2. "He just brake-tested me! I don't know what's going on!"
By the time that Formula 1 arrived for the very first time in Saudi Arabia, the title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had reached new heights and levels of intensity and animosity. Hamilton was closing fast after back-to-back wins but Verstappen still had the advantage in terms of the points. Winning in Jeddah was essential to Mercedes if they were going to level things up and give themselves a chance of stealing the spoils in the season finale the following week.
Hamilton took first blood when he clinched pole position - albeit only after Verstappen crashed at the final corner of a clearly faster lap at the end of qualifying, perhaps the first clear sign of pressure telling on the Dutch driver. Then on Sunday an early red flag triggered by Mick Schumacher crashing on lap 10 allowed Red Bull to put Verstappen back at the front for the restart. Hamilton attacked but was swept out wide by Verstappen before a second stoppage. The stewards ordered Verstappen to give the place back before the next restart, but Verstappen was immediately on the attack and back into the lead.
By lap 36 Verstappen's medium tyres were suffering under unrelenting pressure from Hamilton and his defence became increasingly aggressive and desperate. After another wide sweep, race control finally told him to hand the lead over to his rival. However the overlapping radio messages between the various parties became confused: when Verstappen applied the brakes to allow Hamilton to pass, it caught the Briton unawares and he ran into the back of the Red Bull. Lewis was convinced that Max had deliberately brake tested him in the hope of damaging the Mercedes and putting it out of the race, which would have decided the title on the spot. Verstappen insisted he had done no such thing.
Hamilton survived and went on to win the race, meaning the pair continued to Abu Dhabi in a dead heat in the championship. It also prompted race control to issue a warning to all concerned that if anyone tried to deliberately take out another driver in the last race of the year they could have points deducted or even be excluded altogether. It certainly set the stage in readiness for F1's most dramatic title decider in history.
