Hamilton wins controversy laden Saudi Arabian GP to close gap on Verstappen

So, 21 races in, zero points the difference. That is how the Formula 1 driver championship stands heading into the deciding last race of the season to be held at Abu Dhabi, UAE this coming weekend 10-12 December 2021.

This is after seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton won a crazy, chaotic, controversial and incident full maiden Saudi Arabian Grand Prix held on Sunday night at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to reduce the hitherto eight point deficit between him and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after also clocking the fastest lap of the eventful race.

In a race that involved two red flag stoppages, two safety cars and three virtual safety cars, Hamilton led Verstappen and teammate Valteri Bottas as the three sealed off podium finishes in that respective order.

It was however a very calm start to the night race. At the end of turn one at lights out, Hamilton and Bottas comfortably maintained their grid positions as they kept out Max who had a cautious start to the race going by his standards.

That position situation then quickly changed by lap 10 as Mick Schumacher spun and hit the Turn 23 barriers, Mercedes chosing to take a pit stop for their drivers under the first safety car as Red Bull kept Max out. That decision payed off when the safety car turned into a red flag as Max got a free stop and gained what was two crucial grid positions at the time.

Upon a standing restart however, Hamilton got off the line quicker as he led going into turn one. With elbows out, Max managed to get back ahead as he went wide off track before cutting back dangerously across the Mercedes driver who had to back from the duel. While the two battled for first, Alpine's Esteban Ocon saw a gap and stole the lead as Max dropped to second and Lewis third.

Behind the leaders though, there were two incidents involving Sergio Perez and Nikita Mazepin who were forced to retire after collisions with Charles Leclerc and George Russell respectively, forcing another red flag to be deployed.

After intervention from FIA Race Director Michael Masi on the initial turn one incident between the fierce rivals, Lewis and Max switched positions after the Dutch driver was deemed to gain an unfair advantage, Ocon starting ahead of Lewis then Max. In that restart, Max made a superb move as he went upto first after spotting a gap on Hamilton's left who had to wait a lap later before passing Ocon.

Three virtual safety cars that followed from lap 28 to lap 36 seemed to work in Max's favour as Red Bull had fitted a medium tyre that was anticipated to struggle towards the end of the race compared to Hamilton's hard tyre.

After the virtual safety cars, Hamilton made a move on lap 36 on the main straight but the Dutch youngster driver braked too late as he ran wide at Turn 2 in retaining the lead unfairly. Red Bull were then instructed to give P1 back and on lap 37 as Max slowed, a moment of confusion and communication challenge ensued with Hamilton being caught off guard as he clipped the rear of his rival while he took some innocuous front right wing damage.

Hamilton managed to push on from the incident and on lap 42, Verstappen went wide to maintain the lead as the Mercedes driver looked to have closed in. This time though, the stewards slapped the Red Bull driver with a five second penalty for gaining an advantage.

On lap 43, Max again let Lewis past after being instructed to do so and that was the last the Dutch driver saw of his title rival as Hamilton put multiple fastest laps as he won by ten seconds, equaling the championship points tally on 369.5 points.

Bottas who had dropped to P5 managed to edge Ocon to P3 by just a tenth of a second as Mercedes got the double delight.

Danniel Riccardo who started in eleventh and who benefited from the red flags managed to finish in fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly. Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carls Sainz finished in seventh and eighth as Anthonia Giovinazzi and Lando Norris wrapped up the top ten.