Hamilton took pole position for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after his title rival Verstappen looked set to beat him only to crash at the final corner. In Saturday's exciting qualifying session – current F1 Drivers Championship leader Verstappen hit the wall in his 27th and final qualifying lap, as Hamilton jumped to the top of the qualifying charts with 80 seconds remaining in the clock. Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified for the race on Sunday at P2 and Verstappen at P3, having managed to finish as third fastest.
If Hamilton wins this weekend and secures the extra point for the fastest lap then he will move level with Verstappen heading into a remarkable final race. On the other hand, this will be Verstappen's first chance to wrap up the Formula 1 Drivers' title. If he finishes first and Hamilton 7th or lower, the Dutchman will be crowned champion.
The same applies if Verstappen finishes 2nd and Hamilton drops out of the race. Here is a look at how to watch Saudi Arabian Grand Prix main race in India, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix live streaming details. Nobody could come close to him on the final attempts and he took the 90th pole position for a Honda-powered car in Formula 1, giving him the best possible starting position for Sunday's championship showdown.
Toto Wolff expects a tough task for Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi. Now that the seven-time world champion will not start from pole position, he has to pass Max Verstappen somewhere during the race. That will be a difficult matter, also because the speed of Red Bull Racing on the various tire sets looked extremely strong. At Sky Sports F1, he will discuss after qualifying what the disappointing performance in qualifying means for the title aspirations of his star driver.
The weather and conditions on the grid were before dry for the race. The air temperature was 29 °C (84 °F) with signs of a breeze which could blow sand onto the track and impede the cars' grip. Massa got the best start of the frontrunners off the line, as he passed Kubica into the first corner to take the lead.
Hamilton's poor start caused his anti-stall system to kick in, and he was passed by six drivers to fall back to ninth. Räikkönen benefited from Hamilton's start by moving up to third, ahead of Kovalainen, Trulli and Heidfeld. As Massa extended his lead at the front of the race, Hamilton, who trailed Alonso, collided with the back of the Renault, knocking the McLaren's front wing off the car. Suffering handling difficulties, Hamilton returned to the pit-lane for a new nose section, and rejoined in 18th place.
Räikkönen took second place when he passed Kubica on lap three; Heidfeld took fourth when he passed Trulli and Kovalainen in separate manoeuvres. Further down the field, Vettel retired from the race on the first lap after twice colliding with other cars; Button, Sutil and Coulthard pitted to repair early damage. The qualifying session started strongly as Max was third quickest ahead of Sergio in fourth, Yuki in fifth and Pierre seventh, ensuring all four Honda-powered cars made it through to Q2 in comfortable fashion.
The second part of qualifying is when the starting tyre compounds are decided for anyone in the top ten, and there was a real split as some teams opted for mediums and others for softs. It's not as if all is lost for the seven-time world champion after missing out on the pole position, however, given the fact that he is still set to start the race on the front row and on medium tires, compared to Verstappen's soft tires. The second of the back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring saw Verstappen pick up where he left off, delighting the Austrian crowd with pole position and then leading every lap of his team's home grand prix. A huge number of Dutch fans also mad there way to Austria to watch their hero dominate proceedings. Hamilton earned the 100th pole position of his career in Barcelona, but duly gave up first position on the first corner of the grand prix, having no option but to sacrifice the spot to an aggressive move by Max Verstappen. The race began with Kubica in pole position alongside Massa; Lewis Hamilton, the eventual Drivers' Champion, started from third, alongside Räikkönen.
Kubica was passed by Massa into the first corner, and then by Räikkönen on the third lap. The Ferraris dominated at the front of the race, leading to their 1–2 finish. Hamilton had a slow start after almost stalling on the grid, and dropped back to ninth.
What Time Does Formula 1 Qualifying Start Tomorrow The McLaren driver ran into the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault a lap later, breaking off the McLaren's front wing and dropping Hamilton to the back of the field. Meanwhile Stroll was by the accident ahead and drove into the side of Leclerc. After a safety car, teams were told there would be a standing start from the grid, but just beforehand all the drivers except leader Hamilton dived into the pits for slick tyres, as the track was drying.
