3:33 AM ET Reuters and ESPN Staff Five-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has apologised to residents of Stevenage, his boyhood home town, for suggesting he grew up in a slum. The Briton, his country’s most successful racing driver, was speaking on national television at Sunday’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Talking about

5:07 AM ET ESPN staff Ferrari will dedicate a special exhibition to Michael Schumacher at its museum in Maranello to celebrate the seven-time world champion’s 50th birthday. Schumacher won five of his seven titles with the Italian team between 2000 and 2004 on his way to becoming the most successful Formula One driver of all

11:37 AM ET Maurice Hamilton Close • Veteran F1 journalist, covering the sport since 1977• Motor racing correspondent for the Observer for 20 years• Has written several books and covered F1 for BBC Radio 5 Live Watching the opening round of the fifth Formula E series in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, and taking on board the accompanying

7:28 AM ET By his own admission, the 2018 season was the worst of Valtteri Bottas’ career. Driving an identical car to the one that secured the drivers’ championship and 11 race wins with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel, he failed to score a single victory. But, for next year at least, Mercedes is standing

8:48 AM ET ESPN staff Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says a focus on his team’s “mindfulness” has been key to maintaining its dominance of Formula One in recent seasons. This year Mercedes captured its fifth straight drivers’ and constructors’ championship. If the team successfully defends the latter next season it will equal the six Ferrari

5:33 AM ET ESPN staff Formula One is hoping to attract new engine manufacturers to the grid by introducing rules that require existing manufacturers to share technology with new entrants. The idea is essentially a compromise solution after the sport’s bosses backed down on plans to overhaul Formula One’s engine regulations in 2021. At the

9:05 AM ET The fifth Formula E season gets underway in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, but will it be worth watching? Since its inception in 2014, the all-electric racing series Formula E has split opinion. For motorsport purists, the absence of an exhaust note and the relatively slow speeds has left plenty to be desired,

7:47 AM ET Carlos Sainz says he has joined McLaren in the belief the struggling British team can return to the front of the Formula One grid. After a major shake-up in the driver market this summer, Sainz will move from Renault to McLaren in 2019, replacing fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso. He joins the team

7:46 AM ET ESPN staff Aston Martin has released the first audio and images of the V12 engine that will power the Adrian Newey-designed Valkyrie hypercar. Newey, who has designed some of the most successful Formula One cars of recent decades, started work on the Valkyrie project after becoming frustrated with F1’s increasingly restrictive rule

6:31 AM ET ESPN staff McLaren will enter the world of professional cycling after announcing a joint venture with Team Bahrain-Merida. The deal will see McLaren apply its racing know-how to the cycling team, which counts 2014 Tour de France winner Vicenzo Nibali among its riders. Both the racing and cycling teams are Bahraini-owned, McLaren