The first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the most entertaining, but one of the most controversial one too as the contest to win the driver's championship heated up. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, pushed his car to the limits and prevailed over the championship point leader, Red Bull driver Max Verstrappen to tie for first place in the driver's championship.
The race featured two full safety cars, two red flag periods and two standing restarts. Then there were no fewer than four Virtual Safety Cars and yes the race lasted for more than 2 hours. It was interesting to see Hamilton hunt down Verstappen in the battle for the lead. Hamilton had tried to pass Verstrappen outside at Turn 1 on Lap 37 but made contact with the Red Bull. This incident saw the Red Bull gain an unfair advantage over the Mercedes car and also handed Verstrappen a 5-second penalty.
Post the race, the penalty was changed to 10 seconds as the stewards deemed that Verstappened had braked erratically with a 2.4G deceleration, however, considering Bottas was 16 seconds behind him, there is no change in the final standings.
The incident on Lap 37 is still under investigation (pic courtesy: F1.com)
This move saw Hamilton suffer front wing damage, but he retook the lead on Lap No. 43 at the final corner as Verstrappen struggled with grip on older tyres and fell back in the final lap. Verstrappen settled for second despite the penalties.
There was a dramatic battle that caught everyone's eyes and that was between Valtteri Bottas and Alpine's Esteban Ocon as the final spot on the podium was snatched by the Finn driver as he raced Ocon to the chequered flag.
With just one week to go for the title decider at Abu Dhabi, both Mercedes and Red Bull will have their hands full with getting both teams prepared for the showdown. Yes, F1 is finally becoming more interesting.
