@LewisHamilton claims victory in dramatic inaugural #SaudiArabianGP. #F1

Hamilton 2021 Saudi Arabian GP victory – Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton clinched victory over Max Verstappen in a chaotic inaugural Saudi Arabian GP in a race where it was red flagged twice and the two title-rivals tangled twice in crazy and near farcical scenes.

 

 

The race featured three different pole-sitters for three standing starts, two of which followed heavy crashes that left the long Jeddah Corniche Circuit fluttered with debris.

 

There were four virtual safety cars deployed across the Grand Prix where Hamilton and Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel alongside each other three times at turn one – with Verstappen twice being told to hand the position back to Hamilton after completing moves off circuit.

 

When he slowed to allowed the Mercedes by for the latest controversy at that corner, they collided into each other as Verstappen attempted to let Hamilton past on the approach to the last turn in an incident, which is being investigated after the intense fight has ended.

 

When the 50-lap Saudi Arabian GP began, pole-sitter Hamilton got a solid run off the line, but Bottas was alongside Verstappen who started on the cleaner side.

 

Bottas managed to hold the racing line and Verstappen had to yield, behind them Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was so close to pipping Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for fourth place, but the Mexican gets so close and almost runs into the back of his Red Bull team-mate Verstappen – and sensibly pulled out of the move.

 

The top three were able to la in the low 1:34’s in the early stages, with Leclerc and those behind lapping in the 1:35’s bracket and slower, which meant there was quickly a gap behind Verstappen.

 

As Bottas was able to hold the Dutchman at just over one second as the leaders increased their pace into the 1:33’s as the opening ten tours drew to a close, Hamilton was ordered to increase the gap to his team-mate to avoid the Finn running in dirty, turbulent air and damaging his tyres.

 

Hamilton’s lead over Bottas increased to two seconds – and a further 3.4 seconds over Verstappen – when the race was stabilised by the deployment of the safety car after Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher lost the rear of his Ferrari-powered VF-21 racer running through the rapid turn 22 left-hand kick (where Leclerc crashed in FP2 in a very similar incident) on the 10^th lap.

 

Mercedes brought in Hamilton to switch the C3 yellow side-walled medium compounds for hards, with Bottas following suit, but only after he fell seven seconds behind the Briton, which made Verstappen and Red Bull furious.

 

Verstappen remained out on track, whilst both Mercedes pitted and therefore lead the pack in-front of Hamilton, Bottas and non-pitters Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was the lead runner to have started the race on hards.

 

But after four tours behind the safety car, the Grand Prix was red flagged, which gave Red Bull the chance to switch Verstappen’s tyres to the hards and not lose position, which annoyed Hamilton, who repeatedly questioned the need to halt the race before his climbed out of his F1 W12 EQ Performance racer in the pit-lane.

 

After an almost 20-minute stoppage, the race resumed with a second standing start – after Hamilton complained about Verstappen appearing to do a practice start, he left the pit-lane and the latter was complaining that the Mercedes driver was dropping back ten car lengths on the approach to the grid.

 

At the second start, Hamilton launched alongside Verstappen and passed the Red Bull immediately, but the Dutchman shot-back to the outside of the W12 as they braked and turned in for the opening corner, then cut the second corner to get back ahead of Hamilton as they both moved wide.

 

With Hamilton losing momentum moving back left as Verstappen rejoined in-front, Ocon sneaked by into second place as he overtook Bottas when the Finn locked up at turn one.

 

In the pack behind, Leclerc spun Perez into the wall as they ran alongside each other on the exit of the second corner, with the Red Bull having been narrowly in-front as they raced around the turn three right, and that set off a chain reaction, which lead to Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin ploughing into the back of Williams Racing’s George Russell.

 

Perez, Mazepin and Russell were out immediately, with the race red flagged again for another 20 minutes as the wreckage was removed.

 

During the stoppage, Red Bull and Mercedes had a series of radio calls with Formula One Race Director Michael Masi about Verstappen having to be moved behind Ocon and Hamilton for the third standing start or he would refer the opening corner incident to the race stewards.

 

Red Bull accepted the decision and the grid reformed, with the top three runners split on tyre strategy – Ocon and Hamilton still on the harder rubber and Verstappen on a fresh set of mediums, along with Bottas and Ricciardo behind him.

 

When the Grand Prix went green for a third time, pole-sitter immediately found Hamilton alongside him as they charged away from the front-row, but Verstappen swerved from the outside line and cut off Ricciardo and then made a late dive down the inside of both leaders into the first corner.

 

Hamilton touched Ocon after a brief touch as Verstappen shot down the inside, with the Alpine cutting the second corner after running deep into turn one following the light tap with the Mercedes and the Frenchman rejoining in-front of Verstappen before quickly handing the place back to the Red Bull.

 

Verstappen pulled to a 1.7 second gap by the end of the 17^th tour, the third restart lap, with Hamilton then charging by Ocon on the rundown to turn one at the beginning of the following tour.

