It was a war: sporting, technical, political, but in the end Lewis Hamilton won in Jeddah and also signed the fastest lap in the Saudi Arabian GP. F1 arrives in Abu Dhabi with the two challengers for the world championship exactly on equal points: not even Hitchcock could think of a more incredible end of the season than the one we are experiencing, thanks to two super-champions who have given a taste of their ferocity in wanting win this drivers title.
It was a crazy race and it was feared on an anachronistic track like the Arab one: the conduct of the race got out of hand to the race director, Michael Masi, who accumulated a series of uncertainties that made the GP a real one .. war with several prohibited hits. Two red flags interrupted the race due to the disputable effects of two accidents (Mick Schumacher on lap 9 and Nikita Mazepin who could not avoid George Russell who slowed down to avoid Sergio Perez crosswise on lap 15 shortly after restarting from a standstill from the first red).
Especially the first red flag sparked a lot of controversy because the barriers didn’t seem bad after the commissioners had moved the German’s Haas. Masi has taken everyone’s reprimands by managing questionable VSCs to remove the debris of the numerous contacts. Race direction seemed inadequate and, in general, the FIA seemed prone to the entertainment needs dictated by Liberty Media. And that’s not good.
Under the spotlight of Geddah we saw the whole repertoire that F1 is able to offer: we witnessed the cut of Max at turn 1, which sparked the reaction of Mercedes because Verstappen took the lead followed by the opportunist Esteban Ocon, capable to slip in second. With the second red Masi “offered” to Red Bull to accept the relegation of the Dutchman to third place to avoid a penalty in time to the world leader. Incredible, but true …
When the traffic lights went out, Max, with medium tires, surprised Hamilton who was taking care of himself outside Ocon’s Alpine, not thinking that his rival would attack him with a sniper maneuver on the inside. Film library maneuver that led him to the lead in the race. It seemed that the Dutchman had the world championship in hand, but it was only the beginning of a challenge at the limit of the rules that will make the whole world discuss for a week until the Abu Dhabi epilogue.
Lewis Hamilton was on the podium as the winner of the eighth GP of the season (103rd of his career), but Max reached the epilogue with one more victory which could be decisive if there are no other measures, because on lap 36 Verstappen resists all ‘attack by Hamilton in comeback and cuts the escape route.
A sort of “union” negotiation is triggered in which Mercedes asks for the resistance of the position that allows Lewis to go in front. On lap 37 the order is given and Verstappen slows down conspicuously (perhaps he brakes), but Hamilton does not overtake his rival, but rather slows down fearing that he would have offered the DRS to Max with the risk of being passed immediately at the end of the straight, as he already was. happened previously.
The result? Hamilton crashed into Red Bull. In the maneuver Lewis ruined the right side of the front wing, but he did not give up and took a frenzied pace by making the fastest lap at passage 47 in 1’30 “734. The black king complained of a brake test of the Dutchman, while the Red Bull immediately after the checkered flag brought the images of Lewis slowing down to the race direction.
On lap 42 the race direction imposed a 5-second penalty on Verstappen for not returning his position, but in reality Max was forced to reduce his pace due to a drop in the medium tires and let Hamilton go to victory. The Englishman pulled all the way to the end to protect himself from a possible 10 second penalty that could be attributed to him after the race.
Hamilton won with his wing dangling, leading Verstappen by 11 “825, while Valtteri Bottas took third place in the photo finish on Esteban Ocon who fell from the podium right in front of the checkered flag. Mercedes now has a lead of 28 points on the Red Bull and the Constructors’ World Championship seems to be mortgaged by Brackley …
The war is not over because there will be consequences for the misdeeds of a race in which the two contenders have used all legal and illegal means.
Verstappen goes to Abu Dhabi with one more victory (9 against 8), but the verdict of Jeddah is still to be written. Max was rude, very ruddy, Lewis too mischievous. But it was inevitable that it would go that far with all the gasoline that was set on fire by the teams.
The rest of the race was a corollary: a positive fifth place for Daniel Ricciardo with the Mclaren that preceded Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTautri. Charles Leclerc, severely penalized by the first red flag (as others had just made the pit stop) concluded in front of Carlos Sainz at the end of a volley. Ferrari took a mortgage on third place in the Constructors’ World Championship and that was enough, but there was the potential to aim for a podium: Leclerc complained about the behavior of the hard cars with a loss of positions at each restart. The last GP is around the corner, then it will be time to turn the page.
Antonio Giovinazzi also did well in ninth with Alfa Romeo: he kept out of trouble and played a perfect race that gave him two important points before leaving the Hinwil team. An opaque Lando Norris takes the tenth place which is worth the last point. The rest is only a corollary …
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