7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton produced yet another sensational drive in an incident-packed Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to go level with Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship. Red Bull’s main man did all he could to stop the silver arrow but penalties cost him the race and it was the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas who crossed the line in third position to wrap up the podium places of the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Let’s have a look at the men who shined and the men who left us wanting more.
MEN WHO SHINED
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In the penultimate race of the season, Lewis Hamilton starting from pole kept the position before the session was red-flagged. After the restart, Verstappen took the lead, and with 10 laps remaining, the two championship contenders touched each other as Verstappen was letting Hamilton go after he was signaled by his team to give away the position. This fell in Lewis’ favor as the Red Bull driver was given a 10-second time-penalty for ‘break testing’ Lewis. As a result, Hamilton picked up his 103rd career win with Verstappen taking home P2. The battle for P3 got as interesting as it could between Bottas and Estaban Ocon in the Alpine. The #77 made a late move on the final corner to step on the podium with Ocon finishing P4. After starting 11th on the grid, Ricciardo fought his way up and took home P5, and right behind him was the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly. Next were the two Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who finished alongside each other for the third time in a row. In P9, was the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi who secured his highest finish this season and the final driver to pick up a point was Lando Norris who recovered well to secure P10.
MEN WHO LEFT US WANTING MORE
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The Saudi Arabian GP was red-flagged twice and caused a lot of chaos during the restarts. The first one to bow out was Mick Schumacher’s Haas which crashed into the barriers just like Leclerc did in FP3. After the restart, Leclerc and Sergio Perez touched which caused the Red Bull to spin around causing a lot of damage to the back of the grid. George Russel who tried to get out of Perez’s way had to slow down and was caught by Nikita Mazepin’s Haas which couldn’t slow down in time. A tough battle between this season’s overtaking kings, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen saw the Aston Martin of the 4-time World Champion retire with eight laps remaining.
STANDINGS:
Drivers
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After 21 races of the 2021 Formula1 season, there is nothing that separates Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both the riders find themselves with 369.5 points each but Verstappen holds an edge with his nine race wins compared to Lewis’ 8. The battle for third seems settled as Bottas took his tally to 218 points whereas his rival Sergio Perez went out with a DNF and is still stuck on 190 points. In P5 we have Charles Leclerc (158) who got the better of Lando Norris (154) in recent races to take him four points ahead of the Mclaren driver. Right behind him in the standings is his close friend and former teammate Carlos Sainz with 149.5 points. A top 5 finish for Daniel Ricciardo helped him take his points tally to 115 points. Next up, we have Pierre Gasly who’s had a brilliant season and finds himself in P9 with 100 points and it’s Fernando Alonso with 77 points who wraps up the top 10 of the drivers’ championship.
Constructors
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A DNF for Sergio Perez helped Mercedes extend their lead to 28 points at the top and it looks like the constructors’ championship will go down to the wire as well. The battle for being the best of the rest seems settled as Ferrari now finds themselves with a 38.5 lead to their rivals McLaren who have been off their target in the last couple of races. A P4 finish for Estan Ocon helped Alpine take their tally to 149 points this season, which is 29 ahead of their rivals Alpha Tauri. Next up we have Aston Martin (77) who failed to take any points the weekend followed by Alpha Romeo with 13 points and Haas who will have the opportunity to score at least one point this season in Abu Dhabi.
Formula 1 now travels to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi next weekend for the final race of the 2021 season. Will we see a new F1 World Champion or see Lewis Hamiton pick up his eighth F1 World Champion? Only time will tell…
[Featured Image Credit: Formula 1]
Shashank Iyer