IIn the flight of sparks from Jeddah, Max Verstappen suffered a severe setback in the duel with Lewis Hamilton. The front runner had to admit defeat to his English rival in both training sessions at the Formula 1 premiere in Saudi Arabia. With second place in the opening training at dawn and only fourth place in the second unit, Verstappen missed the hoped-for boost for the possible early title win.
Hamilton could not be captured on Friday. Once he even had to prevent a collision with Nikita Masepin in the Haas, who had lost control of his car and was spinning. Hamilton even improved his best time of 1: 29.786 minutes in the second practice session under floodlights to 1: 29.018 minutes. Team mate Valtteri Bottas landed right behind him. Sebastian Vettel, in the Aston Martin, was 16th, Mick Schumacher didn’t get past 18th in the Haas.
The sparks flew again and again when the underbody of the cars slid over the curbs and the asphalt on the 6.174 kilometer-long Jeddah Corniche Circuit. It was obvious from the pilots that they had to fight hard on their first outings on the very fast and brand new track.
After a serious accident by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, the second training session was even ended prematurely. The Monegasse lost control of its car around five minutes before the end at Turn 22, spun and then crashed into the lane with its right side. The 24-year-old was able to get out of his badly damaged car on his own. Leclerc was brought to the track doctor as a precaution. There he underwent a routine examination. The doctors then gave Leclerc the green light, as the Scuderia announced.
Despite his mixed start, Verstappen feels ready for the last act in the generation struggle – whether in Saudi Arabia or in a week in Abu Dhabi. “Fighting Lewis is generally good for sport – a young guy versus the established world champion, the multiple world champion. I think it’s just very exciting, “said the 24-year-old about the duel with the 36-year-old. “In the end, it doesn’t matter to me whether you’re fighting someone as old as I am or against a world champion.” Both are “great drivers”.
But Verstappen is eagerly waiting for his first world title. The son of Michael Schumacher’s former team-mate at Benetton, Jos Verstappen, has never been as close as this season. Hamilton has won the world championship seven times. He lost the last time in 2016 in a competition for the title. Nico Rosberg immediately ended his career exhausted.
“I’m more relaxed than ever,” said the already relaxed Hamilton in the conservative kingdom. “I remember my first World Championship, even my second and third, the sleepless nights and all these things, while now I’m much more confident about myself.” Hamilton is eight points behind Verstappen. The Dutchman must definitely be first or second on Sunday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker on Formula 1 and on RTL) in order to have the chance of winning the title early. His English opponent gets back the impressively powerful engine from Brazil for the penultimate Grand Prix of the year and then also for the finale. Time to attack.
“It was the toughest fight the sport has seen in a long, long time,” noted Hamilton. Therefore, an eighth title with which he would leave Schumacher behind as record champion would also be unsurpassed for him. “He would be quite sure of that,” assured Hamilton and quickly demonstrated his qualities on the road circuit in Jeddah, which was built in less than a year.
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