The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was initially scheduled for November 28, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rescheduling of the Australian Grand Prix. Prior to the race weekend, Williams co-founder and former owner Sir Frank Williams died at the age of 79, prompting tributes from teams and a minute’s silence before the start. Former Williams driver Damon Hill completed a lap of honour in the FW07, the team’s first championship-winning car. Alpine ran a special livery to celebrate their 100th race with sponsor Castrol. Williams CEO Jost Capito tested positive for coronavirus and was absent from the weekend.
Heading into the race, Max Verstappen led the Drivers’ Championship with 351.5 points, 8 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s 343.5 points. Mercedes led Red Bull Racing in the Constructors’ Championship by 5 points, while Ferrari held a 39.5-point advantage over McLaren in third.
Qualifying took place on December 4, with Lewis Hamilton securing pole position with a lap time of 1.27.511. Max Verstappen was on a faster lap at the end of the session but crashed into the wall at the final corner, breaking his suspension. Valtteri Bottas qualified in third. Lewis Hamilton set his pole time on eight-lap-old medium tyres, giving him a tyre disadvantage for the race compared to Verstappen, who had four-lap-old medium tyres. Carlos Sainz Jr. struggled with his Ferrari, spinning at turn 10 and damaging his rear wing.
The race began on December 5 and was interrupted by incidents resulting in one safety car period, two red flags, and four virtual safety car periods. On lap 10, Mick Schumacher crashed his Haas, bringing out the safety car and prompting a pit stop for both Mercedes drivers, dropping them to second and third. A subsequent red flag allowed Verstappen to change tyres and take the lead.
After the first standing restart, Verstappen overtook Hamilton off the track. A crash involving Sergio Pérez, Charles Leclerc, Nikita Mazepin, and George Russell led to a second red flag. Race director Michael Masi initially offered to re-order the cars, proposing to switch Verstappen and Ocon, but later amended the offer to move Hamilton to second and Verstappen to third. This was proposed in lieu of an investigation into Verstappen overtaking Hamilton at the first standing restart, and was only offered to Red Bull Racing and not put to the other two teams involved in the changing on the restart order, Alpine (Ocon's team) and Mercedes (Hamilton's team).
Later in the race, on lap 37, Verstappen made an illegal overtake on Hamilton. He was instructed by the stewards to allow Hamilton to pass, but he slowed dramatically before the DRS detection point to reactivate the system and re-attack. Hamilton was surprised by Verstappen’s sudden braking, resulting in a collision that damaged Hamilton’s front wing endplate and Verstappen’s diffuser. Verstappen received a 10-second time penalty, which did not affect his final position, and two penalty points on his super license.
On the final lap, Valtteri Bottas overtook Esteban Ocon for third place, achieving his last podium finish with Mercedes. Following the race, Hamilton criticised Verstappen’s driving, accusing him of being “over the limit”. Verstappen, in turn, criticised the sport and the penalties applied to him, claiming F1 was “more about penalties than racing”. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner compared the actions of race director Masi to "like being at the local market", and added: "It felt like today the sport missed [Masi's predecessor] Charlie Whiting." Russell, also a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, called for changes to the track for safety.