2021 Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia Hamilton Verstappen.jpg

Who will win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

  • Max Verstappen

    Votes: 1,117 46.4%

  • Lewis Hamilton

    Votes: 1,120 46.5%

  • Other Driver

    Votes: 172 7.1%
  • Total voters
    2,409
Just two races remain in this unforgettable 2021 F1 season, and both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships are still hotly contested as the teams head to Saudi Arabia.

Most Formula 1 fans are feeling some combination of excitement and exhaustion entering the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend. On one hand, the most tightly contested F1 championship in many years is a racing fan’s dream, but on the other hand the off-track drama has been a racing purist’s nightmare.

Amidst this on-track versus off-track furor, the 10 F1 teams and drivers are focused on securing or advancing their positions in the championship standings. Max Verstappen sits eight points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings. The pair have combined to win all but four races so far this season, and a win by either driver in Saudi Arabia will have a significant impact on the title outcome. A win by Hamilton will close the gap to two or fewer points entering the final race, and a win by Verstappen would reduce Hamilton’s hopes of taking the title to a few unlikely outcomes in Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes and Red Bull are just five points apart in the constructors’ standings entering Saudi Arabia. Valtteri Bottas was the first race retirement in Qatar, which limited Mercedes’ points to the 25 collected by Hamilton. 2nd and 4th place finishes by the Red Bull drivers gave them a significant points surge to help narrow the championship gap. Like the drivers’ standings, a lot is on the line in Saudi Arabia for the teams.

Jeddah Corniche Circuit is host to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and should make for a compelling showcase of how fast the current generation of F1 cars is. Nearly 80% of the lap at this street circuit will be flat out for the drivers. Despite being over 6 kilometers long and encompassing 27 turns, qualifying laptimes will be well under one and a half minutes.

All eyes will be on the front of the field this weekend in this high-stakes race. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below on how you think this race will play out.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? Let us know on Twitter at @RaceDepartment or in the comments section below!

Photo credits: Red Bull Content Pool
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

BP
JayOTT said:
How much slower does Max have to go to make it obvious that he's trying to concede the place? He was already down to 4th gear. On a car that has 8. In the middle of a straight. If Hamilton's response to that is to tailgate them instead of simply taking the place, he's the one driving dangerously.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you mentioned he was in the middle of the road. Which is more convincing that you want someone to pass you?
A) weave from outside (racing line) to middle of the track multiple times, leaving the trailing driver minimal room to pass and minimal options to take avoiding actions in case you do something weird...then you do in fact DO SOMETHING WEIRD by slamming on the brakes in an F1 car...

or

B) Move to the inside (way off the racing line) and reduce speed in a controlled manner until the trailing car is past you...

The fact that I need to keep breaking this down for you shows the lengths some will go to for defending Max, their ignorance of proper etiquette under racing conditions (especially in open wheelers with no brake lights) or C: all of the above.
 
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J
BP said:
I'm glad you mentioned he was in the middle of the road.
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I said middle of the straight, meaning halfway between the previous corner and the following one. You're pretending that I said something completely different to what I said because it suits your narrative, and it just makes you look stupid.

As for where Max actually was width wise, he was pretty far to the right and provided more than enough room to his left.
 
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Zolazem
Premium
Looking forward to next weekend with the great apotheosis of the greatest season of this century!
 
BP
JayOTT said:
I said middle of the straight, meaning halfway between the previous corner and the following one. Congratulations on using the worst debate tactic out there by pretending someone who said one thing meant another thing entirely because it suits your narrative.

As for where Max actually was width wise, he was pretty far to the right and provided more than enough room to his left.
Click to expand...

My friend: "middle of the straight" can mean both things...if you want to be dense about linguistics, be my guest.

Still doesn't change the fact that he was moving erratically in the middle of the road (in the lateral sense, meaning from left to right)...my point still stands.

Also, go watch the qualifying footage of Max (watch the braking markers). It's around 1min08sec:

Then watch the incident (again, watch the braking markers):

Explain how at QUALIFYING speed Max can safely brake at approx. 75 - 90m before the apex of that turn (don't mind that he hit the wall, that was a throttle error, not a braking error)...but then at SLOWING DOWN speed (pretty much half his qualy speed), he needs to slam on the brakes at approx. 160m before the apex. Same exact corner. NOBODY was expecting Max to brake there, not that early and NOT THAT HARD. Come on dude...
 
