16/04/2025 12:55
F1 descended on Saudi Arabia for the first time in December 2021 as
the Jeddah Corniche Circuit hosted its first grand prix. Tensions
were high as heading into the weekend, Max Verstappen led Lewis
Hamilton by just eight points in the drivers' championship. Saudi
Arabia marked the penultimate round of the year and offered
Verstappen his first chance at sealing his maiden title. The
dramatic circumstances of the championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand
Prix were still one week away - but Jeddah had its own
controversies in store. Following a last-corner crash in his Red
Bull at the end of Q3 while being on course for pole position,
Verstappen had to settle for third on the starting grid. Hamilton
secured the top spot with Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas
alongside him on the front row. Knowing Sunday's race offered the
chance to put one hand on the title, pressure was high as night
time descended and the race got underway. Madness! The grand prix
that unfolded was one of the most chaotic in the modern era of F1.
With two red flags, one safety car and four virtual safety cars,
with the madness commencing on lap 10. Haas' Mick Schumacher
suffered a sizeable shunt at Turn 21, which saw the safety car
deployed. Both Mercedes drivers pitted, but race control then opted
to throw a red flag to carry out barrier repairs. Verstappen, who
had not yet pitted, got a free tyre swap while also gaining the
lead in the race. Hamilton made the stronger getaway at the
restart, but Verstappen was not going to make the move easy for
him. At the opening corner, the Dutchman swooped back around the
outside of the Mercedes driver but completed the move off the
track. The second red flag was deployed moments later as further
behind, a multi-car collision occurred, which included the second
Red Bull of Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Race
control bizarrely negotiated the restart order with Red Bull, who
agreed to let Alpine's Esteban Ocon start from the head of the
field in light of Verstappen's illegal overtake. From third,
Verstappen established another aggressive approach to move into the
lead at the restart, with Hamilton soon following him past Ocon for
second. The duo ran at the head of the field for almost 20 tours of
the circuit uninterrupted before lap 37 saw the situation boil
over. Verstappen aggressively defended his lead as Hamilton
overtook him, causing them both to run wide at the first corner.
When race control ordered Verstappen to hand the position back to
his rival, he was told by Red Bull to do so "strategically".
Verstappen opted to do this on the run to the final corner and
slowed to a crawl before the DRS detection point. Surprised by
Verstappen backing off, Hamilton ran into the back of the Red Bull
car, with both sustaining damage. The two continued to squabble
before Hamilton finally managed to get past Verstappen and take the
race win, but the bitter feud, which had already extended into the
garages at Red Bull and Mercedes respectively, had reached new
heights. What was said after the race? Verstappen was ultimately
deemed at fault for the collision and was issued a 10-second time
penalty for his actions, as well as two penalty points on his super
licence. However, the time penalty did not impact his second-place
finishing position and ensured the pair were level on points ahead
of the final round of the campaign in Abu Dhabi. After the race,
Verstappen lashed out at the inconsistency of the F1 stewards and
pointed to an incident that occurred a handful of weeks prior at
the Brazilian Grand Prix. "I find it interesting that I am the one
who gets the penalty when both of us ran outside of the white
lines," he said. "In Brazil it was fine and now suddenly I get a
penalty for it. Well, you could clearly see both didn't make the
corner, but it's fine. I mean I also don't really spend too much
time on it. We have to move forward." During the race, Hamilton
labelled Verstappen a "crazy guy" over the team radio and was asked
if he thought the Dutchman drove dangerously. Providing his
opinion, Hamilton said: "I definitely feel that there were
scenarios where that was the case. "This is not the first time
that I've had to avoid a collision, that's how I felt at the
moment. "But you know sometimes you say things in the heat of the
moment and you go back and rewatch things and then you maybe feel
differently but in the moment that's how it felt. "But I really
just tried to recompose myself and chase down and keep fighting."
The clash in Saudi Arabia was soon overshadowed by the dramatic
conclusion to the campaign in Abu Dhabi as a last-lap overtake in
controversial circumstances saw Verstappen triumphing in the
championship fight.
