Forget the technical minutiae, Formula One has transformed into pure, unfiltered drama

Formula One hasn’t always been a sport for the casual fan, writes Ben Burrows, but that has changed this season

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have had a number of comings together this season – but Hamilton came out on top on Sunday (AP)

Just when you think a scarcely believable Formula One season can’t deliver any more, it does so once again.

It has been one of the most dramatic years in memory, both on and off the track, as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have gone wheel to wheel in the race for the drivers’ title.

It looked to be Verstappen’s to lose for much of it after a stellar mid-season winning run, but seven-time champion Hamilton has come roaring back in the closing stretch with consecutive victories in Brazil, Qatar and, most recently, in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Starting from pole position, Hamilton took the early lead but a series of red flags following accidents saw the season’s two protagonists thrust together once more.

A battle on the track, with both overtaking each other, and off it, when Verstappen was ordered to give a place back after going outside the lines to keep the lead, saw the momentum swing one way and then the other.

The flashpoint came on lap 37 when Hamilton ran into the back of the braking Dutchman, not a first coming together of the season and one that landed both men up in front of the race stewards. Hamilton would go on to take the victory with Verstappen’s retrospective 10-second penalty still not enough to shift him from second to third.

It all means that, for the first time in 47 years, the top two will head into the season finale in Abu Dhabi on level points for a winner-takes-all showdown in the desert.

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Formula One hasn’t always been a sport for the casual fan with the technical minutiae and obscurity of rules sometimes too much to grasp, but the pure, unfiltered drama of this year has more people glued to it than ever.

Next weekend’s race promises to be another thriller, with both drivers already proving they won’t ask a quarter or give an inch.

With the chequered flag looming on a season for the ages, F1 fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor