The opening edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021 saw fireworks on the track as the title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton boiled over.

F1 descended on Saudi Arabia for the first time in December 2021 as the Jeddah Corniche Circuit hosted its first grand prix.

Tensions were high as heading into the weekend, Max Verstappen led Lewis Hamilton by just eight points in the drivers’ championship. Saudi Arabia marked the penultimate round of the year and offered Verstappen his first chance at sealing his maiden title.

The dramatic circumstances of the championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix were still one week away – but Jeddah had its own controversies in store.

Following a last-corner crash in his Red Bull at the end of Q3 while being on course for pole position, Verstappen had to settle for third on the starting grid.

Hamilton secured the top spot with Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas alongside him on the front row.

Knowing Sunday’s race offered the chance to put one hand on the title, pressure was high as night time descended and the race got underway.

Madness!

The grand prix that unfolded was one of the most chaotic in the modern era of F1. With two red flags, one safety car and four virtual safety cars, with the madness commencing on lap 10.

Haas’ Mick Schumacher suffered a sizeable shunt at Turn 21, which saw the safety car deployed. Both Mercedes drivers pitted, but race control then opted to throw a red flag to carry out barrier repairs. Verstappen, who had not yet pitted, got a free tyre swap while also gaining the lead in the race.

Hamilton made the stronger getaway at the restart, but Verstappen was not going to make the move easy for him. At the opening corner, the Dutchman swooped back around the outside of the Mercedes driver but completed the move off the track.

The second red flag was deployed moments later as further behind, a multi-car collision occurred, which included the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Race control bizarrely negotiated the restart order with Red Bull, who agreed to let Alpine’s Esteban Ocon start from the head of the field in light of Verstappen’s illegal overtake.

From third, Verstappen established another aggressive approach to move into the lead at the restart, with Hamilton soon following him past Ocon for second.

The duo ran at the head of the field for almost 20 tours of the circuit uninterrupted before lap 37 saw the situation boil over.

Verstappen aggressively defended his lead as Hamilton overtook him, causing them both to run wide at the first corner. When race control ordered Verstappen to hand the position back to his rival, he was told by Red Bull to do so “strategically”.

Verstappen opted to do this on the run to the final corner and slowed to a crawl before the DRS detection point. Surprised by Verstappen backing off, Hamilton ran into the back of the Red Bull car, with both sustaining damage.

The two continued to squabble before Hamilton finally managed to get past Verstappen and take the race win, but the bitter feud, which had already extended into the garages at Red Bull and Mercedes respectively, had reached new heights.

What was said after the race?

Verstappen was ultimately deemed at fault for the collision and was issued a 10-second time penalty for his actions, as well as two penalty points on his super licence.

However, the time penalty did not impact his second-place finishing position and ensured the pair were level on points ahead of the final round of the campaign in Abu Dhabi.

After the race, Verstappen lashed out at the inconsistency of the F1 stewards and pointed to an incident that occurred a handful of weeks prior at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“I find it interesting that I am the one who gets the penalty when both of us ran outside of the white lines,” he said.

“In Brazil it was fine and now suddenly I get a penalty for it. Well, you could clearly see both didn’t make the corner, but it’s fine. I mean I also don’t really spend too much time on it. We have to move forward.”

During the race, Hamilton labelled Verstappen a “crazy guy” over the team radio and was asked if he thought the Dutchman drove dangerously.

Providing his opinion, Hamilton said: “I definitely feel that there were scenarios where that was the case.

“This is not the first time that I’ve had to avoid a collision, that’s how I felt at the moment.

“But you know sometimes you say things in the heat of the moment and you go back and rewatch things and then you maybe feel differently but in the moment that’s how it felt.

“But I really just tried to recompose myself and chase down and keep fighting.”

The clash in Saudi Arabia was soon overshadowed by the dramatic conclusion to the campaign in Abu Dhabi as a last-lap overtake in controversial circumstances saw Verstappen triumphing in the championship fight.