At the second Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia in the history of Formula 1, the action on the track has been in the background since the second free practice session on Friday evening.
The overriding theme is the attack on an oil refinery owned by the state oil company Aramco not far from the route in Jeddah. Yemeni Houthi rebels have since claimed responsibility for attacking the facility. On Friday, the voices of those calling for the event to be canceled increased.
In fact, the further procedure was discussed late into the night before it was clear: the event will continue as planned. Formula 1 confirmed this again with an official statement on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. CET.
The assurances of the local officials that the installed defense systems were safe enough and would provide adequate protection for everyone involved also played a role. The Formula 1 team bosses were convinced of this, at least officially. According to this, the defense systems and their functioning were explained to them in a “credible” manner.
“There are measures that of course protect us”
“You explained to us very credibly what is available,” explained Haas team boss Günther Steiner on Saturday in Jeddah. “I’m not able to explain the technical details because I’m not qualified enough. But there are measures that of course protect us.” The South Tyrolean even goes one step further.
“I think if the authorities have their own family here and they feel safe, I can feel safe too,” Steiner continued. “We know the technical systems they have in place. If the authorities have their own families here and they feel safe, then I can feel safe too.”
Steiner gets approval from his Aston Martins Mike Krack: “Yesterday we had a few high-ranking officials as guests. And they explained the situation to us very credibly. And that affected all of us, all ten of us [Teamchefs]who were in the room confident that they take their responsibilities very seriously.”
Williams team boss Jost Capito added: “There was another defense expert present. Not from here but from another country who looked at this independently and confirmed that everything is in place for a safe event.”
At this point in time, however, it is not certain that the weekend will actually go through to the end as planned. The team bosses reserve the right to react accordingly depending on the development of the situation.
Formula 1 team bosses want to “keep up to date”
“When we discussed last night with Formula 1, the FIA, stakeholders, drivers and team bosses, we undoubtedly received all the assurances and we also spoke to the local authorities,” explained Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto.
“But we too have come to the conclusion that we should keep ourselves updated. Let’s see if there is anything new that needs to be addressed or discussed.” Should a rocket finally find its way into the Formula 1 environment, despite all the assurances, the outcry would be many times greater.
This would also be the case if gaps in the defense systems were discovered during further investigations. McLaren’s Andreas Seidl says: “I would say that we will come back to the same exchange and discussion that we had yesterday.”
“Ultimately we have to trust that Formula 1 and the authorities here are always putting the safety first for every single member of the paddock. I have every confidence that this is the case. And I would just take the advice of the Leave F1 and the authorities.” However, this weekend in Jeddah already shows that this strategy is not always reliable.