The Times - UK (2021-12-06)

60 2GM Monday December 6 2021 | the times

SportSaudi Arabian Grand Prix

In a thrilling, baffling and incident-
filled inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand
Prix, Lewis Hamilton claimed victory
to draw level with his title rival, Max
Verstappen, with one race remaining of
an extraordinary season.
Just as it has been with these two
since the first race in March, they found
themselves wheel to wheel, courting
controversy with almost every inter-
action and eventually making contact.
The drama unfolded throughout the
race but peaked in the closing stages.
After two red flags and numerous
virtual safety cars, they finally found
themselves battling for the lead, but it
was not good clean racing.
They fought through turn one, when
Verstappen was judged to have cut the
corner and gained an advantage. The
Dutchman was told to give back the
place and incurred a five-second
penalty for his detour — and that is
when the fireworks began.
As Verstappen slowed to give back
the place, Hamilton ended up going
into the back of the Red Bull. The
Mercedes front wing suffered damage.
Hamilton accused Verstappen of
“brake testing”, a serious offence,
especially on this frighteningly fast
track that has little run-off.
Hamilton made clear his feelings
after the race. “I’ve been racing a long
time but that was incredibly tough,” the
36-year-old said. “I tried to be as tough
as I could be out there but also sensible
and, with all my race experience over
the years, just keeping the car on track
and staying clean. It was difficult, we’ve
had all sorts of things thrown at us, par-
ticularly in the second half of the
season, and so I’m just really proud of
everyone.”
With Union Jacks draped over the
grandstands, Verstappen was booed at
his post-race interview. “A lot of things
happened which I don’t fully agree
with,” the 24-year-old said. “I slowed. I
wanted to let him by. I was on the right,
and he didn’t want to overtake, and we
touched. I don’t really understand what
happened there.”
Despite losing, Verstappen was voted
driver of the day. “Luckily the fans have
a clear mind about racing,” he said.
“This sport is more about penalties
than racing. That’s not F1.”
Hamilton, chasing a record eighth
world title, has all the momentum
going into the final race after securing
his third straight victory. He had the
perfect start, retaining the lead from
pole position, but the race was turned
on its head by two red flags, with
Verstappen surging into the lead after
the final restart on lap 17.
The Englishman fought back and
finally made his move to dive up the in-
side at turn one on lap 37 but he then
had to pull away. “This guy is f***ing
crazy,” Hamilton said of his rival.
Verstappen was eventually told to let
Hamilton back into the lead, having
been deemed to have gained an advan-
tage off the track. When Hamilton
went to overtake, as the stewards had
instructed, he drove into the back of the
Red Bull. Verstappen had slowed and
Hamilton smashed his front wing on
his tyre. “He brake-tested me,” Hamil-
ton shouted over radio.
That incident was investigated by the
stewards, who last night gave Verstap-
pen a ten-second penalty. This meant
he retained second place in the race, but

Verstappen ‘over the limit’

keep the position, that is well known

between all us drivers, but that doesn’t

apply to one of us I guess.”

Verstappen did not agree with the

stewards’ decisions and claimed that

too many penalties were ruining the

sport. “That is not how I grew up

watching Formula One,” he said.

When asked about his rival calling

him “crazy”, Verstappen brushed it off.

“Emotions were running high at the

time,” he said. “I don’t agree with the

decisions but I don’t want to waste too

much time on it because we don’t need

to make headlines out of it.”

Martin Brundle, the former F1 driver

and now a Sky Sports pundit, said that

Verstappen had been “particularly

naughty”.

He added: “There’s aggressive, deter-

mined, feisty racing, and then there’s

what we saw this evening, which was

too much.”

the rules. Today I just tried to do my

talking on the track and keep the car in

between the white lines, and do it the

right way.” When asked to clarify if he

was referring to Verstappen, he replied:

“He’s over the limit, for sure. I’ve avoid-

ed a collision on so many occasions

with the guy.”

Hamilton, who is fighting for a record

eighth world championship, accused

his rival of brake-testing him. The

Englishman suggested that while 19 of

the drivers knew the track limits, one in

particular did not.

“We are seeing multiple incidents, we

are supposed to do our racing on track

between the white lines, the rules

haven’t been clear from the stewards

and those things have been allowed so

it has continued,” he said. “I know I

can’t overtake someone off track and

continued from back

The key incidents in Jeddah

Lap 15

Second start after red flag.

Verstappen overtakes Hamilton for

the lead but does so by going off

track. Moments later there are

crashes behind which trigger

another red flag. During that period,

FIA negotiates restart order, with

Ocon on pole, Hamilton second and

Verstappen drops to third

Lap 17

Third start. Verstappen on new

faster tyres, gets past the two in

front of him to take the lead

Lap 37

Hamilton makes a move in turn one

for the lead but Verstappen holds

on. Stewards determine he went off

track and is told to give place back,

and is given a five-second penalty

and one penalty point on his licence

Lap 37

On the penultimate corner, Hamilton

moves to take the lead back, but he

ends up hitting the back of

Verstappen’s car, damaging his front

wing. Verstappen remains in the lead

Lap 42

Verstappen eventually gives the

lead to Hamilton, as instructed by

the FIA, but immediately takes it

back at the next corner

Lap 44

Hamilton, with a damaged front

wing, gets past Verstappen cleanly

heading into turn one and takes the

lead. He goes on to win the race

he was also given two points on his

licence and now has seven. Any driver

who has 12 in a 12-month period

faces an automatic race ban.

