Formula One was in Saudi Arabia for the FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2021, the first ever race in the country. Although many doubted that the circuit would lack overtaking, there was no shortage of drama, including multiple incidents between the championship rivals in the penultimate round of the 2021 season.
All eyes were on Max Verstappen in the pre-race, as Red Bull opted not to change his gearbox despite crashing out of qualifying on Saturday evening. With a slight lead in the championship, Verstappen had the opportunity to secure his first ever World Drivers’ Championship title this weekend, although it would require out-scoring rival Lewis Hamilton by 18 points. Hamilton had a slight advantage going into the race, having secured his fifth pole position of the 2021 season and his first consecutive pole of the year, while Verstappen had to settle for P3 on the grid.
Off the line, the top drivers all go away well from the grid. Hamilton maintained his lead into the first corner and Verstappen was unable to make any attempt on the inside of the first corner because Valtteri Bottas was there. Sergio Perez tried to make a lunge around the outside of Charles Leclerc in the first corner, but locked up and nearly ran into the rear of his teammate. Leclerc had the faster exit out of the corner and maintained P4.
It was a fairly orderly race until Mick Schumacher lost the rear of his Haas in turn 22 and slammed hard into the barriers. The safety car was deployed on lap 10 and many of the top teams responded by pitting to switch to the hard compound tyres. Max Verstappen inherited the race lead by taking a gamble to stay out.
The gamble ended up paying off for the championship leader, as the race was red flagged after a few laps behind the safety car, giving Red Bull a free pit stop. The race was stopped so that crews could replace a section of puncture barrier, which required the use of a crane.
Valtteri Bottas caught the attention of the Red Bull pit wall, as he crawled around the track behind the safety car to create a gap to his teammate Lewis Hamilton for the double-stack pit stop.
Allegations were flung back and forth by the two teams. Hamilton accused Verstappen of making a practice start when leaving the pit lane behind the safety car. Red Bull fired back, complaining about Hamilton dropping more than 10 cars lengths behind Verstappen on the lap to the starting grid.
The race restarted on the grid for a standing restart. Hamilton had the better start on the inside of the grid, taking the lead of the race before the first corner. Verstappen was around the outside of Hamilton and had to bounce over the kerbs on the inside of the second corner, overtaking Hamilton off the circuit and forcing the Mercedes driver to slow as the Red Bull rejoined in front of him. All of this drama allowed Esteban Ocon to take P2 from Hamilton.
Bottas locked up in the first corner, bunching up the pack of cars behind him. Sergio Perez found himself wedged between Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly after the first chicane. Three cars couldn’t fit into the narrow circuit and Perez squeezed Leclerc into the barrier. Perez spun around in front of the pack and into the barrier.
Behind, George Russell slammed on the brakes to avoid the chaos ahead. In doing so, he cut off Nikita Mazepin and the Haas driver rear ended Russell, ending both of their races. The race was red flagged to clear the damaged cars.
There was a lot of discussion under the red flag, as race control worked to sort out the order for the next standing restart. Ultimately, Verstappen was dropped to P3 behind Hamilton, while Ocon maintained his race lead.
On the second standing restart, Hamilton on the inside got away better than Verstappen. Verstappen’s slower start gave him the opportunity to get behind Hamilton and switch to the inside of the first corner. Verstappen dove down the inside of the first corner. Hamilton had to open his steering slightly to make room for Verstappen to get by. Hamilton and Ocon touch in the first corner, but Ocon was able to avoid any serious damage by jumping over the kerbs in turn 2.
The following lap, Hamilton got by Ocon down the main straight, unleashing him to chase down his championship rival.
The virtual safety car was deployed briefly after Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel collided in the first chicane. Tsunoda was on the outside of turn 1, which becomes the inside of turn 2. Tsunoda clipped the rear of Vettel’s Aston Martin, spinning them both. Vettel got going again quickly, while Tsunoda struggled to free himself from his broken front wing. Tsunoda earned a 5 second time penalty for causing a collision.
Vettel was involved in another incident a few laps later, this time with Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen had gained a position from Vettel by diving up the inside of a corner. Vettel had a better run out of the corner and fought back. Raikkonen stuck around the outside of the following corner and the two collided, littering debris over the circuit. The virtual safety car was deployed again to clean up some of the debris.
When the race resumed, it was clear that the circuit was in a rather poor condition due to the debris that was scattered throughout the circuit. Drivers were complaining about the state of the circuit, the most vocal of which was Fernando Alonso. Race control deployed a lengthy virtual safety car once again to allow marshals to clean the circuit of the debris from the variety of incidents in the race.
Under the virtual safety car, Hamilton appeared to gain a lot of ground on Verstappen. This was due to Raikkonen ahead of Verstappen, who was not quite driving at peak VSC pace.
The race resumed, but only for a short while as another piece of debris from an Aston Martin appeared on the circuit. The virtual safety car was deployed yet again to clean some debris.
The race resumed again and Hamilton continued to gain on Verstappen. Eventually, Hamilton was able to try an overtaking move around the outside of the first corner. Verstappen tried hard to defend, braking late into the corner and catching a chunk of oversteer under braking. This forced Hamilton to take evasive action as both cut the second corner over the kerbs.
Verstappen was told to give the position back. He tried to give back the position down the straight leading to the final corner. He slowed and braked, but Hamilton was not sure what was going on. His pit wall had been told the position was being given back, but the message was not relayed in time. Hamilton slowed and collided with the rear of the Red Bull, damaging his front wing. Hamilton felt that Verstappen had brake tested him.
Verstappen was once again told to give the position back once again to Hamilton. It took quite a few laps for him to do so. He eventually gave the place back in the same place as he had tried a few laps earlier, but he did so before the DRS detection point. This allowed Verstappen to get a better run in the final corner and have DRS down the main straight to once again take the race lead.
The following lap, Verstappen gave the position back to Hamilton again in the same place, although it did not appear that he was instructed to do so. Hamilton took the position again, forcing Verstappen wide in the final corner, in a move that race control warned Merecedes was borderline.
At the end of all that drama, Verstappen was given a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in the original incident that prompted all of the drama. Although the stewards almost certainly have a long night ahead of them to sort out all of the drama in the closing stages of the race.
It was Hamilton who took the race victory and a bonus point for fastest lap with Verstappen finishing in P2. Valtteri Bottas joined them on the bottom step of the podium, narrowly stealing the position from Esteban Ocon down the main straight by just 0.1 seconds. This race result means that the championship rivals enter the final race of the 2021 season with the same amount of points, making for an exciting end of the season next weekend.
This intense championship battle will come to a close in Abu Dhabi on the weekend of December 12.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. Hamilton | ||
| 2 | M. Verstappen | ||
| 3 | V. Bottas | ||
| 4 | E. Ocon | ||
| 5 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 6 | P. Gasly | ||
| 7 | C. Leclerc | ||
| 8 | C. Sainz | ||
| 9 | A. Giovinazzi | ||
| 10 | L. Norris | ||
| 11 | L. Stroll | ||
| 12 | N. Latifi | ||
| 13 | F. Alonso | ||
| 14 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 15 | K. Raikkonen | ||
| DNF | S. Vettel | ||
| DNF | G. Russell | ||
| DNF | S. Perez | ||
| DNF | N. Mazepin | ||
| DNF | M. Schumacher | ||
