Yahoo Autos How Lewis Hamilton Won a Nasty F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will head to next Sunday’s Formula 1 season-ending race at Abu Dhabi tied at 369.5 points.
Should both drivers finish outside the points in the season finale, Verstappen owns the championship tiebreaker for most wins in the season (9-8).
This will be the first time that the F1 championship was decided in the final race of the season since Nico Rosberg edged Hamilton 385-380 in 2016.
Formula 1’s inaugural visit to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit certainly did not disappoint.
There were two red flags, three standing starts and multiple flashpoints between the two drivers striving for the honor of 2021 F1 World Champion. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will head to next Sunday’s season-ending race at Abu Dhabi tied at 369.5 points. Should both drivers finish outside the points in the season finale, Verstappen owns the championship tiebreaker for most wins in the season (9-8).
It is a tantalizing prospect of winner takes all in one of Formula 1’s closest fights in a generation. This will be the first time that the F1 championship will be decided in the final race of the season since Nico Rosberg edged Hamilton 385-380 in 2016.
But Sunday’s race at Jeddah was laced with toxicity, controversy and acrimony, with the officials struggling to retain control of the situation. It was one of the nastiest Grands Prix in recent memory.
Twice Verstappen went wide into Turn 1 and missed Turn 2 to hold position ahead of Hamilton, prompting some Red Bull bargaining with F1 Race Director Michael Masi, and he was instructed to cede position.
The first incident came at the second standing start on lap 15 – following a red flag due to Mick Schumacher’s crash – and Verstappen was relegated to third for start number three, after the initial restart lasted just four corners before a clash accounted for Sergio Perez, George Russell and Nikita Mazepin.
Immediately Verstappen brilliantly negated the setback by surging from third to first, causing Hamilton to open the steering, lightly brushing Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Verstappen and Hamilton hurtled around the fearsomely fast wall-lined Jeddah, pulling clear, with Verstappen faster through the first sector and Hamilton quicker across the remainder of the lap. A spate of Virtual Safety Car periods for debris made it an occasionally stuttering encounter but it swiftly sparked into life.
Hamilton got a run on Verstappen along the pit straight on lap 37 but the Red Bull driver went wide into Turn 1, cut Turn 2, and emerged ahead, while Hamilton just about made the corner.
Verstappen was informed to cede position and backed off along the long full-throttle section that leads to Turn 27, braking to bring down his speed.
A confused Hamilton also backed off and as they both slowed Hamilton rear-ended the back of Verstappen’s Red Bull as he swerved to avoid his slowing rival; somehow the impact caused only minor damage and both were able to continue.
Verstappen still had to cede the place but when he did so five laps later, at the same location of their clash, he immediately repassed Hamilton seconds later into Turn 27.
Eventually, one lap later, Verstappen backed off and Hamilton got ahead, crowding the Red Bull racer into the run-off, to ensure there was no riposte, a move that Masi conceded was borderline unsporting. Verstappen was subsequently docked 5s for the lap 37 wide incident just to add to the drama.
Stewards investigated the collision and laid the blame at Verstappen’s door, issuing him a 10-second penalty (which did not affect his position) as well as two penalty points. That brings his total to seven, with drivers suspended for one event if they amass 12.
Stewards outlined that Verstappen was told to relinquish the position “strategically” and it was clear that neither driver wanted to be ahead at the DRS detection line, which would have given their rival a straight-line speed advantage heading to Turn 1. Stewards outlined that Verstappen “braked suddenly (69 bar) and significantly, resulting in 2.4g deceleration” and that it was this “sudden” and “erratic” braking that was the predominant cause of the collision. Hamilton, at this stage, had not been informed that Verstappen was attempting to relinquish the position and was perplexed at his actions. Given that Verstappen was effectively found guilty of a brake check his sanction was relatively light.
Hamilton successfully pursued the fastest lap bonus, giving him the maximum of 26 points, and with Verstappen taking 18, they drew level on 369.5.
There was no handshake or recognition post-race as they studiously avoided eye contact.
