Jeddah (AFP)
British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton postponed the Formula 1 World Championship title to the final race, after winning the Saudi Grand Prix on Sunday in Jeddah, after a crazy race full of accidents and excitement and the exchange of accusations between him and his rival in Red Bull Dutch Max Verstappen, who finished second. The two drivers, the twenty-first round and the Saudi race, which is included in the world championship calendar for the first time, and Verstappen are in the lead, eight points behind Hamilton, who aspires to win his fifth title in a row and the record number of titles he shares with German legend Michael Schumacher (7 each).
But the Briton succeeded, and after a crazy race in which the red flag was raised twice, and in which the safety car was activated more than once, he left Jeddah, and is the same distance from the Dutchman with the number of points (369.5) after also obtaining a point for the fastest lap, before entering the final round scheduled for next Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen had to raise the gap with Hamilton from eight points to 26, in order to win the title and break Mercedes’ monopoly on the drivers’ title that the German manufacturer won in the past seven seasons.
Verstappen (24 years) could have won the world title if he won in Saudi Arabia with a point for the fastest lap and Hamilton was outside the top five. The 36-year-old Mercedes driver is off points.
But Hamilton seemed determined to postpone the final round of fire next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, since the qualifying tests, which he finished in first place in front of his Finnish colleague Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen, respectively. It was a busy day for Mercedes, not only because of Hamilton’s victory, but also because Bottas snatched third place from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, a few meters before crossing the finish line.
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