The drama dutifully returned on the street circuit of Azerbaijan's capital, with a joint-record four red flags brought out during Saturday's qualifying session. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc managed to grasp pole position for the second race in a row but failed to keep it beyond lap two, when he was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton. After that the Monegasque went backwards down the order but recovered to fourth. The pole-sitter has won the last six races here, and the drivers starting have finished in the same order four times in the last six years including the last two times.
It needed changing, changes have been made, I keep my fingers crossed that they are changes for the good because I want to see a track where both Lewis and Max can get at each other in terms of overtaking and try to win this title. On soft-compound tires, Verstappen took the fastest lap of the qualifying session. His Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, will be starting fourth.
The qualifying race is held a day before the final race day. It is carried out to determine the starting grids of the drivers on the final race day. Meanwhile, title rival Max Verstappen, who leads the championship by eight points, suffered a devastating blow as he crashed on the final corner as he was about to set the fastest lap of qualifying.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, and cars that finished the session 17th position or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of the qualifying session lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of the qualifying session determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions.
Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions. Red Bulls' Max Verstappen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton are locked in a close battle for the F1 drivers championship. Both of them will look to improve their place in the standings with a victory on Sunday in the 2021 United States Grand Prix. The race will be 56 laps of the 3.426 mile Circuit of The Americas Sunday.
The weekend will include three days of events and entertainment to enjoy. F1 TV is the official Formula 1 channel around the world, giving fans are more intimate view of the pit lane and talking points across every F1 weekend. You even get access to team radio clips during races that don't go out on TV! Although live racing isn't available on the streaming service in Australia, yet, it is packed with over 650 archived Grand Prix available to watch on demand, as well as exclusive documentaries. You can pay 4.49 per month for F1 TV, or $34.99 a year. All 22 featured weekends on the F1 calendar will be broadcast in Australia on Fox Sports, which is available to watch on the Kayo Sports streaming service, as well as Foxtel, Foxtel from Telstra and Foxtel Now.
This includes every qualifying and practice session shown live, with no ad breaks during racing to enhance your viewing experience. F1 is all set to close the season with a bang at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are now tied on points after the chaotic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, which brings the title fight down to the final race, where the winner takes it all. The weekend will feature the traditional format of qualifying and won't feature the recently introduced sprint qualifying.
One thing is certain, this season, which has won the sport a whole legion of new fans, is unlikely to have had its final plot twist. The possibility that the destination of this year's title is eventually decided in the stewards' room, or even a court room, remains very real. McLaren's Lando Norris, who starts third after a brilliant performance, admitted he was so nervous of getting caught up in the drama, he wasn't even sure he would try to race the two championship leaders. Red Bull's Max Verstappen took the pole position for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by recording the fastest lap time in the third and final round of qualifying. Three other qualifying sessions earlier this year set the starting lineup for a sprint qualifying race, which then determined the starting lineup for the main event. Another exciting element of the 2021 F1 season was the debut of Sprint Qualifying.
The 100km races determined the starting grid for Sunday's grands prix and awarded championship points to the top three drivers. Verstappen started seventh but made a storming start to reach fourth by turn one, but Hamilton capitalised on pole position and kept his lead. By lap five, Vesrtappen was up into second place, driving the doors off his Red Bull , with Bottas and Perez also driving through the field to make up for lowly grid positions. It was "won" by Max Verstappen, who had qualified on pole, with a delighted George Russell in the Williams finishing behind him after a sensational lap on Saturday.
While Mosley denied the allegations, he cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix. You can stream F1 Grand Prix live, in High Definition with Foxtel and Foxtel Now. This includes every qualifying, practice and race across 22 events, starting with Bahrain Grand Prix in March right through Abu Dhabi in December.