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Turk
I thought it was a decent enough race. Love seeing Hamilton and Verstappen battle it out on track, I'm not taking any sides I just want them to both keep it up.

Winner takes all last race of the season, you couldn't write it.
 
J
BP said:
My friend: "middle of the straight" can mean both things...if you want to be dense about linguistics, be my guest.
Click to expand...
But you obviously knew which meaning I was using, and decided to be a smartass for the sake of a gotcha rather than make any reasonable attempt to debate against my point.

Also, he's slowing down early because HE'S TRYING TO LET HAMILTON THROUGH. See I can use all caps too even though this forum has a bold text function.
 
BP
JayOTT said:
But you obviously knew which meaning I was using, and decided to be a smartass for the sake of a gotcha rather than make any reasonable attempt to debate against my point.

Also, he's slowing down early because HE'S TRYING TO LET HAMILTON THROUGH. See I can use all caps too even though this forum has a bold text function.
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Fine, take all the smartassery out of my comments and look at the facts. My point still stands. Also, I wasn't being a smartass about the middle part (I legit believed you meant the middle of the road), I was being a smartass because I still can't believe this is the hill you're choosing to die on...it's a weak argument and the FIA have made their ruling.
 
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BP
@JayOTT Could you watch the video and debate the points I'm making, as opposed to getting hung up on how I try to express my self using a text-based medium?
 
zwiss
randomcallsign said:
He doesnt need to go much slower at all. Choose the line or left and lift to 50% throttle. Ferlipe Massa stated what he did wasnt obvious.
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Obviously even Massa did not approve Max's way of driving, but hey, he must be a Lewis fanboy then, or maybe part of the FIA conspiracy? :)
 
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gecco
What a low point that was from Verstappen, really sad to see him this immature, and driving so unfair and incautiously.
How he time and again deliberately overshoot his brakepoint, only to not make the corner, run wide, and force Hamilton out, was appalling.
And then to hit the brakes for 2.4G, desperately trying to force Hamilton to pass before the DRS activation line, and to give it full throttle momentarily later. I mean 2.4G...a full emergency brake in an ordinary road car is 0.9-1.1G...put that in perspective.

Then Hamilton was comfortable faster on hards, which were even supposed to make it to the finish line... Did nobody within RedBull bother to tell their driver? Were they waiting for another couple of virtual safety cars, to make MAXs mediums tires last till the end? Lasting to the end and miraculously not degrading while doing so, that is?
 
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Milos
Well the result I've been calling since Brazil, 3 in a row for Lewis (very likely to become 4) and Max, despite giving it his 110%, he just can't do it vs this car. Merc really can't be stopped in this era..and F1 fans seem to prefer this? When Max plays games he's a villain but when Lewis does the same..nothing? (10 car rule?? Like, have any of you ever seen that farce in a sim race, let alone a professional event??)
I really wouldn't be surprised if Lewis goes on to become 11-time WDC (and Merc 11-time in a row WCC). With this behemoth of an engine they've built (that will be frozen till 2025!), I really can't see anyone coming close to challenging (except MAYBE Alpine but ONLY because they will have 20% more wind tunnel time, and Alonso). No, not even Russell will come close, at least not in the first few seasons as he doesn't have it in him to play these dirty games that Lewis (and Max) are ready for. Definetly not Sainz, and even less so Leclerc and Norris.

At this point, I (a Nando fan, hoping for a non-Merc win) can only hope for a miracle by Max to win at the Merc-fest that is Abu Dhabi and shut the mouths of the massive Lewis fanpage that is this thread. But, most likely you win and I accepted that in Brazil. You win. Your guy will be 11-time WDC and this great year will be forgotten in history as "just another Merc domination win".

And the icing on the cake for me was Bottas cruelly stealing that podium from Ocon thanks to the Merc engine :(
 
BrainsBush
To add some oil on the already burning fire.

Yesterday they also showed a video of Lewis 'pushed' Max wide on turn 1 on purpose Max 'left track and gained advantage' and got a penalty for that. Where Lewis looked to the right and -in stead of tuning into the left- he drifted to the right when looking in his right mirror (because Max was on his right side). Max could only leave thetrack to avoid an accident.

Any one has that video? I know ZiggoSport/Robbert Doornbos showed that post race as 'evidence' that Lewis does the same tricks as Max does. (Probably not everyone want to hear/see that, but please try to be unbiased as much as possible. I know it hard to be neutral sometimes ;) ).

