“I find it appalling,” says Madawi al-Rasheed. “At a time when the whole world is focused on how to deal with authoritarian rulers who threaten peace, we have to realize that sports organizations are completely indifferent to the human rights situation and the leadership in Saudi Arabia.” The 59-year-old social anthropologist is originally from Saudi Arabia but has long lived in London, where she teaches Economics and Political Science at the London School’s Middle East Centre.
In view of the human rights situation in the country and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the war in Yemen, she views the upcoming Formula 1 race just as critically as other major sporting events that take place in Saudi Arabia. “These kinds of events should be boycotted and any kind of Western aid and support should be made conditional on the Saudi regime complying with international law and international human rights, values and norms.”
Hundreds of millions for a positive image
But instead, the second race of the Formula 1 season will start on Sunday in Jeddah. Mohammed bin Salman can once again present himself as a proud host and a big fan of the PS circus. The controversial Saudi crown prince had already celebrated the walk through the pit lane and starting grid at the Formula 1 premiere in December and basked in the splendor of the racing series. “It’s part of his ‘Vision 2030’ and sports washing to fundamentally polish Saudi Arabia’s reputation,” Madawi al-Rasheed told DW.
Jeddah 2021: Mohammed bin Salman with FIA President Jean Todt (3rd from right) walking through the starting grid
With the second race, “the kingdom has now become the home of motorsport in the region,” Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal was quoted as saying in the Saudi newspaper “Alriyadh” on Tuesday. In addition to Formula 1, the Dakar Rally has also been driving through the Saudi desert since 2020. Soccer highlights such as a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina and the Spanish Supercup have already taken place in Saudi Arabia, as has a heavyweight World Championship boxing match. Most recently, the Saudi state fund PIF secured an 80 percent majority stake in Premiere League club Newcastle United for around 350 million euros.
Welcome cash injection from Autoland
Saudi Arabia also paid a price for the Formula 1 contract: the Saudi state oil company Aramco concluded a sponsorship deal with the racing series. Shortly thereafter, the Formula 1 organizers announced in January 2020 that races would also take place in Saudi Arabia in the future. As the “Motorsport Week” reported in April 2020, the Aramco contract runs for ten years and will bring Formula 1 the equivalent of around 535 million euros (450 million pounds). Other sources even speak of 800 million euros. A lot of money for Formula 1, which according to rights holder Liberty Media turned over a total of 1.145 billion US dollars in 2020 – for Aramco, on the other hand, it’s just peanuts given annual profits in the two to three-digit billion range.
Aramco has also become the main sponsor of Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin team
In any case, from a purely economic point of view, Formula 1 has landed in the right place. “Saudi Arabia is a very young market. There are many large families, so there are also many young people,” says Christian Glosauer, an economics expert for the Middle East at Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), the successor company to the Federal Agency for Foreign Trade, in an interview with DW. “It’s also a classic car country. The car is very important there.” Although a lot is also developing in public transport, it is not yet a real alternative. “In Saudi Arabia you are simply dependent on your car and you love your car.”
At the same time, the oil country Saudi Arabia is also a suitable partner when it comes to sustainability – which Formula 1 is committed to promoting. “There are big plans for renewable energies that are already being implemented,” explains Glosauer. “Above all, it’s about photovoltaics on a very large scale and green hydrogen, and there are also some large solar park projects.”
No freedom of speech, thousands of civilian victims in Yemen
On the other hand, there is a long list of deficiencies in human rights: The desert state is ruled authoritarian by the Saud royal family. There are no elections, opposition and criticism are severely punished. The case of blogger Raif Badawi is just one prominent example among many. In the organization’s Press Freedom Index “Reporters Without Borders” Saudi Arabia only ranks 170th out of 180. “Despite all the reform rhetoric,” it says, “repression has increased since the appointment of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2017. Many media workers have been arbitrarily imprisoned, and most are probably tortured.”
Saudi Arabia supports the government’s side against the Houthi rebels in the Yemen war
Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticizes the “ongoing repression of dissidents and activists and the failure to account for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October 2018”. Added to this is the high number of executions every year, some of which even take place in public. While there are commendable reforms for Saudi women, which HRW said would represent a significant step forward if fully implemented, women’s rights activists “still remain in prison or are on trial for their involvement.”
It should also not be forgotten that Saudi Arabia has been supporting a bloody war in its neighboring country Yemen since 2015, which, according to the aid organization Save the Children, has claimed more than 10,000 civilian victims, around a quarter of them children. In addition, almost 400,000 girls and boys under the age of five suffered from acute malnutrition.
“Alarming news” no reason for cancellation
None of this stopped the organizers of Formula 1 from accepting Saudi Arabia as one of the host countries. From 2023 there should even be two races in the desert state. There is one from Formula 1 Declaration of commitment to respect human rights. It states, among other things, that one will “conduct meaningful consultations with the relevant stakeholders as appropriate in relation to the issues raised as part of our due diligence”. Questions from DW as to why Formula 1 races are held in Saudi Arabia and how exactly human rights issues are discussed with the Saudi partners went unanswered by Formula 1 and the FIA.
Formula 1 Managing Director Stefano Domenicali (r.) Sees no reason to cancel the race in Jeddah
Before the race in Jeddah, however, Formula 1 Managing Director Stefano Domenicali spoke to Sky Sports. Although he called the news of the 81 executions that recently took place in Saudi Arabia in just one day “quite alarming”, he saw no reason not to drive because of it. On the contrary, Formula 1 helps to give the topic “a different status in the news”, the abuses could be put in “an intense limelight”, said the Italian.
This coincides with the view of the Saudi hosts: Minister of Sport Al-Faisal admitted in an interview with “Alriyadh” that there was still a lot to do. However, it is important to organize major events such as Formula 1 “to make our society more integrative and diverse and to promote equality”. Criticism is welcome while also acknowledging the change and great development that the Kingdom is witnessing in general and in sport in particular.
European Parliament: “Strong double standards”
After Russian troops invaded Ukraine at the end of February, it wasn’t long before the Sochi Grand Prix scheduled for September was cancelled. The fact that the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is still precarious despite all the reforms and that war crimes are being committed in Yemen with Saudi support is obviously not enough to have consequences.
On Wednesday, 90 members of the European Parliament accused the FIA and Formula 1 of actively promoting sports washing and showing “strong double standards”. However, this will not have a drastic effect, after all, Formula 1 has lived very well with this double standard for years.