team next year, rounded out the top ten for Toro Rosso.

Force India's Sergio Perez was 12th with teammate Esteban Ocon 14th.

Three-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has offered his support to athletes using sport to make a political stand.

Lewis Hamilton

United States president Donald Trump last week suggested NFL players should be sacked by their clubs if they knelt in protest during the American anthem. Players from up and down the league have been kneeling during pre-match renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner - while the entire Pittsburgh Steelers team remained in the locker room when it was played ahead of their recent game with the Chicago Bears.

F1 leader Lewis Hamilton heads into this weekend's Japanese GP grateful to have extended his overall championship advantage, but conscious that his Mercedes team have their work cut out to rediscover their car's lost speed. The German team were the third slowest team for the second weekend in a row at the last race in Malaysia, after also similarly struggling for pace in Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton

The Briton heads into Sunday's race at the Suzuka circuit, where he has won twice before, with a heftier 34-point lead over the Ferrari driver with five races to go, but only because of the misfortune that has blunted the German's championship charge.

Mexico City: Sebastian Vettel insisted he has no fear of Lewis Hamilton who on Sunday equalled his mark of four world drivers titles.

The German finished fourth for Ferrari in the Mexican Grand Prix after an opening lap collision with Hamilton, who finished ninth for Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel

Dutchman Max Verstappen won the race for Red Bull. "I am disappointed, obviously," said Vettel. "But all this is not that important. It is more important for me to say well done to Lewis, who has deserved the title and done such a superb job all year."

Wearing dark glasses, the deflated Vettel hugged Hamilton and congratulated him personally in the post-race interviews pen. "Yes, all congratulations to him. It's his day today. He deserved it."

Asked how he rated Hamilton in the pantheon of champion drivers, Vettel said: "Well, he's up there with four titles so he deserves it, if you can count!"

He added: "But I don't fear him. I like racing against him and I just wish I could have done more of it this year, but overall they [Mercedes] were the better bunch."

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton after claiming pole in Melbourne on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images

World champion Lewis Hamilton claimed the first pole position of the 2018 Formula One season, unleashing a dazzling display of speed that stunned his rivals in the dying seconds of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver, who goes into the season as favourite to clinch a fifth world championship, lit up the timing screens with a late one minute 21.164-second lap, the fastest ever around Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit.

That put him a gaping 0.664 seconds clear of his closest challenger Kimi Raikkonen, who will line up alongside the Briton on the front row. The Finn’s Ferrari team-mate and 2017 title runner-up Sebastian Vettel was third 0.674 seconds off the pace.

Yesterday’s pole was the 73rd of Hamilton’s career. The 33-year-old is already Formula One’s most successful qualifier, having surpassed Michael Schumacher’s previous benchmark of 68 pole positions last year. He now also holds the record for most poles at Albert Park, with yesterday’s effort his seventh around the 5.3-kilometer long circuit.

“You would think it had become the norm with all the success we've had these last years, but it's still just as intense,” said Hamilton whose Mercedes team have swept to four straight constructors' titles.

“My heart is racing. I'm always striving for perfection and that was as close as I could get today."

Qualifying offered the first chance of the season for fans to see how the teams all stacked up against each other.

The initial runs in the final pole-position shoot-out phase of qualifying fuelled hopes of a three way battle between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull at the front.

Hamilton held provisional pole after the initial laps, but only just, with Vettel a marginal 0.034 seconds adrift and Max Verstappen 0.061 seconds off the pace. He then dashed all hopes of an evenly matched contest, pulling out all the stops and banging in the lap that clinched him pole.

Vettel, who won at Albert Park last year after starting alongside pole-sitter Hamilton, and Raikkonen were refusing to write off their chances, however.

Mercedes are known to switch the engine on to a more powerful qualifying-only mode — dubbed the ‘party mode’ this year — with their advantage shrinking on race day as they opt for a more normal setting.

“Yeah, I hope they did turn it on today, as that means they have to turn it off tomorrow,” said Vettel.

“I think it’s very close. I think we saw yesterday in the long runs that the pace is very close, so let’s see.”

Hamilton denied turning the engine up between the two runs with team boss Toto Wolff putting it down to the Briton simply getting the car and tyres into the sweet spot.

“What were you doing before?” Vettel asked kicking off an amusing round of banter between the two four-time champions who, in an unprecedented scenario in Formula One history, will be going head-to-head for a fifth title.

