Lewis Hamilton won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a titanic and controversial battle with title foe Max Verstappen. The race saw a number of yellow flags and mid-field crashes that required two red flags ergo restarts. Verstappen found himself in the lead at the first round of yellow flags after Hamilton pitted under safety car conditions. At both restarts, Hamilton and Verstappen fought wheel-to-wheel in the run-up to turn one, on both occasions Verstappen fought like a blindfolded Lion on the hunt for prey. But Hamilton was wary of Verstappen’s roar and on both restarts and gave space rather than risk a collision. Verstappen on the other threw caution to the wind, do or die on the limit overtakes with very little regard if any of the moves worked in his favour or not.

And Verstappen did make the overtakes work and he also took it to the limit, overtaking Hamilton off-track limits at turn-one with 13 laps to go. Race control ordered Red Bull to instruct Verstappen to hand the position back to Hamilton. Verstappen did not immediately follow orders and when he eventually did, he slowed down on the straight on the run-up to the last corner. Hamilton was caught unawares and drove into the back of the Red Bull.

Hamilton was lucky to sustain only minor damage to the front wing of his Mercedes. Eventually, Verstappen conceded with six laps to go. However, Verstappen picked up a 5-second penalty for initially ignoring race control instructions. By now the Red Bull’s tyres were beginning to fade and Verstappen backed off to ensure he did not pick up a puncture.

It was a race F1 wanted to see, two title protagonists, the master, and the apprentice. Hamilton’s level-headedness won the day over Verstappen’s mindless but admittedly exciting to watch attempts to ensure a nicely orchestrated crash. Crashing out of the race would benefit Verstappen more than winning or finishing second. With one race to go, and on equal points, Hamilton and Verstappen are set to complete the fireworks at Abu Dhabi.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Race Results:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2:06:15.118 3 stops

2 Max Verstappen1 Red Bull 11.825s 2 stops

3 Valtteri Bottas1 Mercedes 27.754s 3 stops

4 Esteban Ocon5 Alpine 27.633s 2 stops

5 Daniel Ricciardo6 McLaren 40.121s 2 stops

6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 41.613s 2 stops

7 Charles Leclerc3 Ferrari 46.648s 3 stops

8 Carlos Sainz7 Ferrari 46.606s 2 stops

9 Antonio Giovinazzi1 Alfa Romeo Racing 58.505s 2 stops

10 Lando Norris3 McLaren 61.358s 3 stops

11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 77.212s 3 stops

12 Nicholas Latifi4 Williams 83.249s 3 stops

13 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1 LAP 4 stops

14 Yuki Tsunoda6 AlphaTauri 1 LAP 3 stops

15 Kimi Raikkonen3 Alfa Romeo Racing 1 LAP 3 stops

R Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1 LAP 3 stops

R Sergio Perez Red Bull

R George Russell Williams

R Nikita Mazepin Haas

R Mick Schumacher Haas