In Pictures: Saudi Arabia 2021
The F1 Circus arrived at a new track for the second time in a row, this time to the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second largest city after Riyadh, the country's capital.
The circuit is a brand-new facility built on the Jeddah Corniche adjoining the Red Sea, and it is the second longest, only 800 meters shorter than mighty Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
On Friday, it was a rather steep learning curve for most drivers and teams, although, being the best in the world, they did learn quickly and started doing fast times by the end of the day, with Lewis Hamilton ending fastest in both qualifying sessions.
Saturday was a bit of the same, although during the third practice, it was Max Verstappen setting the fastest lap, opening all kinds of possibilities for qualifying.
During the last part of Qualifying, on the last flying lap, Max Verstappen was on course to getting Pole Position but understeer in the final corner forced him into the wall, ending his attempt. At the end of the day, it was Lewis Hamilton starting on Pole with Bottas and Verstappen behind him.
And then came Sunday. During the pre-race ceremonies, the whole paddock joined in a minute of silence in memory of Sir Frank Williams, a true legend of the sport.
The Grand Prix started with Hamilton pulling away from teammate Bottas and Verstappen close behind the Finn. Then on lap 10, Mick Schumacher crashed heavily at turn 23, the Safety Car came out immediately. Schumacher was ok. Hamilton and Bottas pitted for hards, both came out behind Verstappen. Leclerc, Perez, Norris and Alonso also pitted.
The damage to the barriers was extensive so the race was Red Flagged on lap 14 of 50. Verstappen pulls into the pitman in P1 and is practically handed a free pitstop, getting hard tires for his RB16B. The race was set to resume at 8:15 local time. And so, it did. It was a second standing start, but with Verstappen ahead of Hamilton this time around. Verstappen got to the line in about the expected time, but Hamilton took far longer, causing Verstappen's tires to lose temperature and lost time during the re-start, and was overtaken by Hamilton, but Verstappen cuts the corner, cuts back across Hamilton and forces him wide, which allows Ocon through. So, it was Verstappen, ahead of Ocon, ahead of Hamilton. Behind them, Bottas locked up, Perez spun, causing mayhem as Mazepin crashes into the back of Russell's Williams. The race was Red Flagged yet again on lap 16.
Lots of confusion around as Race Control try to negotiate with the teams up front the new starting positions. In the meantime, Verstappen's tires were changed again, this time for brand new Mediums. At the end it was agreed that Ocon was to start first, followed by Hamilton, followed by Verstappen.
At the re-start, Hamilton went for Ocon but left the door open to his left and Verstappen took advantage of it and took the lead of the race with Ocon between him and Hamilton.
Then, on lap 23, the Yellows are out as Tsunoda lost his front wing at turn 1. The VSC (Virtual Safety Car) is deployed while the Marshalls clear up the debris on track. It ended on lap 24 and racing resumed with Hamilton at around 1.2 seconds behind Verstappen. On lap 27, Raikkonen crashed into the side of Vettel's Aston Martin, breaking his front wing. On lap 29 another VSC is deployed to clean up the debris.
On lap 37, Hamilton is in DRS range and tries to overtake at the end of the straight, but forced Verstappen out, cutting the corner again. Verstappen is told to give the place back to Hamilton, so he decided to slow down, but Hamilton didn't, so Verstappen braked even more, and Hamilton crashed into the back of the Red Bull. "He just brake tested me," exclaimed Hamilton.
On lap 43, Hamilton is allowed to pass, but Verstappen retakes the place immediately. Then the Stewards penalized Verstappen with a 5-second time penalty for "Leaving the track and gaining an advantage." He lets Hamilton through, and that was that. Hamilton went on to win the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with Verstappen second, and a fast-charging Bottas overtaking Ocon in the last few meters to finish in third place.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM:
““I’ve been racing for a long time, but today was incredibly tough. I tried to stay as sensible and tough as I could. I used my racing experience from previous years to keep the car on the track while driving clean. It was difficult, but we pushed through as a team. In the second half of the season, we had to overcome all kinds of obstacles that came our way, so I’m incredibly proud of everyone. I’m very thankful for the spectators who were here this weekend. It’s very nice to be here.
We’ve done a fantastic job this weekend with what we have. Valtteri put in a great performance today and scored important points for the team. That’s important for all the guys and gals at the factory. This was a super event! I felt very welcome here. The people were wonderful and the track is phenomenal, very difficult mentally and physically, but that’s how we want it to be. On to the next race!””
““There was definitely a lot of action today, a lot of things happened. I was told to give the position back, so I moved off the racing line and slowed down, Lewis just stayed behind me, I don’t understand why he didn’t pass. I don’t agree with the penalty, but it is what it is and we’ll just move on. We’re on equal points now heading into the final race, it’s going to be an exciting end to the season. Thanks to all fans, for supporting me and voting me Driver Of The Day! On to Abu Dhabi””
““Today was not an easy day. With the red flags and all the incidents, there were many obstacles that made life difficult for us. Nevertheless, I just kept pushing. Overtaking was difficult today, but in the end I was able to secure third place on the home straight. It was a wonderful feeling to finish on the podium like that. Esteban drove great, it was hard to overtake him, but I didn’t give up and that’s how this exciting finish happened. We got a good points haul for the team today and it’s great that Lewis is now level on points with Max. Now we’re in for an incredible weekend in Abu Dhabi!””