 

This setup the latest battle between the two championship rivals at the front of the field, as they rapidly moved clear of Ocon, who was five seconds behind by the start of the 20^th lap, trading fastest lap times as the only two drivers lapping in the 1:32 range.

 

On lap 23, the race was disrupted again – this time for the deployment of the virtual safety car after AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel tangling together at turn two and the AlphaTauri’s front wing needed to be recovered out of the run-off area.

 

The caution was short and at the very end of the following tour the race went green again and Hamilton’s pursuit of Verstappen continued – their pace reaching the 1:31’s.

 

But second and third deployments of the virtual safety car were needed to clear move debris approaching the 30-lap mark – following Vettel having a collision with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen at the fourth corner after his clash with Tsunoda, for which the Japanese driver was hit with a five-second time penalty and relegated him down the order.

 

The third virtual safety car was much longer and lasted from the 29^th tour until a few corners of lap 33, at the end of which Verstappen held a 1.2 second lead, but the full speed conditions lasted just three more laps as another piece of debris had to be cleared under a fourth VSC from the entry of turn 14.

 

But that interruption last only a few moments, with Hamilton getting a close run behind race-leader Verstappen at the beginning of lap 37 – passing the Red Bull with DRS assistance on the run-down into the opening corner.

 

But Verstappen remained again on the inside and both ran deep, much like turn four at Interlagos, with the Red Bull then sliding wide and cutting the second corner and staying in-front as both went off the circuit.

 

 

Red Bull ordered Verstappen to let Hamilton by on lap 37 and he slowed down on the approach to the last corner – where the Mercedes went into the back of the RB16B in confusing scenes for both drivers, which broke off the right-side of his front wing.

 

After a few tours with Verstappen still in-front, during which Mercedes and Masi argued over what happened on the rundown to turn 27, the Dutchman again slowed to let Hamilton by at the same corner – but this time, once the Mercedes went through Verstappen snuck back ahead to retake the lead as they went through the left-hand hairpin.

 

In the aftermath of that incident as they 43^rd tour began, Verstappen was slapped in a five-second time penalty and appeared to slow again to let Hamilton by at the final turn.

 

This time, Verstappen attacked back on the outside, with Hamilton getting a warning for pushing him into the run-off area as the Mercedes driver remained in-front.

 

Hamilton pulled clear from there as Verstappen’s mediums began to fall and he backed off to make the finish, 11.825 seconds off, as Hamilton claimed his 103^rd-career victory at the Saudi Arabian GP and also took the crucial fastest lap bonus point despite damage to his front wing.

 

Both drivers are now equal on 369.5 points in the World Driver’s Championship standings setting the stage for a huge battle at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend.

 

Ocon lost the final podium place to Bottas at the finish line as the other Mercedes used the DRS to get ahead of the Alpine – having fought by Ricciardo a few tours earlier and started a late push to rescue a third-placed finish.

 

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished ahead of Ferrari duo Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – the former losing ground after the third restart – with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi and McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the top ten.

 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ended the Grand Prix in 11^th and ahead of Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi who was 12^th and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who settled for 13^th.

 

The aforementioned Tsunoda and Raikkonen finished 14^th and 15^th respectively and a lap down from the leaders.

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2021 Saudi Arabian GP – The Top Three

 

 

2021 Saudi Arabian GP Winner – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance:

“That was incredibly tough. I tried to be as sensible as I could be, with all my race experience over the years, just keeping the car on track and staying clean. I’m really proud of everyone and grateful for the car this weekend. I didn’t quite understand why he hit the brakes so heavily, and then I ran into the back of him, and then he drove off, so it was a bit confusing.”

 

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:

“Yeah, it was quite eventful. A lot of things happened that I don’t fully agree with, but I gave it my all. It will be decided [in Abu Dhabi] so hopefully we’ll have a good weekend, we’ll see.”

 

3^rd Place – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance:

“Not an easy day, the first red flag being on the hard tyre [for the restart] was a mistake. It wasn’t easy to overtake but finally on the last lap I got third. It’s a big challenge physically and mentally.”

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Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 Race Results Classification (50 Laps)

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	50	2:06:15.118	26
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	50	+11.825s	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	50	+27.531s	15
4	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	50	+27.633s	12
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	50	+40.121s	10
6	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	50	+41.613s	8
7	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	50	+44.475s	6
8	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	50	+46.606s	4
9	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	50	+58.505s	2
10	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	50	+61.358s	1
11	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	50	+77.212s	0
12	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	50	+83.249s	0
13	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	49	+1 lap	0
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	49	+1 lap	0
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	49	+1 lap	0
NC	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	44	DNF	0
NC	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	14	DNF	0
NC	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	14	DNF	0
NC	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	14	DNF	0
NC	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	8	DNF	0

 

* Provisional results. Note – Hamilton scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1106/saudi-arabia/race-result.html

 

Click here for the Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings

 

The final round of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season returns to the Yas Marina Circuit in Yas Island, United Arab Emirates for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 from Friday December 10-Sunday December 12.