Hamilton passed Verstappen at the final corner on Lap 43 and pushed him wide at Turn 27, taking the lead and putting in the fastest laps.
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Lewis Hamilton won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position, ahead of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas, despite two red flags. As a result, the two championship contenders will enter the Abu Dhabi finale level on points. At the start, Hamilton led Bottas and Verstappen – who had recovered from his qualifying crash – but on Lap 10, Mick Schumacher spun and crashed into the Turn 23 barriers. The Safety Car quickly turned into a red flag, giving Verstappen a free pit stop while the Mercedes was stopped under yellows.
Hamilton led the Lap 15 standing start, but Verstappen went wide and off-track at the first chicane, cutting back across Hamilton, who dropped to third behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (who also enjoyed a red flag tyre change and the subsequent advantage). However, two separate incidents occurred behind, in which Sergio Perez was collected by Charles Leclerc and Nikita Mazepin collided with George Russell, resulting in another red flag.
Following a cacophony of bargaining calls from the Red Bull and Mercedes pitwalls, Ocon would start ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen in P3 at the Lap 17 restart. In that restart, the Dutchman took the lead with a fantastic move down the inside of the opening chicane, while Hamilton was hampered by Ocon, who, like Verstappen, missed the Turn 2 apex, passing the Alpine a lap later.
From Lap 28 to Lap 36, there were three Virtual Safety Car periods, after which Hamilton was within DRS range of Verstappen. The Mercedes driver attempted a move on the main straight on Lap 36, but the Dutchman braked too late, running wide at Turn 2 and retaining the lead. He was told to hand over P1, and on Lap 37, the Red Bull driver slowed – only for Hamilton to be caught off guard and clip the rear of his rival, causing damage to his front-right wing.
More calls to race control are expected from Red Bull and Mercedes. Meanwhile, Hamilton closed in on Verstappen on Lap 42 and attempted to pass him, but Verstappen pushed him wide and continued on. The stewards intervened this time and imposed a five-second time penalty on the championship leader.
Hamilton passed Verstappen at the final corner on Lap 43 and pushed him wide at Turn 27, taking the lead and putting in the fastest laps to boot for an eventual winning margin of ten seconds over his rival – equaling the championship points tally.
Ocon, who had benefited from a stop during the first red flag, missed out on a podium spot by a tenth of a second after losing P3 right on the chequered flag. This put the Alpine driver fourth, ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who started 11th but had a quick start and a red-flag pit stop for P5.
Pierre Gasly finished sixth, having lost positions at the start but regaining them in the second race restart for AlphaTauri, keeping the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Antonio Giovinazzi started 10th but finished ninth, ahead of Lando Norris, who started on softs but pitted during the first Safety Car to finish on hards.
The season finale takes place in Abu Dhabi, and with Hamilton taking 26 points to Verstappen’s 18, the championship contenders are now tied on 369.5 points. However, the fallout from Jeddah could last all night, with the stewards set to investigate Hamilton and Verstappen’s Turn 27 brawl after the race.
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