2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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.

2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Race 21 of 22[1] in the 2021 Formula One World Championship
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The circuit layout
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 mi)
Distance 50 laps, 308.450 km (191.662 mi)
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

Background
Further information: 2021 Formula One World Championship § Calendar changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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
See also: 2021 Formula One World Championship § Entries

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. 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" and being forced to back out of the attempt.

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.

Qualifying classification
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
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[lower-alpha 1] Haas-Ferrari 1:30.473 N/A N/A 20
107% time: 1:34.182
Source:[15][16]

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.[17]

Race classification
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 50 2:06:15.185 1 261
2 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 50 +21.8252 3 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 50 +27.531 2 15
4 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 50 +27.633 9 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 50 +40.121 11 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 50 +41.613 6 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 50 +44.475 4 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 50 +46.606 15 4
9 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 50 +58.505 10 2
10 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 50 +1:01.358 7 1
11 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 50 +1:17.212 18
12 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 50 +1:23.249 16
13 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 49 +1 lap 13
14 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda 49 +1 lap3 8
15 7 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 49 +1 lap 12
Ret 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 44 Collision damage 17
Ret 11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda 14 Collision 5
Ret 9  Nikita Mazepin[lower-alpha 1] Haas-Ferrari 14 Collision 20
Ret 63 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 14 Collision 14
Ret 47 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 8 Accident 19
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:30.734 (lap 47)
Source:[16][18][19]

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.[18]
  • ^3 – Yuki Tsunoda finished 13th, but received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sebastian Vettel.[18]

Championship standings after the race
  • 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
  1. 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.[14]

References
  1. Smith, Luke (28 August 2021). "Formula 1 reveals updated 2021 calendar, drops to 22 races". Autosport. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  2. "F1 adds Saudi Arabian Grand Prix night race to 2021 calendar". Formula1. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  3. "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.
  4. "Legendary F1 team boss Sir Frank Williams dies, aged 79 | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  5. "F1 Teams Are Sporting Frank Williams Tributes In Jeddah". WTF1. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  6. "F1 outlines Williams tribute plans including FW07 lap of honour". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  7. "Damon Hill drives Jeddah Corniche Circuit in 1980 Williams". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  8. "Alpine show off new-look livery for Saudi Arabian GP weekend". RacingNews365. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  9. "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.
  10. "Qatar 2021 – Championship". StatsF1.com.
  11. "2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  12. "Formula 1 2021 Season - Pirelli Unveils Tire Choices For All 23 GPs". F1Lead. 20 February 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  13. "Saudi Arabia timetable". Formula 1. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  14. 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.
  15. "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  16. "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Starting Grid". Formula 1.com. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  17. "Hamilton wins chaotic Saudi Arabian F1 GP to draw level with Verstappen". Guardian. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  18. "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  19. "Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
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