Saudi Arabia’s minister of sport, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal, says he has met with Formula One’s teams and drivers in attempt to allay concerns over the safety of next year’s race in Jeddah.
F1’s drivers came close to boycotting this year’s event in March after a missile attack on a nearby oil depot raised security concerns.
The attack took place five days before the introduction of a cease-fire between Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, who claimed responsibility for the Jeddah attack, and a Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government.
However, the cease-fire in Yemen lapsed on Sunday, raising concerns of a return to violence in the area.
Prince Abdulaziz said he met with key figures in F1, including the drivers, after this year’s race in an attempt to address concerns about the safety of racing in Saudi Arabia — the 2023 edition will take place on March 19.
“We are working with F1 to make sure that any concerns that any of the drivers, teams or individuals, even the fans, that we make sure that we fulfil these concerns,” he told a small group of reporters in Singapore last weekend. “We know that it’s safe, but we need to explain what measures have been done.
“More than 4,000 troops were deployed during that event [this year] just to make sure, because when these things happen you are afraid people that want to aggravate on this will pick up on it, so we just made sure no one affects the safety of the event and the city. For us safety and security is even bigger than Formula One, it’s about a nation, so that’s our No. 1 priority.
“We met personally with all the team principals, and I met personally with all the drivers. We spoke about all of these issues and we have open dialogue with them now. Any requests and any concerns that they have, they hear from us, the officials, directly on these issues. I hope it continues as a cease-fire and nothing happens at the next event.”
Asked what concerns the drivers had raised, Prince Abdulaziz added: “Most of the concerns were about the security, really. It was a frightening event.
“I was on the plane when it happened, so I had to divert to Medina airport and then fly back to Jeddah and come to the track directly to speak to the drivers. So, it wasn’t a perfect scenario to start your weekend.
“But we have to learn from these situations. If you see the world…
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