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

OPINION: Max Verstappen has made the 2021 Formula 1 championship. He’s taken the fight to the all-conquering Mercedes squad and its dominant champion, produced driving displays few can match. But he’s been on a controversial course too, and finally crossed a particular line in Jeddah

Alex Kalinauckas Dec 7, 2021, 3:23 PM

Upd: Dec 8, 2021, 6:58 PM

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”.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.