The Shanghai Sports Federation wants the Chinese Grand Prix to be cancelled as the coronavirus death toll continues to rise. The virus has so far killed 500 people.

Mercedes driver Hamilton claimed his sixth world championship last season and is now eyeing Schumacher's record with the Brit approaching the new campaign as the strong favourite.

EXCLUSIVE BY JONATHAN McEVOY: F1 bosses are expected to confirm in the next 48 hours that the race in Shanghai will not go ahead due to growing fears over the outbreak.

Although Liberty Media, the sport's owners, left open the possibility of the Chinese GP being rescheduled, the chances of finding a replacement date look remote to non-existent.

Lewis Hamilton fired a warning shot to his rivals, saying he is feeling 'on another level physically and mentally' ahead of the Formula One season. 

Hamilton, whose Mercedes contract is set to expire at the end of the year, had held informal talks about joining Ferrari last year but any move now looks dead in the water.

McLaren have unveiled the car they hope will take them another step forward on their journey back to the front of the Formula One grid.

Lewis Hamilton has unveiled the new Mercedes he hopes will fire him to a record-equalling seventh Formula One world championship.

The Chinese Grand Prix could be rescheduled for November as part of a two-day event sandwiched in between the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi races after the original race was postponed.

Sebastian Vettel has fallen ill on the opening day of Formula One testing after posing for group pictures on the starting grid with the other drivers. The four-time champion was due to test Ferrari's new SF1000.

Mercedes' reinvention of the steering wheel has been banned just a day after it broke cover. Not that Lewis Hamilton and his boffins will mind because it won't be outlawed until 2021.

INTERVIEW BY NATHAN SALT: Jenson Button has warned Charles Leclerc that his honeymoon at Ferrari is over and he must now put up a fight with Lewis Hamilton for the title.

Lewis Hamilton's decision to get out of the car saw a red flag deployed on the session so that the car and the British driver could be retrieved and taken back to the Mercedes garage before action resumed.

Formula One's most prominent woman, Claire Williams, has criticised the sport's 'disgraceful 19th Century' accusation that her becoming a mother has caused her team's decline.

The seven teams, which includes Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren, are concerned that that FIA's probe does not identify whether Ferrari bent the rules.

On Wednesday, seven of Formula One's 10 teams published a joint statement expressing surprise and shock at the FIA's confidential agreement with Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg has backed one of Formula One's crop of exciting youngsters to make a breakthrough this season and seize the Formula One title.

Mercedes have reinvented the wheel - for now. Their new DAS system took onlookers by surprise when cockpit cameras showed Lewis Hamilton tugging on his steering wheel.

JONATHAN McEVOY IN MELBOURNE: Lando Norris lef for Melbourne without a care, other than to avoid company. Nothing to do with coronavirus, it is just that he insists on isolating himself.

Here are all the major changes that have happened over the winter ahead of the 2020 Formula One campaign which begins on Sunday with the Australian Grand Prix.

EXCLUSIVE BY JONATHAN MCEVOY IN MELBOURNE: Todt has told Formula One's teams he took the decision to strike a settlement with his old team over their allegedly illegal engine.

It is understood that the team member reported symptoms associated with the disease in the Albert Park paddock on Wednesday morning.

FIA president Jean Todt accused the seven teams angered by their investigation into Ferrari's suspect engine of making 'false, injurious and defamatory' allegations.

JONATHAN McEVOY IN MELBOURNE: The season-opening race has been abandoned here in the early hours of Friday morning after a McLaren mechanic was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Formula One boss Chase Carey has issued a public apology for the last-minute cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix. It was called off 90 minutes before first practice.

Many drivers are out of contract at the end of the season, including Vettel and his former Red Bull team-mate, and Renault fear Ricciardo could leave for Ferrari if they fail to make significant progress.

Formula One bosses on Wednesday took the first step to save the sport from financial meltdown by bringing forward the summer break from August to now.

EXCLUSIVE BY JONATHAN MCEVOY: Lewis Hamilton's future at Mercedes was cast into doubt when his boss Toto Wolff was absent from a heated conference call intended to save F1.

Formula One will run a series of virtual races, with some current drivers taking part, to replace a string of grands prix postponed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Max Verstappen admitted he is focused on winning the Formula One Championship this year with Red Bull and believes he now has the experience to do so. 

McLaren now have all their employees home from Australia after a period in quarantine following a positive test at the cancelled season-opener in Melbourne.

Eight rounds have been postponed, and more look likely to follow with countries in lockdown, but F1 bosses have said they hope to get back on track some time in the European summer.

England cricket star Ben Stokes endured a tough time behind the wheel in the second Formula One Essports Virtual Grand Prix.

Carey's salary figure is a guarded secret but it is thought to be several million pounds a year. The London -based company have put half of their 500 F1 staff on furlough this week, it can be revealed.

F1 team Haas have placed the majority of their UK staff on furlough as coronavirus continues to impact on major sports teams. Haas' drivers have also agreed to wage cuts.

JONATHAN McEVOY: The French Grand Prix is about to become the 10th Formula One race, of 22, to be postponed or cancelled owing to the coronavirus outbreak.

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has warned that a number of Formula One teams could fold if a crisis meeting on Thursday does not endorse money-saving plans.

So far nine Formula One Grand Prix meetings have been postponed or cancelled with the French GP likely to follow. F1 bosses however hope to start the season in Austria in July.

Sebastian Vettel is feeling the lockdown strain as yet another would-be Formula One race weekend breezes by with drivers still holed up at home. Vettel should be in Shanghai for round-four of the season.

Schumacher is the most successful driver to grace the sport after winning seven world championship titles before retiring in 2012 but Jordan says his legacy is tainted by his single-mindedness.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY JAMES SHARPE: In normal times, George Russell would ready to belt up and take on Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Nine races have already been called off and with the British GP due to be on July 19, more could follow - but Pringle says Silverstone could host two successive races without any spectators.

The Monegasque was speaking as Formula One bosses devise a rescheduled programme to fit between 15 and 18 races into the second half of the year after the coronavirus hiatus.

The decision to cancel the French GP on June 28 seemed unavoidable after French president Emmanuel Macron placed a ban on mass gatherings in the country until at least mid-July.

Sir Frank Williams, like the rest of the world, was watching on as Ayrton Senna lost control of his car and slammed into barriers at 190mph. Now 26 years on, the heartache still lingers for Williams.

The Hungarian government has said that no event in front of more than 500 people can take place before August 15, with the Grand Prix at the Hungaroring scheduled for August 2.

To right hand woman and daughter Ivanka, 30 , Trump is obviously just a teddy bear, as today, she was spotted gently brushing flecks from her father's overcoat before cameras rolled in Manhattan.

She's never had any trouble spending cash, but Teresa Guidice is hoping to prove she has earning power too on the new series of Celebrity Apprentice. The 39-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey star, who first filed for bankruptcy with her husband Joe Giudice in 2009, joined the new line of up of contestants in New York today.

The star was promoting an event during a task for the show in which he is using to raise money for his nominated charity, Starlight Foundation

The two teams were charged with the task of creating a viral video to advertise a new mop.