In general: I dislike the child whining/moaning tactics BOTH RedBull and Mercedes use on the boardradio (and we only hear a fraction of it. Grow up team Mercedes and RBR. You are the pros. That we do it in chat doesn't mean you have to copy our behavior :p.

As written many times: Last lap, last corner! Up to next week.
 
LeSunTzu
Milos said:
Well the result I've been calling since Brazil, 3 in a row for Lewis (very likely to become 4) and Max, despite giving it his 110%, he just can't do it vs this car. Merc really can't be stopped in this era..and F1 fans seem to prefer this? When Max plays games he's a villain but when Lewis does the same..nothing? (10 car rule?? Like, have any of you ever seen that farce in a sim race, let alone a professional event??)
I really wouldn't be surprised if Lewis goes on to become 11-time WDC (and Merc 11-time in a row WCC). With this behemoth of an engine they've built (that will be frozen till 2025!), I really can't see anyone coming close to challenging (except MAYBE Alpine but ONLY because they will have 20% more wind tunnel time, and Alonso). No, not even Russell will come close, at least not in the first few seasons as he doesn't have it in him to play these dirty games that Lewis (and Max) are ready for. Definetly not Sainz, and even less so Leclerc and Norris.

At this point, I (a Nando fan, hoping for a non-Merc win) can only hope for a miracle by Max to win at the Merc-fest that is Abu Dhabi and shut the mouths of the massive Lewis fanpage that is this thread. But, most likely you win and I accepted that in Brazil. You win. Your guy will be 11-time WDC and this great year will be forgotten in history as "just another Merc domination win".

And the icing on the cake for me was Bottas cruelly stealing that podium from Ocon thanks to the Merc engine :(
Click to expand...
If you put things into perspective, the little mind games Hamilton is known for (like yesterday's formation lap) are annoying but not comparable with the dangerous behavior that Max has shown again this year. The problem is that it sets new standards and you can hear Leclerc and others say that they have to adapt to those new driving standards. We have seen this season a guy like Norris be very competitive and yet be fair. If next year the McLaren is competitive, he will have no choice and play it hard ball like Hamilton because otherwise Verstappen will tread on him - same with Leclerc or Sainz or anyone.

The worst thing is that this kind of racing pleases the crowds. Any true racing fan should be disgusted with yesterday's race, not because of the result, but because of the dirty show that we have seen on top of the circus due to the track conception.
 
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cerebralvortex
Premium
LeSunTzu said:
The worst thing is that this kind of racing pleases the crowds. Any true racing fan should be disgusted with yesterday's race, not because of the result, but because of the dirty show that we have seen on top of the circus due to the track conception.
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Exactly this. Even though I was happy with the race result I was utterly disgusted by what racing has turned into. Let's hope we don't lower ourselves to driving like that in simracing!!
 
Milos
LeSunTzu said:
but not comparable with the dangerous behavior that Max has shown again this year. The problem is that it sets new standards and you can hear Leclerc and others say that they have to adapt to those new driving standards.
Click to expand...
I agree.
But I view it differently. To me, the standard has been set in Silverstone and Hungary. If Max hadn't adapted to it (starting Monza), this season would already be over after Brazil (which it is anyway, but at least we have the tiny chance that they both crash giving the title to Max). We have Max's balls to stick it to Lewis to thank for that.
For me as a fan since 2012, this season's rules are horrible. Charlie would never have let Silverstone and Hungary slide by with such lenient penalties for Merc.
 
Fat-Alfie
Premium
Max has been driving like this for years, though, not just since Silverstone. He isn't 'brave' or 'fearless'. He is foolish, selfish and a danger on the track.

Unless he learns to be a more measured, mature driver, I fear he will either kill himself or (more likely) someone else.
 
K
Fat-Alfie said:
Max has been driving like this for years, though, not just since Silverstone. He isn't 'brave' or 'fearless'. He is foolish, selfish and a danger on the track.

Unless he learns to be a more measured, mature driver, I fear he will either kill himself or (more likely) someone else.
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Could not agree more. He has no concerns for the safety of his fellow drivers.

I wonder how many friends he has on the pitlane... Or how things go at drivers meetings before the race.
 
Enagee
This is really bad racing from Hamilton.........No attempt to stay on track....Look at the wheels!!!! or do the pictures lie?


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