Formula 1 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This was the first-ever race held in the oil-rich kingdom, becoming the 4th Middle Eastern country to host an F1 race.
The F1 Saudi Arabia track, which is a Herman Tilke creation, is a super-fast flowing street track with narrow barriers like that of Monaco. F1 drivers didn't waste time praising the fast and flowing nature of the track.
Lewis came into the weekend 8 points behind Max in the championship, and it was a must-win race for him. Mercedes was expected to be the favourite due to the power-sensitive nature of the track, but Max Verstappen almost did the impossible. He flew through the track and would have taken the pole position with a considerable margin had he not crashed coming out of the last hairpin.
Lewis took P1 ahead of Bottas and Max. The Dutchman made many controversial moves in the race, while Lewis had a far better race pace, eventually winning the race with the fastest lap to go level on points going into the season finale.
Pre-Race 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
Thursday Preparations
It hardly rains in this part of the world, with no chance of rain during the race weekend. Pirelli was a bit conservative in their approach and brought three compounds from the middle of the range. C2 (White) was the hard tyre, C3 (Yellow) was the medium tyre and C4 (Red) was the soft tyre for the race weekend.
Friday Practice:
Lewis Hamilton topped the FP1 session ahead of title rival Verstappen and teammate Bottas. In the second session at night, Mercedes stretched their legs and finished the session in the top 2 positions. Gasly was the surprise third ahead of Verstappen and Alonso.
It was evident that Mercedes had a good car for both the qualifying and the race on Sunday. Red Bull was still playing with downforce levels and figuring out how to best approach the weekend.
Alpha Tauri and Alpine were the lead midfield cars ahead of Ferrari and McLaren on pace. The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix track layout seemed to suit them much better than it did Ferrari and McLaren. Ocon was the 6th quickest in the FP2, ahead of Sainz, Tsunoda, Perez, Leclerc and Ricciardo.
Saturday Practice:
Max Verstappen finally pulled together a decent lap to finish the FP3 on top ahead of Hamilton and Perez. Red Bull decided to go with Monza spec rear wing to recover the time they lost to Mercedes on the straights. Tsunoda was 4th quickest, ahead of Gasly and Bottas. Leclerc was 7th, Sainz 8th, Ocon 9th, and Norris in 10th.
F1 Saudi Arabia Qualifying
Traffic was a pretty big problem, and both Aston Martins were knocked out at the end of the first session. Stroll couldn't get over the line in time to start a final lap to get out of Q1. Schumacher, Mazepin, and Latifi joined the two Aston Martins at the end of the session.
Medium tyre was the preferred choice for top teams during Q2. Carlos Sainz was the biggest loser at the second part of qualifying when he failed to reach the top 10 shootout. Ricciardo was another big name who joined Sainz at the end of Q2. Raikkonen, Alonso, and Russell also failed to progress into the last round.
Lewis took the provisional pole at the end of the first run, but Max went slightly quicker and grabbed the P1 slot. Lewis went early for his final run, retaking P1 from Max, while Bottas was also up to second.
Max was on a great lap with two purple sectors but crashed onto the side wall while coming out of the final corner. Max would start the race in P3 ahead of Leclerc and Perez. Gasly was 6th, Norris 7th, Tsunoda 8th, Ocon 9th and Giovanazzi last.
Sunday Race: 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
Lewis made a great start and kept the lead going into the opening sequence of corners ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. Bottas was told to keep Max at bay for as long as he could.
Behind, Leclerc kept his place at the start, while Gasly fell two places down to 8th. On lap 10, Mick triggered the first safety car of the night after he spun and crashed into turn 23.
Mercedes went for double pitstop and did it with perfection, while Verstappen stayed out for track position and was furious with his team. The agony turned into joy when the red flag was deployed for barrier repairs on lap 13, giving Red Bull the track position and fresh tyres for the restart.
Intense Fight for the Lead between Lewis and Max
The order for the restart was Max ahead of Lewis and Bottas, with Ocon in 4th and Ricciardo in 5th. Lewis was quick at the restart and was ahead of Max going into the first corner. Max went off-track going into turn 2, illegally retaking the lead from Lewis.
Behind, there was a big commotion as Perez crashed out of the race. Mazepin tangled with Russell, and both were out of the race. The red flag was out immediately as cars returned to the pits.
Red Bull was instructed to give the position back to Lewis while the cars were in the pitlane, so Ocon was ahead of Lewis and Max on the restart on lap 17.
Verstappen made a good start and was into the lead of the race ahead of Ocon and Lewis. Lewis quickly overtook Ocon on lap 18 and was right behind Max. Four laps later, Hamilton was within the DRS range of the Dutchman.
On lap 24, the VSC was deployed after Tsunoda made contact with Vettel, and there was debris on the track. VSC continued until lap 33, and Lewis was soon within the DRS range of Max. Another VSC went out on lap 36 to recover debris from the track. Lewis attempted a pass on Max on lap 37, which the latter defended by going off-track and keeping the lead.
Race control instructed Red Bull to hand the place to Lewis. Max braked sharply on the back part of the circuit while Lewis was slow to react, clipping his front wing with Verstappen's rear tyre. Lewis attempted another pass on lap 42, but Max ran him wide, resulting in a 5-sec time penalty.
Lewis finally took the lead on lap 44 and disappeared into the distance, winning the race with an extra point for the fastest lap. Lewis moved level on points with Max going into the season's final race.
Bottas pipped Ocon on the last lap and finished on the podium by just under a tenth from Ocon. Ricciardo was 5th for McLaren ahead of Gasly, Leclerc, Sainz, Giovinazzi, and Norris.
F1 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
The F1 paddock travels to the Yas Marina Circuit for the season finale, which will decide both championship titles under the lights.
FAQs
1. Has F1 ever raced in Saudi Arabia?
The 2021 season was the first-ever F1 race held in the oil-rich kingdom, becoming the 4th Middle Eastern country to host an F1 race.
2. Where is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix held?
Formula 1 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The F1 Saudi Arabia track is a super-fast flowing street track with narrow barriers like that of Monaco.