Qualifying…
With a championship battle to focus on, the weekend kicked off far from ideal for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. After being summoned for a yellow flag infringement, the stewards recalled the title challenger once again for blocking Mazepin in the earlier practice session. There were discussions for roughly 15 minutes, and going into qualifying, no penalty had been announced for the event.
Furthermore, the leaders in the team standings detected a fuel leak in Valtteri Bottas’ car- requiring a complete PU change due to the lack of time available to tackle it directly. Whether we would see the Finn out for the usual number of runs in Q1, or whether it would be a sprint to the line to fit one in, we would wait and see.
Q1:
FP2 would certainly be representative and session to draw experience from, as at an air temperature of 28 degrees the night conditions practically mirrored one another.
As predicted, there was immediate traffic in the qualifying session, beginning in the pit lane as everybody queued up to secure a banker lap. Absent from the line of cars was Bottas, with the Mercedes team still hurrying about his car. However, only two minutes into the session, Bottas was ready to be unleashed on track, and the Finn congratulated his team- promising: “It’s all booked already for Abu Dhabi. Unlimited beers.”
Although the Race Director had earlier declared that no driver should go unnecessarily slowly through the final few corners, those words weren’t the end of the saga. After going off at Turn 1, Lewis Hamilton aborted his lap, and Sergio Perez would be forced to do the same after coming across the slow-moving Brit who was setting up for another lap. Both would get another shot in the longest quali session, and the target time was Verstappen’s 1:28. Perez would manage P2, but an interesting four tenths behind his teammate, whilst Hamilton would put in some fastest sectors to claim P1 by two tenths. Bottas also arrived on the scene, demoting the Red Bulls further to P3 and P4. In a matter of moments, Sergio Perez found himself scrabbling down in P12 at the hands of track evolution.
With just over 8 minutes to go, Sainz topped the pile, but Max Verstappen swiftly regained his former position with a 1:28.285, 0.045 seconds ahead of the Ferrari. Teammate Perez would be able to snatch P4 with a gap of 0.181 to the championship leader, but the target would soon become Bottas and his lap time of 1:28.057. This changed once again after another lap from Perez, who had a small gap of 0.036.
Finally the stewards’ decision regarding the Hamilton and Mazepin incident was finalised: a 25,000 euro fine for Mercedes, and a reprimand for Lewis. Though not particularly damaging for the driver himself, Hamilton can only receive one more reprimand before he is given a penalty.
Meanwhile, with constant improvements changing the timing sheets, there was a desperate scrabble at the back of the field. With 3 minutes to go, Latifi, Vettel, Stroll, Schumacher and Mazepin were all in the drop zone, with Russell and Alonso on the bottom. Notably not included were the Alfa Romeos, who were having a relatively strong session, especially compared to the Aston Martin team. In the final laps, George Russell improved to P13, walking into Q2- a performance which is normal to see these days. His Williams teammate meanwhile could only settle for P16, and a devastated, shocked Sebastian Vettel would fall behind in P17. Eliminated also were Stroll and the two Haas cars.
At the opposite end of the board, Perez lined up as fastest. Bottas was P2, but reported some worrying misfiring as he attempted a final lap. Instead, the Finn was forced back to the pits. Ricciardo, Sainz and Verstappen made up the top five (the Dutchman had been on course to top the session, before encountering some shocking traffic). Lewis Hamilton found himself in P9.
Q2:
Heading the queue as the green light released them from the pit lane was Gasly on this occasion, who was also being investigated for impeding Sainz. Bottas also emerged on track, the misfiring apparently resolved to Mercedes’ relief. A points haul for Mercedes would be crucial in the team championship if they wanted to lessen the pressure, and Bottas and Perez would have their parts to play in the final two rounds.
Russell would be the only initial car to boot on the soft compound tyre, whilst the remainder opted for mediums. Perez was the first car to put a time on the board, but Verstappen surpassed his teammate by 0.908 seconds. Leclerc managed to split both Red Bulls, suggesting the Mexican had not put in a representative time. Ferrari teammate Sainz meanwhile had his time deleted for track limits.
Hamilton’s session didn’t get off to a steady start, as he landed P3, 0.762 seconds behind his championship rival. The Brit did experience a bit of traffic, so the deficit was understandable. He also complained on the radio to his team about a lack of grip. Carlos Sainz didn’t have a steady session either as he clipped the plate of his rear wing on the tyre barrier near Turn 11. Replays demonstrated he ran slightly wide at turns 8 and 9 and lost the rear tyres, sliding sideways over a curb, so as he eased himself back to the garage his team would have to check the floor for damage too. This session was not to be for the Spaniard- when he came back out for another fast lap he had a wobble due to the rear wing damage, leaving him to abort his attempt.
