2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 21 of 22[1] in the 2021 Formula One World Championship
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Race details | |||||
Date | 5 December 2021 | ||||
Official name | Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 | ||||
Location | Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | ||||
Course | Street Circuit | ||||
Course length | 6.174 km (3.836 miles) | ||||
Distance | 50 laps, 308.450 km (191.662 miles) | ||||
Weather | Clear | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Mercedes | ||||
Time | 1:27.511 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | |||
Time | 1:30.734 on lap 47 (lap record) | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Mercedes | ||||
Second | Red Bull Racing-Honda | ||||
Third | Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders |
The 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021) was a Formula One motor race, held on 5 December 2021 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, in Saudi Arabia. The inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, it was the 21st round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the race ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, while Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas edged out Alpine's Esteban Ocon for third by 0.102 seconds.
Background
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was announced to be on the 2021 Formula One World Championship calendar in November 2020.[2] The race was originally to take place on 28 November, but it was rescheduled due to the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
On 28 November, one week before the race, Williams co-founder and former owner Sir Frank Williams died at the age of 79.[4] Teams sported tributes on their cars,[5] and a minute's silence took place approximately one hour before the start of the race.[6] On Sunday, former Williams driver Damon Hill did a lap of honour in the FW07, Williams's first championship winning car.[7] Alpine ran a special livery for the weekend to commemorate their 100th race with one of their sponsors Castrol.[8] On the eve of the race weekend, Williams CEO Jost Capito announced that he was tested COVID-positive, therefore missing the weekend with the team.[9]
Championship standings before the race
Max Verstappen was the Drivers' Championship leader with 8 points separating him and Lewis Hamilton, with 351.5 points and 343.5 points respectively. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Red Bull Racing by 5 points. Behind them, Ferrari in 3rd place led McLaren by 39.5 points.[10]
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race or practice.[11]
Tyre choices
Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C2, C3, and C4 compounds of tyre to be used during this Grand Prix weekend.[12]
Practice
There were three practice sessions, each scheduled for one hour. The first two practice sessions took place on Friday 3 December at 16:30 and 20:00 local time (UTC+03:00) and the third practice session took place at 17:00 on 4 December.[13]
Qualifying
Qualifying took place on 4 December at 20:00 local time and lasted for one hour.[13] Qualifying began with Sergio Pérez taking top spot of the first segment of qualifying (Q1) with a time of 1.28.021. The second segment (Q2) ended with Lewis Hamilton taking the top spot with a time of 1.27.712. Hamilton set this time on 8 lap old medium tyres giving him a strong tyre disadvantage for the race (when drivers in the top 10 have to start on the tyre with which they set their fasetest Q2 time) compared to his title rival Max Verstappen who had 4 lap old medium tyres.[14]
All cars who made it through Q2, qualified on the medium tyres apart from Lando Norris who ran the soft tyres. Carlos Sainz Jr. struggled with his Ferrari after spinning at turn 10 and brushing the wall with his rear wing, causing minor damage. On his final run in Q2, he had another loss of control, declaring the car was "undrivable"[15] and being forced to back out of the attempt.[14] Q3 began with Hamilton having a slide and aborting his opening attempt. Hamilton then set his pole lap of a 1.27.511. Max Verstappen was on his flying lap at the end of the session, setting the fastest time of the session in the first two sectors, whilst almost clipping the wall at the exit of turn 2. Coming into the final corner, he locked his front left tyre and after going wide and applying the throttle he lost control of the rear and hit the wall causing his suspension to break. This gave Hamilton pole, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen.[14]
Qualifying classification
Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Final grid | ||
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Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |||||
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:28.466 | 1:27.712 | 1:27.511 | 1 |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:28.067 | 1:28.054 | 1:27.622 | 2 |
3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 1:28.285 | 1:27.953 | 1:27.653 | 3 |
4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:28.310 | 1:28.459 | 1:28.054 | 4 |
5 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 1:28.021 | 1:27.946 | 1:28.123 | 5 |
6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1:28.401 | 1:28.314 | 1:28.125 | 6 |
7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.338 | 1:28.344 | 1:28.180 | 7 |
8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1:28.503 | 1:28.222 | 1:28.442 | 8 |
9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1:28.752 | 1:28.564 | 1:28.647 | 9 |
10 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 1:28.889 | 1:28.616 | 1:28.754 | 10 |
11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.216 | 1:28.668 | N/A | 11 |
12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 1:28.856 | 1:28.885 | N/A | 12 |
13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1:28.944 | 1:28.920 | N/A | 13 |
14 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1:28.926 | 1:29.054 | N/A | 14 |
15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1:28.236 | 1:53.652 | N/A | 15 |
16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1:29.177 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
17 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1:29.198 | N/A | N/A | 17 |
18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1:29.368 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1:29.464 | N/A | N/A | 19 |
20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin[a] | Haas-Ferrari | 1:30.473 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
107% time: 1:34.182 | |||||||
Source:[17][18] |
Race
The race started at 20:30 local time on 5 December and lasted for 50 laps.[13] The race was interrupted with incidents that resulted in one safety car period, two red flags, and four virtual safety car periods.[19]
On lap 10, Mick Schumacher lost control of his Haas and smashed into the barriers. This caused the safety car to be deployed, and both of the Mercedes pit, demoting them to second and third. The race was then red flagged, which meant that Max Verstappen could change tires and would lead the race.
