You don't need to know much about F1 racing, or racing in general, to know that a race that had to be started three different times, and had an incident that saw the race's leader attempt to give the lead to his closest competitor only to have the whole thing
Lewis Hamilton won his third consecutive race of the season, eighth overall, to pull into a tie for the season championship with Max Verstappen, who finished second for the third consecutive race. Next week's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be a winner-take-all for the two, as they both have 369.5 points for the season. The tale of how we got here is told by an idiot.
The 13th lap of the race was stopped due to one of the barriers needing repair. It allowed Verstappen to change his tires without having to use a pit stop as Hamilton had already done. The race resumed for a short time. There was an accident in the middle of the pack that would cause a shutdown of the race, and at the top of the race, Verstappen went off the track to pass Hamilton, which is not allowed.
After the second restart, Verstappen overtook both Hamilton and Ocon who were in front of him.
We were not even close to done. Verstappen ran Hamilton off the track when he tried to pass him on the 37th lap. Verstappen was told by his team to let Hamilton by on the next lap in order to avoid a penalty from racing officials. Hamilton didn't know what to think of Verstappen slowing down. Hamilton was certain that Verstappen wasbrake-testing him, something drivers do to signal they think they are being followed too closely by a chasing car or cause them to take evasive action.
Hamilton damaged his front wing when he ran up on Verstappen.
Verstappen was given a five-second penalty after the race for forcing Hamilton off the track, which gave Hamilton the checkered flag. Verstappen let Hamilton by, but then overtook him again.
With six laps to go, Verstappen seemingly let Hamilton by again, this time for good, either unaware of the five-second penalty that would await him after the race or to finally appease officials for all the shenanigans that had occurred. Verstappen was told by his team that he didn't have to do that.
If Hamilton finishes ahead of the Red Bull driver on Sunday, he will win the World Championship and tie Michael Schumacher for the most in a row, with five. Verstappen wants to win his first world championship and Red Bull its first in eight years. The Mercedes combo of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas sandwiched Verstappen on the podium as Mercedes wrapped up the constructors championship.
F1 fans will get to see one race next week, which is exactly what they want.