Plenty of drivers chose to switch from the yellow mediums to the soft compound tyres in the final minutes of Q2, one being Lando Norris who improved to P7. The Brit did hop on the radio to complain about a car blocking him, and McLaren confirmed it was the Red Bull of Perez. Norris became the only driver to qualify on the soft tyre- perhaps setting him at a disadvantage for the race- but as we would see, the race would become somewhat unpredictable.
Missing out on Q3 was McLaren teammate Ricciardo in P11, with Raikkonen, Alonso, Russell and Sainz lining up behind. Giovinazzi put in a strong lap to make Q3 once again, creating a chance for Alfa Romeo points, though in the last moments he did tag the wall. Teammate Raikkonen (at his penultimate race weekend) made contact with fellow Finn Bottas.
Q3:
Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to set a lap on the soft tyre, but had to make a correction at Turn 11, then choosing to abort his lap. Bottas became the first driver to log a time. 1:28.143 was the time to chase. Hamilton was quickly round for his next effort, and with the help of a tow from Bottas, finished in P1 with a 0.108 second gap to his teammate. There was time to be found however, as both times were slower than those they set in Q2.
Their Dutch rival meanwhile was flying on his fast lap, setting purple sectors to plant himself firmly in P1- 0.382 seconds quicker. Perez settled into P3, and Bottas P4, soon to be P2 once he improved. There was still a 0.321 gap to Max. Lando Norris was the best of the rest.
With two minutes to go, Lewis Hamilton began his final flying lap sitting in P3. After the first sector, the Brit had 0.052 seconds to find, but with a purple second sector he slotted back into the top position. It left a time of 1:27.511 for the rest of the top ten to chase, with a bolster of 0.142 seconds to Max. With Bottas crossing the line to go P2, the battle for pole would once again be between the championship rivals. It was certainly a thrilling few final moments, as the Dutchman went quickest in sector one, and then sector two- before hitting the wall at Turn 27. It would be devastating for him and his team, with a small lock-up going into the final corner costing him pole. He was roughly three tenths ahead of Hamilton’s provisional pole time.
The yellow flags flew for the incident and the Red Bull would be left on track to be recovered. Verstappen, championship leader, would line up in the third grid slot on Sunday, chasing down a Mercedes front row lockout. The rest of the top ten was as follows: Leclerc, Perez, Gasly, Norris, Tsunoda, Ocon and Giovinazzi.
That final incident could have been crucial in the championship. Would Max have to have a gearbox change? Fortunately not. He would have to get past a defending Bottas on Sunday.
The Race…
Saudi Arabia is the penultimate round of the season. Championships can be won or lost here. Max was leading by 8 points, however after a mistake in quali is down in third; behind his two biggest rivals. Lewis will be chomping at the bit for that 8th championship.
We expected to see fireworks even before the chequered flag was out here in Saudi Arabia.
There was a mixed grid of tyres on this new track, the only data available being what teams have collected over Friday and Saturday. The papaya number 4 of Lando Norris was the only car to start on the red striped softs, everyone else opting for the yellow or hard compound tyres.
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The top 3 remained in place after the start, further down the grid cars were everywhere; extremely close to each other and the walls. Carlos, after starting arguably out of position in 15th, seemed to be reaping success out of this track, defying the predicted odds of a lack of overtakes. A few swaps up and down the grid, the pack besides the top 3 managing to stick fairly close together.
It was Mick Shumacher into the barrier on Lap 10 in the now infamous Turn 21- a fairly hefty shunt, but fortunately he seemed to be okay. The first yellow flag of the session was out, and Mercedes chose to double stack their 2 drivers, Checo also boxing. George Russell was also one of the first drivers diving in for a stop, overtaking Stroll who followed him. Max Verstappen became the leader by default. A slight gamble by the team, and Max and Christian were both vocally unhappy about Bottas holding them up on track, giving Merc the chance to pull out a gap to pit, an almost certain investigation.
A replay on screen then showed Carlos Sainz possibly breaking the regulations by overtaking under what could have been safety car conditions, we'd have to keep an eye out for that outcome. The grid once again a mix, this time of those who had and hadn’t stopped.
After roughly 2 laps behind the safety car, the race was red flagged due to too much damage to the barrier. A TV shot showed the impact of Mick's car actually piercing a hole through the Aramco wall. This played brilliantly into Red Bull's hands, the 20+ second gap needed to change tyres now gone in the blink of an eye as you are allowed to change tyres under the red flag conditions. Lewis, understandably, was not happy!
The race restart was set, commencing at 21:15 local time, with a second formation lap shortly underway, and an expected standing start to come. Lewis was yet again unhappy with Max reportedly 'conducting a practice start in the pits'. A critical restart was on the way. Max was also unhappy about Lewis' gap to him, questioning if 'he's breaking the regulations of 10 car lengths distance behind the safety car'. Clearly all the games and tricks were coming to head.
