Lewis Hamilton started from pole late in Q3 after a Verstappen accident, but an accident on lap 10 by Mick Schumacher sent Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas into the pits and handed the lead over to Verstappen, who was then able to change tires for free in the race was red-flagged a few laps later.
On the restart, Hamilton had brilliantly returned to the lead, but Verstappen slipped off the track at Turn 1 before coming back past Hamilton and regaining the lead – with Verstappen then summoned to resume the next race – following another red flag – from P3, behind Esteban Ocon and Hamilton.
Verstappen pulled off the restart on lap 17 of 50 to pass the two drivers and regain the lead, but Hamilton was building up the pressure – and after Verstappen got off the track on lap 37, Red Bull ordered him to give the lead to Hamilton, with Verstappen appearing to slow down during the race at Turn 27, Hamilton being caught off guard as he collided with his rival’s rear.
The pair weren’t over, however, with Verstappen letting Hamilton pass again and immediately regaining position on lap 42, while a lap later Hamilton appeared to pass Verstappen off track at turn 27 before verifying his 103rd win – while As Verstappen was there later, he imposed a five-second penalty for his accident at Turn 1 with Hamilton on lap 37.
And after all that, Hamilton had a few chosen words to say about his rival.
“I’ve raced heaps of drivers through my life within the twenty-eight years,” aforementioned Hamilton, whose third straight triumph puts him equal on points heading to the season finale in Abu Dhabi next week. “I’ve encountered a lot of various characters and there’ a number of at the highest that are over the limit. Rules quite don’t apply, or they don’t consider the rules.
“[Max] is over the limit for sure,” he added. “I’ve avoided collisions on such a lot of occasions with the guy, and that I don’t continuously mind being the one that will do that, as a result of you reside to fight another day, that I clearly did.
“Then obviously he put me to the test, I think I’ll try to take the DRS to the last turn to overtake me again at Turn 1, so there was some commotion. thought I lost my wing. ”
Verstappen and Hamilton were afterwards summoned to the stewards over the incident that Hamilton delineated as brake-testing – with Hamilton explaining his half within the incident.
“I didn’t get the information,” aforesaid Hamilton, “so I didn’t very perceive what was going on. it absolutely was very, very confusing. All of a sudden, he started backing up so reasonably moving a bit… I used to be like, is he kind of like attempting to play some crazy tactic? I don’t know.
“Then all of an unforeseen the message started coming back through. He hit the brakes thus hard, and that I nearly we have a tendency to fully up the rear of him and took us each out. For him, it doesn’t matter if we don’t both finish. For me, we both got to finish.
“It was obvious that he tried to let me go what he asked him to do, but in front of the territory of the dres, and then it would have meant that he wanted me to return to the last corner.
The result sets up an exhilarating championship decider in Abu Dhabi. however asked if he was feeling the tension, Hamilton smiled wryly, replying: “I’m in person chilled. I want I’m within the prize ring and I’m able to go.”
Where to start? We finished 2nd, after an eventful race and a lot of things happened that I don’t fully agree with. I went for it on track and gave it my all. Thanks to all fans, for supporting me and voting me Driver Of The Day! On to Abu Dhabi #KeepPushing 🇸🇦 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/5kV8083ebd
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) December 5, 2021
WHAT. A. THRILLING. RACE😱🏁 @LewisHamilton wins the first ever #SaudiArabianGP! 🏆👊
Also a strong performance from @ValtteriBottas who secured P3 on the final straight🚀💪
Now all eyes on the #F1 season finale next weekend, Team! 🤜🤛#WeLivePerformance @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/G8MTQtMoGX— Mercedes-AMG Motorsport (@amgmotorsport) December 5, 2021
