Lewis Hamilton wins crazy 2021 Saudi Arabian GP ahead of Verstappen and Bottas

Lewis Hamilton wins inaugural 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of title rival Max Verstappen and Bottas. The drivers’ championship is now TIED at 369.5 points heading to the final race.

The Mercedes driver picks up his 103 career win after two red flag stoppages and many virtual Safety car incidents played against him. He and Max came together twice in this race including Lewis going into Verstappen’s back of the car.

“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.“-said animated Lewis after leveling points with Verstappen.

Max Verstappen drove exceptionally to pick up P2 and keep the title fight alive, given so many confusing calls from team and FIA over radio. He said, “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.“

On the incident with Lewis , Verstappen explained why he slowed down before Lewis ran into him. “I slowed down, I wanted to let him by, I was on the right but he didn’t want to overtake and we touched. I don’t really understand what happened there.“

2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race classification

Ocon, who had benefitted from a stop during the first red flag, missed out on a podium by just a tenth of a second having lost P3 right on the line at the chequered flag. That put the Alpine driver fourth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren, who started 11th but enjoyed a rapid start and a red-flag pit stop for P5.

In sixth was Pierre Gasly, who lost places at the start but made them back in the second race restart for AlphaTauri – keeping the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in P7 and P8 respectively.

Antonio Giovinazzi started 10th but ended up ninth ahead of Lando Norris, who started on softs but pitted during the first Safety Car to end the race on hard tyres.

Abu Dhabi hosts the season finale, and with Hamilton having taken 26 points to Verstappen’s 18 here, the championship protagonists are now equal on 369.5 points. But the fallout from Jeddah may well continue through the night, with the stewards set to investigate Hamilton and Verstappen’s Turn 27 tussle after the race.