“I knew Max had overtaken by going over Turn 2, which at the beginning of the race, we were told that wasn’t allowed,” said Hamilton of the dramatic incident. “I hadn’t had the information yet that he was backing off so all of a sudden he started slowing down into [turn] 27 where the DRS zone is. But it wasn’t quite clear for me, it was a bit confusing. All of a sudden, he slowed at a rapid pace, and that’s when I had to avoid going completely up the backside of him. I felt grateful that I didn’t take us both out. For me, I need to be finishing both races and getting these points. It’s tough to do so with these circumstances.”
Verstappen’s perspective: “At one point they [the team] told me I had to give the position back so that was I think just before [turn] 22 so then after [turn] 22/23 I went to drive to the right side and I slowed down, I was braking, downshifting, and he just stayed super close behind me and I don’t really understand why; I was just trying to let him by and I’m just going slower and slower and pulling the downshift, we had a miscommunication and he ran into the back of me, that was it.”
It was the latest flashpoint between the two drivers, both in the race itself, and in a season in which they have regularly squabbled over the same piece of road.
“I don’t think I’ve changed the way that I race,” said Hamilton. “I think we’ve seen multiple incidents this year, even Brazil where we’re supposed to do our racing on the track in between the white lines, and the rules haven’t been clear from the stewards that those things have been allowed, so that’s continued. From my understanding, I know I can’t overtake someone and go off the track and then keep the position. That’s well known between us drivers. It doesn’t apply to one of us I guess.”
Verstappen countered: “Well, I mean, I find it interesting that I am the one who gets the penalty when both of us run out of the white lines. In Brazil it was fine and now suddenly I get a penalty for it? Well, you could clearly see both didn’t make the corner, it’s fine, I don’t spend too much time on it, we move forward. We are equal on points and that’s exciting for the whole championship and F1 in general. But lately we are talking more about white lines and penalties than actually proper Formula 1 racing and that’s a little bit of a shame.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was not in an overly joyous mood.
“I’ve said it for too long we’re over-regulated,” he said. “It feels like there are too many rules. It felt like today that the sport missed Charlie Whiting [F1’s previous Race Director who died in 2019]. I am sorry to say but the experience he had... it’s obviously frustrating but it’s difficult for Michael [Masi] and the stewards, particularly at this type of venue and this type of circuit with the amount of debris and the types of corners there are but it’s the same for everybody. Obviously, every decision pretty much went against us today as they did in Doha a couple of weeks ago.”
“I think Lewis deserved it,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on the win. “We could have been out a few times with a broken front wing - it was a spectacular race, if not necessarily a good one.”
Hamilton and Verstappen were joined on the podium by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who snatched third from Ocon in a drag race to the line.
But up front it’s 369.5 plays 369.5 with a sunset showdown at Yas Marina on December 12 set to determine the 2021 World Championship.
F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Race Results
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 50 laps
Max Verstappen, Red Bull +11.8 seconds
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes +27.5
Esteban Ocon, Alpine +27.6
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren +40.1
Pierre Gasly, Alfa Tauri +41.6
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +44.4
Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari +44.6
Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo +58.5
Lando Norris, McLaren +1:01.3
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +1:17.2
Nicholas Latifi, Williams +1:23.2
Fernando Alonso, Alpine 1 lap
Yuki Tsunoda, AlfaTauri 1 lap
Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo 1 lap
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin 6 laps
Sergio Perez, Red Bull 36 laps
Nikita Mazepin, Haas 36 laps
George Russell, Williams 36 laps
Mick Schumacher, Haas 42 laps
Updated F1 Driver Standings
Max Verstappen 369.5
Lewis Hamilton 369.5
Valtteri Bottas 218
Sergio Perez 190
Charles Leclerc 158
Lando Norris 154
Carlos Sainz Jr. 149.5
Daniel Ricciardo 119
Pierre Gasly 100
Fernando Alonso 77
Esteban Ocon 72
Sebastian Vettel 43
Lance Stroll 34
Yuki Tsunoda 20
George Russell 16
Kimi Raikkonen 10
Nicholas Latifi 7
Antonio Giovinazzi 3
Mick Schumacher 0
Robert Kubica 0
Nikita Mazepin 0
F1 Constructors' Standings
Mercedes 587.5
Red Bull 559.5
Ferrari 307.5
McLaren 269
Alpine 149
AlfaTauri 120
Aston Martin 77
Williams 23
Alfa Romeo 13
Haas 0