“I was waiting to put a good lap in, wipe the smile off your face!” Hamilton shot back.

Verstappen had to eventually settle for fourth, with Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo fifth. The Australian, however, will start his home race eighth after copping a three-place grid penalty for speeding under red flags in practice on Friday. Both Red Bulls have opted to start the race on the more durable supersoft tyre as opposed to their rivals who will start today’s race on the ultra-soft.

Kevin Magnussen will instead start fifth for Haas ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean as the American team continued to turn heads with their speed after chalking up their best ever qualifying result.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified eighth but will start seventh on account of Ricciardo’s penalty. His Renault team-mate Carlos Sainz will start ninth.

Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne just failed to make it through into the top-ten shootout in McLaren’s first qualifying session since ditching Honda for Renault power. The pair set the 11th and 12th fastest times.

Valtteri Bottas provided the biggest drama of the session, crashing his Mercedes in the final phase of qualifying without setting a time. The incident brought a brief red flag.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

It's Hot or Not time again as Sportsmail's Riath Al-Samarrai reveals what's been making him feel warm and what's been leaving him cold this week.

Sophie Turner was every bit the supportive wife as she cheered on Joe Jonas at his concert with friend Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton could win his sixth title on Sunday but was only fourth fastest in final practice for the Mexican Grand Prix which only had dry running for the final 15 minutes of the hour session.

Following the third-place finish of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton needs just four more points at the United States Grand Prix next week to kick-start his title celebrations.

JONATHAN McEVOY IN MEXICO CITY: Lewis Hamilton came as close to winning his sixth world championship title as anyone's nerves could stand without actually doing so.

MARTIN SAMUEL - CHIEF SPORTS WRITER:You can't be a Formula One driver and lecture on saving the planet. You might think you can. But you can't.

JONATHAN MCEVOY IN MEXICO CITY: Max Verstappen has been singled out as Formula One's 'silly' dangerman after his gung-ho approach in last weekend's Mexican Grand Prix.

Formula One bosses have unveiled the first images of the sport's cars for the future. It is hoped that the new machines will provide closer action, and make overtaking easier.

Max Verstappen claimed Lewis Hamilton criticised his aggressive driving style only because he had got into the world champion's head. Hamilton said he feared being 'torpedoed' by the Dutchman.

JONATHAN MCEVOY IN AUSTIN: The props of his life were showing up in Texas as Lewis Hamilton edged ineluctably towards one of the greatest achievements in the history of British sport.

McLaren will not enter a bidding race to reunite Lewis Hamilton with the team that launched his career. Hamilton is almost certain to win his sixth Formula One world title at the US Grand Prix.

JONATHAN McEVOY IN TEXAS: The big flare up of the day came during the second qualifying session when Hamilton and Verstappen became entangled at Turn 19.

Hamilton has not always been a mere dot disappearing beyond the horizon to rivals. He even struggled to win races before learning his trademark driving style from a friend.

Despite a poor qualifying that leaves Hamilton fifth on the grid at the Circuit of the Americas, the Brit is on course to retain his title as he needs just eighth place to secure a sixth world championship.

JONATHAN McEVOY IN AUSTIN: The next chapter of that attempt involves matching - and then beating - Michael Schumacher's record of seven titles and 91 wins. He is nine victories short.

JONATHAN McEVOY IN AUSTIN: At 34, he moved one title ahead of Fangio, completing yet another milestone in his transformation from a council estate boy into a global F1 star.

Lewis Hamilton has been backed by his Mercedes boss to rewrite the sport's record books for years to come after winning the Formula One world title for the sixth time.

JONATHAN McEVOY: Lewis Hamilton has won his sixth World Championship at the US Grand Prix. The Briton can now be considered better than Michael Schumacher.

Just a finish of eighth place was needed to secure the four points to land Hamilton out of reach of his last remaining title rival - Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. The Brit finished in second.

A triumphant Lewis Hamilton celebrated his sixth Formula One world championship with family and friends in New York - after admitting he clinched his latest title while 'battling demons.'

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN: Lewis Hamilton's stunning sixth World Championship triumph was achieved amid a backdrop of tragedy, Sportsmail can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE BY JONATHAN McEVOY: As Lewis Hamilton whisked friends and family away to celebrate his sixth world championship the great and good were working on another important trip.

Verstappen has 100 starts and seven wins to his name since becoming the sport's youngest driver and next season he could yet become the youngest champion.