The line Verstappen finally crossed in F1's first Jeddah race

There are two main ways of assessing Formula 1’s first race in Saudi Arabia.

One, that it was an action-packed thriller – a race of unpredictable drama and spectacle on a challenging track that set up the first season finale in 47 years to have two contenders level on points. Or two, that it was a disrupted, disjointed event on a needlessly dangerous track, where the fight between the title rivals went too far, too often.

Lewis Hamilton seemed to straddle both camps, saying after clinching his 103rd F1 win and eighth of the season “what a great circuit we have here” but also that it was “an incredibly difficult race”.

There are, naturally, plenty more ways of assessing the Jeddah race. Of course there are – having an opinion when one doesn’t have any particular material interest in the outcome of a sporting event is all part of the fun. Personal preferences come into it from a fan’s perspective, but it was disappointing to once again know F1’s various social media audiences had turned toxic even before the race was over.

But one view on the 21st race of F1’s 2021 campaign has it ending on a sour note. One of a certain undefinable quality – but not a good one…

PLUS: How the Jeddah F1 race became a one-sitting Netflix drama series

Things didn’t feel that way pre-race. The main straight and grid opposite the pits were narrow and brightly lit ahead of the start. As the cars formed up and their crews took them to their places, George Russell initially being pushed alongside Hamilton a neat reminder of their exciting subplot to watch in 2022, the temperature rose. It foreshadowed what was to come. The pressure was rising.

As the Red Bull mechanics pushed Max Verstappen and his RB16B past him on the boiling grid, this writer, reflecting on the end-of-season considerations this time of year brings, believed that the Dutchman remained the best driver of the campaign. Two hours later, that view had changed.

Verstappen twice earned the ire of the stewards for moves on Hamilton at Turn 1

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Verstappen finally went too far in his attacking moves on Hamilton last time out.

The pattern had been set from the opening races of the season. Imola was Hamilton having to cede ground against an immovable Verstappen, but at Barcelona his ‘my way or no way’ attitude was evident. It was there again in his third start double-pass on Hamilton and Esteban Ocon last Sunday – the right side of legal (but only just) and requiring his rival to turn away from contact, although into some with the Alpine.

Bold, brilliant stuff from Verstappen. But the other two moves at the same corner only meet the first adjective.

Having lost the second start with his hard tyres not fired up to temperature, Verstappen refused to concede he’d lost the lead he’d lucked into with the first red flag. When Hamilton attacked on lap 37 in a sequence notably similar to the Turn 4 events in Brazil, it was obvious what Verstappen would do. On both occasions he completed his manoeuvre off-track and on each occasion the officials took a dim view.

F1 is at its best when there is a blend of daring brilliance, risk and challenge – ideally wheel-to-wheel fights that stay clean

“I find it interesting that I am the one who gets the penalty when both of us ran outside of the white lines,” said Verstappen – after Hamilton had noted: “I know that I can’t overtake someone and go off track and then keep the position – I think that’s well known between all us drivers but it doesn’t apply to one of us, I guess.”

“In Brazil it was fine and now suddenly I get a penalty for it,” Verstappen added. “Well, you could clearly see both didn’t make the corner.”

In both instances, it doesn’t matter that Hamilton ended up off track. It was clear to see in Brazil and in Jeddah that Verstappen’s trajectory took them both wide, and Hamilton shouldn’t have to impede himself further because his opponent had failed to stay within the white lines.

This is on the FIA. Verstappen notes that he wasn’t penalised in Brazil, which suggests he fully intended to go right up to that interpretation of the rules again. Had Michael Masi been firmer – ideally, backed up by permanent stewards F1 badly seems to need now – perhaps the unedifying display witnessed last weekend could’ve been avoided.

The contact between the pair on the approach to Turn 27 was deemed by the stewards to have predominantly been caused by Verstappen's sudden braking

Photo by: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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Because there is such a thing as winning the right way. And Verstappen isn’t doing that.

Brazil was a far superior race to the shunt-fest in Jeddah, even if the contest was over far earlier. Even Mexico, where Verstappen disappeared into the distance after making the pass of the season, was a better sporting contest, it just lacked action overall.

F1 is at its best when there is a blend of daring brilliance, risk and challenge – ideally wheel-to-wheel fights that stay clean.

Verstappen is so good. His speed and mental capacity behind the wheel are a truly tremendous combination. It seems inevitable that he will win multiple titles eventually. The first could still come this weekend – although Mercedes notes there are no development tyres to distract it in Abu Dhabi practice this year, Hamilton isn’t recovering from a bout of COVID and the track changes need to be understood.

The varied view on Verstappen’s driving isn’t a nationalism thing – that’s a lazy attack generally deployed by idiots (considering we’re all on a rock hurtling through space towards our inevitable individual dooms). It’s just he seems to lack the last remaining element to be a true sporting great.

Hamilton has it – respect for sporting fairness and the ethics. That’s not to say he’s infallible, as his move to push Verstappen wide once he’d been allowed through for the decisive time late in the Jeddah race showed – although that was perhaps a reflection of the world champion’s exasperation at his rival’s antics than anything really dastardly.

That sour note can finally be defined. It was disappointment in Verstappen. He is his final Jeddah qualifying lap – where he produced a display of such incredible skill and speed he seemed to be racing towards his title destiny until it went fractionally wrong and he couldn’t accept it – in human form.

Brilliant, brilliant, but blunted.

Verstappen remained defiant after the race that he had been wronged by the race director's decision-making

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images