Formula 1 had a difficult weekend in Jeddah after a missile attack on an oil storage facility less than 20km from the circuit left the fate of the race hanging in the balance.
The Great Circus bosses were confident in the security of the venue after receiving information from the Saudi authorities, but the pilots were more concerned about the situation and held a four-hour meeting on Friday night to discuss a possible boycott.
In the end, after speaking with team principals, Saudi representatives and senior Formula 1 figures, the drivers agreed that it would be better to commit to racing.
But while the decisions made in Jeddah were focused solely on getting through the weekend, the next talks, due to start imminently, will be about whether or not F1 should return to the country.
While some within the paddock are comfortable with having Saudi Arabia on the calendar, others are more concerned about safety and the negativity that has surrounded the sport in recent days.
Stefano Domenicali , F1’s chief executive, is well aware that this nation’s presence on the calendar is not without controversy, but he thinks it is wrong to say there are big questions about its future.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 , Domenicali commented: “I think it’s not a question mark. It’s a question of understanding the situation.”
“We are not blind, but we must not forget one thing, that this country, also through F1 and the sport we believe in, is taking a big step forward.”
“You can’t expect to change a millennium-old culture in the blink of an eye, but here you can see the resources they’re deploying to move forward.”
“Don’t forget, a couple of years ago women couldn’t drive and now they’re here on the grid. They’re partying, they’re watching sport, they’re changing a lot of laws to make sure this happens, so we can’t just let this happen.” sideways”.
“Of course there are tensions and things to improve. We don’t want to be political about it, but I do think that we are playing a very important role in modernizing this country. We are focused, of course, on making sure that these are the center of our diary”.
Some have suggested that F1 has been hypocritical in canceling the Russian Grand Prix due to the Ukraine invasion but going ahead with Saudi Arabia despite its conflict in Yemen, but Domenicali sees things differently.
“It’s a matter of definitions, is a terrorist attack a war?” he explained. “We are talking about sport, of course we are in contact with all the authorities and with all the embassies, with all the corresponding government bodies. We will continue along this line and will never be in a situation that could endanger the safety of our people” .
