Hamilton outlasts Verstappen in incident-filled Saudi Arabian GP

Lewis Hamilton has won a upturned and controversial Saudi Arabian Grand Prix without crashing twice with title rival Max Verstappen to zero the championship with one race remaining.

The first-ever race in Jeddah ended acrimoniously, with the warring title rivals accusing each other of dirty driving and toxic tactics without three standing restarts, two red flags and a string of virtual safety cars than stretched and shrunk the gap between the leaders throughout surpassing Verstappen waved Hamilton into the lead without intervention from race control.

The grand prix started tamely, with Hamilton leading teammate Valtteri Bottas hands off the line to hold Verstappen in third, but the wifely lasted only nine laps, when the first safety car was deployed to wipe up Mick Schumacher’s high-speed crash at Turn 22.

Mercedes stopped both drivers, leaving Verstappen to inherit the lead, but the strategy was turned on its throne by the visualization to suspend the race for windbreak repairs, gifting the Dutchman a self-ruling stop from first place.

A furious Hamilton was skeptical of the need for the red flag, but he saved his rage for the restart, where an inspired launch got him hands superiority of Verstappen and onto the first apex. Verstappen chose to cling to his outside and power through the run-off, wearing the corner and balking the Briton upon rejoining. Hamilton checked up and dropped to third overdue Esteban Ocon.

But that was as far the restart would get. Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc came together remoter back, the Mexican incidentally squeezing the Monegasque in the wall and taking himself out of the race in a spin.

Further when still it was all George Russell could do to slow to stave the carnage, transmissible Nikita Mazepin off guard. The Haas slammed into the when of the Williams, launching it into the air and sending both into retirement.

The race was stopped for a second time, and race director Michael Masi offered Verstappen the opportunity to start third overdue Ocon and Hamilton for having passed the Briton off the track at the previous restart. Red Bull Racing wonted the deal, handing Ocon pole for the third grid of the night. Hamilton launched from second and moved to the right to imbricate Ocon into the first turn, but he inadvertently left the door unshut on the inside for Verstappen to requirement the apex. They went three-wide into the first turn, Hamilton sandwiched in the middle, and Verstappen emerged with the lead from Ocon, leaving Hamilton a fortunately undamaged third.

The Mercedes got when past the Alpine hands into the first braking zone of lap 18 and set well-nigh his pursuit of the lead. He had the pace, but a string of virtual safety cars to well-spoken trash from the track tapped up the momentum of the race until lap 37, when Hamilton was finally worldly-wise to build unbearable momentum to launch virtually Verstappen’s outside at the first turn.

But Verstappen wasn’t prepared to requite up the track position without a fight, and he held firm the inside line, forcing contact and sending Hamilton off the road, emerging with his lead intact.

Race tenancy instructed Verstappen to hand the position to Hamilton, and the Dutchman slowed dramatically exiting the final corner. But Hamilton hadn’t been told to expect it, and in one of the season’s increasingly unconvincing flashpoints he hit the middle-of-the-road car as they trundled lanugo the straight.
Verstappen sped away, leaving Hamilton to assess the forfeiture to his front wing.

“I didn’t quite understand why all of a sudden he hit the brakes pretty heavily,” Hamilton said, having accused the Dutchman of brake-testing him over team radio. “Then I ran into the when of him, and then he moved on.”
Verstappen insisted he had washed-up nothing wrong.

“I slowed down, I wanted to let him by,” Verstappen said. “I was on the right but he didn’t want to overtake, and we touched. I don’t really understand what happened there.”

The FIA wasn’t convinced, and without the race he was tabbed to the stewards to wordplay accusations of dangerous driving. Hamilton moreover has been summoned.

Red Bull Racing was told to let Hamilton through a second time, and Verstappen obliged then at the end of lap 42 into the final corner, ensuring he could pick up DRS on the front straight to take when the lead into the first turn.

It wasn’t unbearable to satisfy race control, and he ceded the lead then on the pursuit tour. Hamilton this time ran him deep, forcing him off the track at the last corner to ensure his momentum onto the front straight was broken, to take the lead for the final time and grind out a controversial victory.

“I’ve been racing a long time, but that was incredibly tough,” he said. “I tried to be as sensible and as tough as I could be out there.

“With all my race wits over the years, I was just keeping my car on track and staying clean. It was difficult.”

Combined with a point for fastest lap, Hamilton eliminated his deficit to Verstappen superiority of next weekend’s final grand prix in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen, who maintains the title lead by virtue of having one increasingly win than Hamilton, cut a frustrated icon without the race.

“It was quite eventful,” he said. “A lot of thing happened which I don’t fully stipulate with, but it is what it is. I tried to requite it all.

“It will be decided . Hopefully it’s a good weekend.”

Valtteri Bottas took third place from Esteban Ocon by just 0.1s, pinching the place as they crossed the line on the final lap, to propel Mercedes 28 points well-spoken of Red Bull Racing and prevent Verstappen from making a late stop for a fastest lap attempt.
“It was not an easy day, there were many obstacles,” said Bottas, who was unprotected out at the first restart on nonflexible tires, dropping from third to fifth. “Obviously with the red flags and everything it made it a little bit tricky.
“I just kept pushing. It wasn’t easy to overtake today, but finally on the last straight I got it.”
Esteban Ocon crush a strong second half of the race to hold fourth to stretch Alpine’s lead over AlphaTauri for fifth in the standings.
Daniel Ricciardo tapped his three-race pointless streak with fifth superiority of Pierre Gasly and Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Antonio Giovinazzi scored his first points since the Monaco Grand Prix in May with ninth place superiority of McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the top 10.