After the first standing restart, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were involved in an incident where Verstappen overtook Hamilton off the race track, shortly before a crash involving Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Nikita Mazepin, and George Russell resulted in a second red flag period. This left the cars lined up with Verstappen in first, Esteban Ocon in second, and Hamilton in third. Initially, Masi offered to re-order the cars with Verstappen and Ocon switching places but was later amended to offer to move Hamilton to second and Verstappen to third, which left the proposed order as Ocon, Hamilton, and Verstappen. This was proposed in lieu of an investigation into Verstappen overtaking Hamilton at the first standing restart, and was only offered to Red Bull Racing and not put to the other two teams involved in the changing on the restart order, Alpine F1 Team and Mercedes AMG F1.[20] Red Bull team principal Christian Horner compared the actions of race director Michael Masi to "like being at the local market",[21] and added: "It felt like today the sport missed [Masi's predecessor] Charlie Whiting."[22] Formula One chief Ross Brawn said that Masi dealt with the situation in a pragmatic way.[23] Masi commented: "I wouldn't call it a deal, as from a race director's perspective I have no authority to instruct the teams to do anything in that situation. I can give them an offer, [I have] the ability to do that but the choice is theirs. The stewards are obviously empowered to give penalties, but I can give them my perspective. That's why I offered them the ability to give that position up."[24]
Race classification
Notes
- ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.
- ^2 – Max Verstappen received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He also received a ten-second time penalty after the race for causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton. His final position was not affected by the penalties.[25]
- ^3 – Yuki Tsunoda finished 13th, but received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sebastian Vettel.[25]
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
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Constructors' Championship standings
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
- Max Verstappen is ahead of Lewis Hamilton courtesy of having won more races (nine compared to eight).
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Nikita Mazepin is Russian, but he competed as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to the state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[16]
References
- ^ Smith, Luke (28 August 2021). "Formula 1 reveals updated 2021 calendar, drops to 22 races". Autosport. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "F1 adds Saudi Arabian Grand Prix night race to 2021 calendar". Formula1. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- ^ "F1 Schedule 2021 – Bahrain to host season opener as Australia moves later in calendar and Imola returns". F1. 12 January 2021. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ "Legendary F1 team boss Sir Frank Williams dies, aged 79 | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "F1 Teams Are Sporting Frank Williams Tributes In Jeddah". WTF1. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "F1 outlines Williams tribute plans including FW07 lap of honour". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Damon Hill drives Jeddah Corniche Circuit in 1980 Williams". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
- ^ "Alpine show off new-look livery for Saudi Arabian GP weekend". RacingNews365. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Williams CEO and Team Principal Jost Capito tests positive for Covid-19 ahead of Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Qatar 2021 – Championship". StatsF1.com.
- ^ "2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 2021 Season - Pirelli Unveils Tire Choices For All 23 GPs". F1Lead. 20 February 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "Saudi Arabia timetable". Formula 1. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c Bradley, Charles (4 December 2021). "F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton takes Saudi pole". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ Narvaez, Matthew (5 December 2021). "Jeddah Preview: The Saudi Arabia GP causes most controversial title mistake at the most key time". WhoRaced.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ Luke Smith (5 February 2021). "Mazepin set to race under neutral flag after CAS ruling extends to F1". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Starting Grid". Formula 1.com. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Hamilton wins chaotic Saudi Arabian F1 GP to draw level with Verstappen". Guardian. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ "F1 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix as it happened – Title race to go to wire after more Hamilton-Verstappen drama". Eurosport.com. Discovery. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ Kershaw, Tom (7 December 2021). "'Like being at the local market': Christian Horner lifts lid on negotiations with FIA". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Braidwood, James (7 December 2021). "Saudi Arabian Grand Prix shows F1 'misses Charlie Whiting', Christian Horner claims". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Braidwood, Jamie (7 December 2021). "'Like being at the local market': Christian Horner lifts lid on negotiations with FIA". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Braidwood, Jamie (7 December 2021). "FIA race director explains decisions behind chaotic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.