You can check out Foxtel Now for free today with a 10 day free trial. I'll be back tomorrow with the build-up to the title-deciding race from around 11am. Hamilton second on the more favourable medium tyres, but with a bunch of soft tyre runners around him.
Let's hope the season gets the finale it deserves. For the final time in the 22-race 2021 Formula 1 season, the starting lineup for a Grand Prix was set by way of a three-round knockout qualifying session. Channel 4's commentator called the inaugural Saudi GP "an incredible day of confusion," which is an understatement – this will go down as one of the most contentious races of all time.
But it delivered on thrills and means a final race of the season with the two leading drivers tied on points, as the incredible 2021 season reaches its conclusion. In the championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it will be Max Verstappen starting from pole position, his 10th pole of the season — and the most important of the year. Coming to Abu Dhabi after claiming three consecutive race victories, Lewis Hamilton was indeed the favorite to clinch the pole position, and he did dominate through Q1 and Q2 by leading the timesheets. However, Max Verstappen produced an incredible comeback when needed to beat the Briton to pole.
The Saudi Arabian GP 2021 F1 race live streaming will be available on the Disney+ Hotstar VIP app and JIOTV. The final race on the Formula 1 calendar is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 (10-13 December), with every session shown live and exclusive viaFox Sports 506(Foxtel/Kayo). Foxtel and Kayo Sports also have the most extensive live TV coverage of the Supercars Championship, as well as each and every weekend of the entire 2021 MotoGP racing season. Here you can find out the next F1 qualifying time as well as practice sessions and the race itself. Watch the F1 schedule below live and direct from Abu Dhabi in HD. Elsewhere outside the big two, Fernando Alonso's podium finish, the changing team line-ups for next year and even the additions of rules such as sprint qualifying have all been big talking points in Formula One recently.
In terms of track dynamic, there will be long straights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit this weekend, which ought to favour Mercedes as they gun for a one-two finish. Verstappen complained of having worn tyres with five laps to go, but he couldn't pit without losing second place to Ocon. Hamilton nursed his own car home to take the win, with Verstappen 7sec behind – his time penalty making no difference to the order. Completing the excitement, Bottas passed Ocon metres before the chequered flag to complete the podium.
Then the Dutchman got a stormer of a start to retake the lead on the medium tyres versus Hamilton's hards. Verstappen started second and finished second, after a steady performance. Norris led for much of the race, and regained the advantage shortly after a late stop for a set of fresh rubber.
That left Max Verstappen on pole, enabling him to take a lead from the start that he never looked like relinquishing. It was a notable off-day for Mercedes, with world champion Lewis Hamilton finishing seventh and Bottas forced to retire after mechanics were unable to remove his front-right tyre during a pitstop. The Ferrari of Carlos Sainz came in second while Lando Norris claimed his second podium of the season, in third.
After 21 exciting races, the F edition heads into the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend to determine the Drivers' and the Constructors' Champions. Title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are level on points (369.5) going into the final race, with the Dutchman having a slight advantage due to more race wins this year. Verstappen has won nine GPs as compared to Hamilton's eight.
After 21 races, Formula 1's world championship will be decided at this afternoon's season finale as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton go head-to-head at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 42-year-old retired from Formula 1 with a record 349 starts, 21 victories and the 2007 world championship on his CV. His two-part grand prix career was one of extraordinary contrasts, bookended by the flurry of excitement with his stellar performances for Sauber and a tame sign-off with the same team now under the Alfa Romeo name. One of the best options for streaming F1 is Kayo Sports, which currently has a 14 day free trial.
With Kayo you can stream the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix live using eligible mobile devices, and by enabling SplitView you can watch up to four events at the same time. After your free trial is over, Kayo is available for as little as $25 per month with a cancel at any time contract. Verstappen goes wide at turn two and then complains of a massive flat spot. Reminder that whatever time he sets his best lap on in this session he will start the race on. The entire season comes down to one race with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton tied neck and neck with young star Max Verstappen.
