SAUDI ARABIA. Jeddah: Lewis Hamilton scored a big victory after a tremendously thrilling race during the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the world’s fastest street circuit, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit last Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Max Verstappen secured the second position.
Valtteri Bottas secured third place after a neck-to-neck race with Esteban Ocon finishing just a tenth of a second ahead of the Alpine driver, Ocon. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo started 11th but finished P5. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly secured the sixth position ahead of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who secured P7 and P8 respectively. Antonio Giovinazzi started 10th and moved one point ahead to finish at 9th ahead of Lando Norris.
Hamilton is now all set to participate in the penultimate race of this season at Abu Dhabi with Max Verstappen in the title race with the same championship points. Lewis Hamilton crossed Max Verstappen with six laps remaining to win the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix thus creating a title-deciding finale at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in UAE.
The race at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah Corniche Circuit saw two standing restarts, safety cars, red flags, and several collisions including that between the World Championship rivals, and Hamilton and Verstappen became the talk of the town.
The highlights of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix can be viewed here:
“It is what it is. I tried, at least” said Red Bull Honda Driver Max Verstappen and further added, “It was quite eventful … a lot of things happened which I don’t fully agree with … I tried on track to give it all … just lacking a bit of rubber I think towards the end, but still second,”
“I’ve been racing a long time and that was incredibly tough,” said Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton. He also said, “I tried to be as sensible and as tough as I could be out there … [I used] all my racing experience just keeping the car on the track and staying clean … we’ve had all sorts of things thrown at us in the second half of the season.”
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Top 5
- Lewis Hamilton (Team Mercedes AMG Petronas), Time: 2:06:15.118, Points: 26
- Max Verstappen (Team RedBull Racing Honda), Time: +21.825s,
Points: 18 - Valteri Bottas (Team Mercedes AMG Petronas), Time: +27.531s,
Points: 15 - Esteban Ocon (Team Alpine-Renault) , Time: +27.633s, Points: 12
- Daniel Ricciardo (Team McLaren), Time: +40.121s, Points: 10
Driver Standing after Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing), Points: 369.5
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Points: 369.5
- Valteri Bottas (Mercedes), Points: 218
Constructors Standings after Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Mercedes – (Hamilton / Bottas), Points: 587.5
- Red Bull Racing – (Verstappen / Perez), Points: 559.5
- Ferrari – (Charles / Carlos), Points: 307.5
About Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a 6.174 km racing circuit located on the Jeddah Corniche adjoining the Red Sea. The track is placed between the island mosque and new marina which is 12 km away from Jeddah city center.
The circuit is pretty fast with an average speed of 252km/h which is second only to Monza. It is the fastest street circuit in Formula One and the track is the second-longest track on the Formula One calendar after Spa-Francorchamps.
Carsten Tilke, son of Hermann Tilke, a well-known architect behind many F1 Circuits is the architect behind this street circuit and has worked closely with F1’s Motorsport team to design a track that puts overtaking at the heart of the project.
The circuit staged the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 5 December 2021 under floodlights.
Conclusion
Max Verstappen will go into the final Formula One race of the season with the same number of championship points as Lewis Hamilton with Verstappen officially leading the World Championship on count back.
Coming next is the penultimate race of the Formula One season for 2021, the ‘Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’ which is scheduled from December 10 to 12, 2021, at Yas Marina Circuit.
To catch hold of the latest and related sports news please visit the Sports Section of Transcontinental times.