And it was lights out for the second time.
There was a massive crash in the background of the fight for first place- Lewis with a better start and Max all across the curbs. Unsurprisingly, another red flag.
Checo, Mazepin and George joined the retirement tally, drivers understably critical of the new track and tight walls. The stewards really were busy. If Max was given a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, or possibly even joining the track in an unsafe manner, it was unsure how they were going to fix this one, as Ocon was in the middle of the two title rivals after a mega restart, sailing up the inside of Lewis.
Under the red flag period, an offer was on the cards between Red Bull, Mercedes and Michael Masi, in hopes of not having to involve the higher powers. The deal involved Ocon moving up to P1, Lewis up to P2 and Max demoted to third. In this case Max would lose 2 positions.
1hrs 8 mins in, and we were going to the grid again for the third standing start with 16 runners left.
In fear of being repetitive, it was lights out and away we go. On the third time of this race getting underway, it was three-wide into the first corner, and Max took a huge dive up the inside and into the lead. What a move! He certainly wasn't messing about. Lewis was down to third, with Ocon ahead. After clearing the Alpine it was once again Max vs Lewis. If the two title rivals were to crash during this race Max would still leave with an 8 point advantage, therefore if Lewis were to win in Abu Dhabi, without the fastest lap, he would lose the championship by a mere 1 point.
The situation was for now, however, fastest lap trades and DRS on and off.
Another one bites the dust- Yuki was into the barrier, his front wong stuck under his car and brakes on fire, but miraculously still managed to keep going. A virtual safety car was called. Yuki was also given a 5 second penalty after contact with Sebastian Vettel, the latter suffering damage leaving debris on the track. Seb also had contact with Kimi.
The green flag was waved on Lap 28/50. Alonso, however, was on the radio for heavy debris at turns 6 and 10, so another VSC was called. The marshals needed to get the brooms out. Lap 32 was still under virtual safety car conditions.
Eventually the VSC ended, the race was back on. There were 1.8 seconds between the British bulldog and the Dutch lion, and a further 17 seconds to the closest car on track behind the leading pair.
More debris was seemingly appearing, with comments such as: 'is this an obstacle course or a race track?' Someone was having fun with the VSC button.
Back in the action and Lewis tried a move on Max, both wide with contact between them, the order remaining the same. The stewards’ job wasn’t over yet, the incident noted.
This was where the FIA were winning awards for miscommunication of the year. Lewis ran into the back of Max after the Dutchman was told to give him the place back. Lewis came over team radio claiming he had 'nowhere to go and no clue what was happening'. Another incident added to the list under investigation as Max scampered away.
Bottas and Ricciardo joined in on the action, the Mercedes ahead of Ricciardo, the Aussie back in front and Bottas ultimately winning out that fight.
Mercedes were back on the radio pleading that Max had to give the position back, and Masi bit back. We can certainly agree the FIA radio is a great addition to the viewing experience. In the end, Max did let Lewis back past, however overtook again under DRS. A 5 second penalty was sent his way, but with no clear indication as to what for.
Hamilton and Verstappen were at it again, Lewis ahead, Max letting him through again. Lewis was on the borderline of a black and white flag. Max's tyres had almost given up at this point, but he couldn't have pitted and came out ahead of Ocon in third due to his penalty time adding to his pitstop, the gap just hanging at 20 seconds.
The fifth retirement of the day came in the form of Sebastian Vettel after a whole heap of damage, the team reportedly wanting to preserve what they can for next weekend.
If you believed we couldn't get any more drama during this race, the final few laps definitely proved us wrong with Lewis instructed to stay off the curbs and Bottas desperate to get on the podium in place of Ocon, aiding the team to stretch their constructors lead out front.
2 laps to go and Max was truly nursing it home.
Finally, the sweet home finish, also known as the chequered flag. Lewis came home to finish 1st with the fastest lap, Max 2nd and Bottas 3rd after picking Ocon off as they crossed the line. 4th went to a commendable Esteban Ocon, just inches away from another champagne shower. Next it was the papaya McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, followed by Pierre Gasly and the Ferrari duo of Sainz and Leclerc. Giovinazzi brought home 2 points in 9th place, the top 10 was rounded out by Lando Norris, whose race was rather ruined by the flag shambles. 11th and 12th went to Canada with Stroll and Latifi, then 13th to Fernando Alonso, 14th to Yuki Tsunoda and the final runner was Kimi in 15th.
Moving to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, both title rivals have absolutely nothing between them. The title is going right down to the wire. I would not miss this one.
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