F1 fans could barely believe what they were seeing as the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix descended into chaos on Monday morning.
The title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton took some ugly turns as Red Bull and Mercedes accused each other of dodgy driving and questionable tactics in the wildest race of the year.
The pair were fighting wheel-to-wheel but the seven-time world champion couldn’t get past as they made slight contact. Verstappen’s defending was ruled to have been illegal and he was ordered to let Hamilton through. Ron Meadows from the Mercedes garage engaged in a heated argument with FIA race director Michael Masi over the radio, saying they weren’t told Verstappen had been instructed to let Hamilton overtake.
Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle said: “This is absolutely crazy. It’s kind of like we’re making it up as we go along.“There is aggressive, determined, feisty racing and then there is what we saw this evening — which was too much.” “I slowed down, I wanted to let him by, I was on the right but he didn’t want to overtake and we touched. I don’t really understand what happened there.”“I didn’t understand ... then I got a message later on he was going to let us pass, so it was a bit confusing.”Starting third on the grid, Verstappen took the lead when Hamilton and Bottas pitted under the safety car, following Mick Schumacher’s crash on lap 10.
Starting behind Verstappen, Hamilton shot ahead of his title rival before the Red Bull regained the lead — but questions were asked if the young gun overtook the Brit off the track, which isn’t allowed.
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