Verstappen was leading

after that collision but still

had to give back the

place, which he did a few

laps later before retak-

ing the lead. Even with

a broken front wing

Hamilton was quicker

and he seized the lead

with six laps left.

The race was stopped for

nearly 40 minutes because of

the red flags. For the first ten laps the

top five ran as they had qualified and for

a while it seemed as if this first race in

Jeddah would be a dreary one. Then, on

lap ten, Mick Schumacher’s Haas end-

ed up in the wall at the perilous turn 22.

The safety car was deployed and

Mercedes pulled in their cars from the

front two spots. Red Bull kept Verstap-

pen out and he inherited the lead but

then Lady Luck shone on him as a red

flag was waved, which gave him a free

stop in which he could change his tyres.

Starting from second this time,

Hamilton got the better of Verstappen

into turn one. Verstappen had the in-

side line and tried to use it but ran out of

road and cut the corner to take the lead.

Hamilton had to pull out and was over-

taken by the Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

Moments later, at the back of the

pack, Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez went spin-

ning into a wall after a tussle with Ferra-

ri’s Charles Leclerc, which caused the

Williams of George Russell to brake.

Nikita Mazepin’s Haas ran into the back

of him. Another red flag and the FIA,

the sport’s governing body, made itself

busy, controversially, as it negotiated

with Red Bull about the restart order.

Michael Masi, the FIA race director,

got on the radio to Red Bull to “give you

the opportunity to start from grid posi-

tion two”. The team said they would

discuss it internally and get back to him.

A minute later they agreed to accept

second if Ocon were on pole.

“You’d be back behind Lewis; that is

my offer,” Masi replied.

Unsurprisingly Red Bull did not like

the idea of their rival starting at the

front and instead negotiated for Ocon

to start first, with Hamilton second and

Verstappen third. After a 20-minute

break, the third start of the race was su-

perb by Verstappen. Red Bull had opted

to put him on fresh, faster medium tyr-

es and he got the jump off the line.

With a beautiful sweep up the inside

the three frontrunners were side by

side through turn one, with Ver-

stappen carrying all the mo-

mentum to lead through

turn two. Hamilton

passed Ocon a lap later to

move up to second and

begin his pursuit of Ver-

stappen. That is when

the real drama started.

After 21 races and thou-

sands of miles travelled

around the globe, the season

will, remarkably, come down to

the final race of the year with nothing to

separate these two fierce rivals.

Abu Dhabi

Grand Prix

Sunday, 1pm

TV: Sky Sports F1,

highlights on Channel 4

at 5.30pm

2 3

Hamilton sets up blockbuster

Rebecca Clancy

Motor Racing

Correspondent,

Jeddah

L Hamilton (GB)

Mercedes 2:06:15.118s

M Verstappen (Neth)

Red Bull +11.825s

plus 10sec penalty

V Bottas (Fin)

Mercedes +27.531s

Constructors

4 5 6 7 8 9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

How they finished

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

Mercedes 587.5

Red Bull 559.5

Ferrari 307.5

McLaren 269

Alpine 149

AlphaTauri 120

Aston Martin 77

Williams 23

Alfa Romeo 13

Haas 0

Fastest lap L Hamilton 1:30.734s

E Ocon (Fr) Alpine +27.633s

D Ricciardo (Aus) McLaren +40.121s

P Gasly (Fr) AlphaTauri +41.613s

C Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari +44.475s

C Sainz (Sp) Ferrari +46.606s

A Giovinazzi (It) Alfa Romeo +58.505s

L Norris (GB) McLaren +61.358s

L Stroll (Can) Aston Martin +77.212s

N Latifi (Can) Williams +83.249s

F Alonso (Sp) Alpine +1 lap

Y Tsunoda (Japan) AlphaTauri +1 lap

K Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo +1 lap

S Vettel (Ger) Aston Martin DNF

S Pérez (Mex) Red Bull DNF

N Mazepin (Russ) Haas DNF

G Russell (GB) Williams DNF

M Schumacher (Ger) Haas DNF

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

Max Verstappen Red Bull 369.5

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 369.5

Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 218

Sergio Pérez Red Bull 190

Charles Leclerc Ferrari 158

Lando Norris McLaren 154

Carlos Sainz Ferrari 149.5

Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 115

Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 100

Fernando Alonso Alpine 77

Driver Team Points

1

Race leaders

fe el th e h e at

1 High drama on turn one of lap

37 as Hamilton tries to go round

the outside and overtake

Verstappen. The Dutchman goes

off the track but keeps the lead.

2 For going off the track,

Verstappen is ordered to give the

lead back to Hamilton and brakes

hard, just as the Mercedes roars

up behind him. Hamilton appears

to be unaware of the instruction

to Verstappen and the collision

causes damage to the front wing

of Hamilton’s car.

3 The Mercedes team principal,

Toto Wolff, shows his frustration

and anger after the incident.

4 Verstappen despairs at the end

of the race after his lead in the

drivers’ championship is gone.

5 Hamilton holds aloft the

winner’s trophy, knowing his

hopes of an eighth world title are

still alive.