I'm a diehard F1 fan as most of the vets here may have seen. But with the rebel missile attacks on the Aramco reserves near the Jeddah track feels like the F1 circus shouldn't race there. Now while I fully advocate sports as a medium to unite people together, after being able to see the fire and smoke from the attacks from the Jeddah circuit, I'm a bit puzzled as to why F1 is continuing this event despite the obvious financial accretiveness of running a Saudi GP.
I am the first person to say the race must go on despite whatever conditions but this just feels almost irresponsible and sending a poor message to the F1 constituent base which races under the "we race as one" banner. And while I know that has always been flawed and quite frankly not held up when considering race locales, how does the current situation not warrant a drawing of the race itself?
Curious to hear thoughts and not intended to be inflammatory in any way or poiltical.
I wholly agree with everything you said. Shouldn’t be racing there period, but money talks unfortunately.
According to the BBC the drivers briefing was warned with soft hints at how not racing would affect their ability to exit the country (https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/60880598). Totally crazy..
tf? So if they don't risk their lives (like they usually do but this time with missile attack) they can't leave the country?
When I read about that from a non-sports website, that's when I knew how much of a sordid situation this race has become this year. At the end of it, like other monkeys have said, it's all about the cash money for the FIA and KSA doing everything they can to drop money on positive publicity. They're kind of known for less than stellar records on human rights and this race is a great way for them to try and rehab their image. Especially with what's going on right now between them and Yemen.
Edit: forgot to toss in that extorting drivers like this is also another point of why people don't look at KSA too kindly. This is exactly like what happens to Indian or other immigrant workers in the region. "We need good publicity to cover up for the bad stuff we do. And by the way, we're going to have to crank it up because we're actually doing one of these negatives to the positive publicity gaining event itself." It's like that old adage about asking the scorpion stinging the frog and drowning them both. "Because I'm a scorpion and I can't change my true nature."
Azerbaijan just launched an offensive into Armenia, but we're still racing there in June. As the above guy said, it's money that does the talking
To be honest they should never race at this track again. After Mick and Latifi’s incidents yesterday and I am unsure if Jeddah is the right place to race. Can’t bear to witness another Grojean again. FIA are just asking for it to happen.
Let’s just hope that nothing bad happens today
WeRaceAsmONEy!!$$$F1 sadly doesn't care about human rights or anything. It was a bit embarrassing they were still selling Russia GP tickets during the invasion. They were heavily pressure by the international community to pull out. They'll do the PR tactics of "End Racism", Humans rights are all rights, etc. at the beginning of each race to make themselves feel good. It was good to see drivers stand up for what they believe in during the meeting the day before unfortunately they were pressured by their team principals and FIA to continue.Anyways it was a great race and glad nobody got hurt.
very exciting battle at the end there with Leclerc and verstappen.
eh. missiles going boom boom aside, i think the track on its own is a fucking death trap no matter how many "corner adjustments" they made this year....imola looks like a childrens' playground in comparison - oh well i guess the FIA felt the need for $$$$peed to race here
also gahd DAMN if not for the SC that was easily a ferrari win. good sign tho that even on a bad week we're 2-3
Dude yes - also all concrete barriers?? Right off the track with with no runoff? Crazy
But yes, the scuderia succeeding is a win for all F1 fans
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