The pole was a record-extending 83rd of the Briton’s career and 11th of the season, as well as the fifth year in succession that Mercedes have swept the front row at the floodlit Yas Marina circuit.
* International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said he wanted closer co-operation from Japanese officials to ensure the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were the cleanest on record in terms of doping.
* Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry stormed clear of the chasing pack and into a five-stroke lead after the third round of the World Cup of Golf on Saturday, putting Belgium on track for a maiden title in the US$7 million team event. Belgium, overnight co-leaders with the Republic of Korea, moved to a 19-under total of 197, five ahead of Mexico (65), Italy (66) and the Koreans (68) at the 28-nation event.
* Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund got second-half goals from supersub Paco Alcacer and Lukasz Piszczek to edge past Mainz 05 2-1 on Saturday and open up a seven-point gap at the top. Their seventh win in the last eight league games lifted them to 30 points, seven ahead of second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Champions Bayern Munich are fifth on 21 after a 3-3 draw against promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf.
* Champions Paris St Germain continued their record-breaking start to the Ligue 1 season with a 1-0 home win over Toulouse on Saturday while Thierry Henry could at last celebrate his first win as Monaco manager with a 1-0 victory at Caen.
* Mick McCarthy has been appointed Ireland manager but will be replaced by Stephen Kenny after the 2020 European Championship, local media reported on Saturday. McCarthy, who managed the side from 1996-2002, will take over from Martin O'Neill who left the role along with his assistant Roy Keane on Wednesday after a run of six matches without victory.
* The second leg of the Copa Libertadores final was postponed by more than two hours on Saturday after the Boca Juniors team bus was attacked by River Plate fans less than an hour before kickoff. Originally scheduled to start at 5pm local time, the match between Argentina's biggest rivals was shifted to 7:15pm following emergency talks between South American Football Confederation officials and representatives of both clubs.
* Ousmane Dembele scored a last minute goal to give FC Barcelona a vital point on their visit to Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday night. Atletico had looked to be on the way to a scarcely deserved win as they failed to create anything from open play after Diego Costa headed them ahead following a 77th minute corner taken by Antoine Griezmann.
* Santiago Solari's honeymoon period as Real Madrid coach came to an abrupt end on Saturday as his side suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat away to Eibar. Real Madrid were never in the hunt in their first game following the former B-team coach's confirmation as first team coach until June 2021 and showed the same vices they had demonstrated during Julen Lopetegui's brief spell in charge.
* Juventus moved nine points clear at the top of Serie A with a 2-0 win over SPAL on Saturday as Cristiano Ronaldo's strike made him the league's joint-top scorer. Goals either side of the break from the Portugal international and Mario Mandzukic earned Juve their 12th win of an unbeaten start to the league season, with Ronaldo joining Genoa striker Krzysztof Piatek on nine goals.
