Formula One: Verstappen fights back in Jeddah thriller

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen both lock up during their intense battle in Saudi Arabia.

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen provided a thriller in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix at
the Jeddah circuit, and the fireworks display at the end of the race as Verstappen
celebrated a narrow victory over Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in third place, were fitting
given the dynamic duel they had in the race.

But what wasn't acceptable was a missile attack on an oil facility just 15km from the circuit prior to qualifying on the Saturday.

As a cloud of black smoke filled the air, the drivers met to discuss a possible boycott of
the race, unsure if it was safe to continue racing.

But following assurances from the FIA and the circuit organisers that they were safe, the drivers agreed to head into qualifying and to race the following day.

That qualifying produced some surprises, with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, in his 11th
season of F1, taking his first pole position, ahead of the Ferraris of championship
leader Leclerc, courtesy of his win the week before in Bahrain, and Sainz.

Charles LeClerc and Max Verstappen.

World champion Verstappen could do no better than fourth, but that was 12 places
ahead of the man he battled all season last year for the championship, Lewis Hamilton.

The latter could not find any grip and failed to get out of Q1 for the first time since Brazil
2017 and could not believe he was 7/10ths of a second slower than his Mercedes
teammate, George Russell, who would end up qualifying sixth.

But the main shock in qualifying was the massive crash of Mick Schumacher in the Haas,
who destroyed his car after hitting the unforgiving wall.

He was not injured but was airlifted to hospital as a precaution and he would return the next day to watch the race from the pit wall, assuring everyone he was fine.

Despite his milestone pole position, Perez was one of several drivers who had reservations about staying for the race due to the missile attack.

"We were concerned about our safety, but also the safety of our mechanics, engineers,
everyone in here," Perez said.

"At the end of the day, this is our sport and we are all in it together. We felt that the right thing was to go ahead and just race."

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali was adamant it was safe to continue with the event.

"No one can judge our morality, to be honest," he stated. "It is a matter of putting in
place all the things that have to be considered."

The missile attack aside, F1 has been criticised for being in Saudi Arabia in any event,
given the lack of women's rights there and reports of recent beheadings, but Domenicali
sees it differently.

"The resources that they're putting in place to move forward, you see here," he said,
somewhat defensively, and added. "Don't forget, a couple of years ago, women couldn't
drive and they are here on the grid, cheering and seeing the sport."

Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel, was not at the race, being replaced again by supersub Nico Hulkenberg, while he continues to recover from Covid. But he expressed a
view on the potential boycott, nonetheless.

"How independent can you be when you are on the payroll?" Vettel questioned. "You
could say boycott, but don't even go there. On the other hand, you can go there with the
thought we represent our Western values, show our freedom and stand up for it."

"The question is how brave you can be when you are a paid guest," he added. "It's not just
about Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the Olympics were in China. The question is how many
countries are left just by looking at the Formula 1 calendar."

One senses Vettel will become politically active in his home country of Germany when
he retires from F1, but his main priority now will be to start a grand prix this season.

And had he participated in this one, he would have been part of a racing spectacle, albeit likely at a distance given Hulkenberg and the other Aston Martin driver, Lance Stroll, were 12th and 13th respectively of the 13 cars that finished the race.

Perez's hopes of winning the race from pole were shattered when he pitted early and then
the safety car was deployed to remove the Williams of Nicholas Latifi which had hit the
wall.

LeCelerc took over the lead from Verstappen and Sainz, and it developed into a battle of wits and tactics as DRS came into play.

The trick seemed to be not to overtake before the last corner heading onto the long main straight, otherwise drivers became a sitting duck for a repass. We saw for example, a tremendous battle between Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, who seemed to swap places almost every lap.

The team let them race until it became apparent they might either take one another
out, or get passed from behind as they scrapped, which happened to Ocon, as Valtteri
Bottas passed him, but later retired.

The order seemed to be settled in Alonso's favour
until he also had to retire from what seemed a likely 6th place finish, which Ocon then
claimed.

But it was the battle up front between Leclerc and Verstappen that had Sky sport
commentator Jenson Button, filling in for Martin Brundle, singing the praises of the
regulation changes that allow cars to follow each other closely, and then when overtaken,
finding they could not just pull away.

This race was decided in Verstappen's favour when he overtook Leclerc with three laps to go, and held on to win by just a couple of car lengths.

It was great entertainment and thrilling racing between two drivers who began
their motorsport careers racing one another in karting.

The mutual respect is apparent, and although it is only race two, the animosity that erupted between Hamilton and Verstappen last year, has not yet eventuated between the two title contenders.

"It was a really tough but good race," Verstappen said.

"We were battling hard at the front and we just tried to play the long game. They [Ferrari} were really quick through corners, we were quick on the straight, but the tyres were wearing out quite quick around here. You could see at the end we had a bit more pace, so I just tried to get by."

"It wasn't easy, playing smart tricks in the last corner, but eventually I managed to get
ahead."

It had taken Verstappen a few laps to figure out that Leclerc was playing mind games
with him by allowing him to pass before the man straight, and then repassing him with
DRS.

"I knew my weakness was straight-line speed compared to the Red Bull's," Leclerc
explained.

"It worked once and then the second time he understood so he braked very
early. It was fun, I like racing like this – the new regulations are definitely working."

"Although I'm disappointed to lose the victory so late in the race, it feels good to be
fighting for wins again."

Perez was also disappointed to finish fourth after starting first, thanks to the untimely
Safety-Car deployment.

"Just bad luck, bad timing. I felt I had the race under control then came this incident with
Latifi," he lamented. "Basically, it hurt me and came at the wrong time of the race. As a
driver there is nothing you can do."

For Sainz, it was a case of feeling better about the car's handling than he did in Bahrain
and making progress coming to terms with it. Russell finished fifth for Mercedes, but is
unhappy considering the team he has joined has won eight consecutive Constructors'
championships.

He is not sure if they have gained anything on Ferrari and Red Bull.

"I don't know, because we were still on average a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari in
the race then," he told Sky F1. "So, we're making baby steps at the moment, we need to
make some bigger leaps, I'm sure we can do that."

Hamilton was also not happy with the way his race turned out after starting 15th on the
grid and working his way up to sixth place by staying out on hard tyres, only for all the
progress to be undone by a safety car intervention and then missing his window of
opportunity to pit before pitlane was closed.

"Okay Lewis, that's P10. Sorry about that," his race engineer Pete Bonnington said.
Hamilton sarcastically responded: "Is there even a point for that position?"

He said he didn't think there had been much improvement since Bahrain.

"I don't particularly feel like ... not much has changed really since the last race," he stated.
"It's only been a few days. What I know is that today I couldn't keep up with the Haas at
the end, the power they have, they came flying, sling-shotted past me, when I overtook
Magnussen earlier in the race."

"So, we've got a lot to do for sure, but I know I've got a great team and we'll just keep
our heads down and try to improve.''

Mercedes have two weeks to try to catch up to Ferrari and Red Bull, before F1 heads
downunder to Melbourne for the Australian GP on April 10.

- Content sourced from Sky Sports F1 and F1.com