2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Lore & Background

Hamilton took pole position by recording the fastest lap time of qualifying. Verstappen, his championship rival, was on pace to lap a faster time, but crashed at the final corner on his final flying lap. The race was stopped twice in the first 20 laps due to separate accidents; prior to the second red flag, Verstappen had assumed the lead because the Mercedes drivers made pit stops, but Hamilton attempted to pass Verstappen in turn one, so Verstappen veered off-course to defend his lead.

F1 race director Michael Masi made a deal with Red Bull, permitting Verstappen to restart in third place, behind Esteban Ocon and Hamilton. Verstappen quickly got by the two drivers, but Hamilton gradually built a faster pace and tried to pass him in turn one on lap 37. Verstappen made another aggressive defence and was thus forced to give up his position. However, he braked suddenly in the 26th turn, causing Hamilton to run into his rear.

Following another failed defence tactic on lap 42, Verstappen let Hamilton by for good on the next lap. After the race, Verstappen received a five-second time penalty for cutting the second turn and a ten-second time penalty for braking erratically, which did not affect his position.

Reader's Guide

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was first announced to be included on the 2021 Formula One World Championship calendar in November 2020 as part of a ten-year partnership between the sport and Saudi Arabia. It was the 21st of 22 rounds on the 2021 schedule. The original date of the race was 28 November, but it was rescheduled to 5 December due to the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The track at which the Grand Prix took place was the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, a 27-turn, 6.174 km street circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which was designed by F1 track architect Carsten Tilke.

Construction on the circuit began in April 2021 and was concluded days prior to the race. The track was anticipated to be one of the fastest on the F1 schedule, with predicted top speeds of 325 km/h. Three detection zones were implemented around the circuit for the cars' drag reduction system (DRS), the first in between turns 17 and 18, the second towards turn 22, and the third towards turn 27, which were intended to encourage overtaking. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought white-banded hard-compound tyres, yellow-banded medium-compound tyres, and red-banded soft-compound tyres.