Lewis Hamilton has levelled the Formula 1 championship standings with one race remaining, winning a bonkers Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Hamilton finished ahead of Max Verstappen, the pair colliding several times. The most noteworthy clash came when Verstappen was instructed to let Hamilton into the lead after forcing the Mercedes driver off the circuit.
Hamilton, unaware of Verstappen slowing down, ran into the back of the Red Bull.
“He just brake checked me!” Hamilton said.
Verstappen picked up a five-second time penalty for forcing Hamilton off the track. Even so, Hamilton overtook Verstappen on his own merit with less than ten laps in hand.
“That was incredibly tough and I tried to be as sensible and as tough as I could,” Hamilton said. “With all my experience and I was trying to keep it on track.”
Verstappen wasn’t overly happy post-race. He was met with plenty of booing from the local crowd.
“A lot of things happened that I don’t fully agree with,” he said. “Is what it is.”
On the lap back to the pits after the chequered flag, Verstappen said the race “was not Formula 1.”
If Hamilton and Verstappen come out of Abu Dhabi scoreless and still tied on points, Verstappen will win the title on countback.
Valtteri Bottas picked off Esteban Ocon on the run to the chequered flag, stealing P3 and denying the Frenchman a third career podium.
“It wasn’t easy to overtake today but we got there in the end,” Bottas said.
The race was red-flagged twice and punctuated by numerous virtual safety cars.
The first stoppage came when Mick Schumacher careened heavily into the wall at turn 22 unassisted.
Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were running P1 and P2 at the time and opted to pit under the safety car.
Verstappen, who was third, stayed out and jumped into the effective lead.
When the race was red-flagged, Verstappen earned a free pitstop and took the full-grid restart from pole position, much to the frustration of Hamilton.
“The race doesn’t need to be red-flagged. The tyre wall looks fine.”
Hamilton got a better launch from second and put his nose in front of Verstappen on the run into turn one.
Verstappen boldly went around the outside of his championship rival. The two collided, and Verstappen overtook Hamilton off the track.
“This guy is f***ing crazy man,” Hamilton said.
Verstappen was surprisingly quiet on the team radio.
A few corners later, Sergio Perez was tipped into a spin by Charles Leclerc. The incident triggered a melee of carnage. George Russell and Nikita Mazepin also retired from the race with damage.
The race was red-flagged again.
Race control told Verstappen he would have to take the restart from P3, behind Hamilton and new polesitter Ocon.
Verstappen got the best start this time and squeezed himself past both Ocon and Hamilton.
Hamilton made light work of the Alpine and began chasing after Verstappen.
The margin between the pair fluctuated above and below one second. Plenty of virtual safety car periods for stricken debris kept Hamilton locked onto the tail of Verstappen.
When Hamilton got close to Verstappen, he used DRS assistance to lunge up the inside at turn one. The two touched, Verstappen guilty of pushing Hamilton off the track.
After much delay, Verstappen eventually let Hamilton by.
The Dutchman did put up a brief fight but lost touch with Hamilton in the closing stages, despite the reigning world champion carrying front wing damage for the bizarre brake check affair.
Despite all the chaos, 15 drivers were classified as finishers.
