Lewis Hamilton won a controversial debut Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas amid two red-flag stoppages.
The race started with Hamilton keeping the lead ahead of Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes one-two and Verstappen slotted into third.
On lap 10 Mick Schumacher crashed heavily in his Haas at Turn 23 and the safety car was deployed. Hamilton and Bottas were among the drivers to pit under the safety car. Verstappen stayed out, and takes the race lead.
The Lap 15 standing start saw Hamilton lead, but Verstappen went wide and off-track at the first chicane, cutting back across Hamilton, who dropped to third behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. However, there were two separate incidents behind in which Sergio Perez was collected by Charles Leclerc and Nikita Mazepin collided with George Russell – so another red flag was called.
The race restarts again. Race director Michael Masi orders Verstappen to line up behind Hamilton, effectively giving back the place he gained from the Briton by going off track at the previous restart. As a result, Ocon lines up first, Hamilton second, Verstappen third.
Hamilton gets a good start but Verstappen passes him on the inside into the first corner. The Dutchman passes Ocon for the lead on the following straight. Hamilton makes light contact with Ocon going into the first corner and escapes unscathed.
Hamilton passes Ocon at the end of the lap. He moves up to second and sets about chasing Verstappen as the two begin trading fastest laps.
Three Virtual Safety Car periods followed from Lap 28 to Lap 36 after which Hamilton was in DRS range of Verstappen. Hamilton attempted a move on Lap 36 on the main straight but Verstappen braked too late for comfort, running wide at Turn 2 and retaining the lead. He was instructed to give P1 back and on Lap 37 the Red Bull driver slowed – only for Hamilton to get caught off guard and clip the rear of his rival, taking front-right wing damage.
Cue more calls to race control from Red Bull and Mercedes. Meanwhile Hamilton closed in and looked to get past the Red Bull on Lap 42 but Verstappen pushed him wide and continued on. This time, the stewards stepped in and put a five-second time penalty on the championship leader.
Hamilton came across Verstappen at the final corner on Lap 43 and pushed him wide at Turn 27, taking the lead and putting in fastest laps to boot for an eventual winning margin of 10s over his rival – equalling the championship points tally.
Abu Dhabi hosts the season finale, and with Hamilton having taken 26 points to Verstappen’s 18 here, the championship protagonists are now equal on 369.5 points.
Hollywoodbets has Lewis Hamilton favourite at 5/10 to win the Drivers Championship and Max Verstappen at 15/10 to win the Drivers Championship.
My Goat Sports 