Formula 1 in Saudi Arabia has weathered a fair few storms, from sportswashing criticisms and concerns over human rights to the safety doubts after the missile attack at the race in 2022. On the eve of the event taking place last weekend, human rights group Reprieve issued a strongly worded statement regarding the situation inside Saudi Arabia.
Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve, said: “For all the talk of ‘positive values’ and ‘accelerating change,’ F1 has never seriously engaged with human rights and the way the sport is used to whitewash abuses by some of the world’s most repressive regimes.”
She added: “There have been at least 13 executions in Saudi Arabia in the last two weeks, including Hussein Abo al-Kheir, a Jordanian father of eight whose case had been raised by UN experts and UK MPs.
“Carrying out these executions on the eve of the Jeddah Grand Prix is a brazen display of impunity by the Saudi authorities, confident that the sport and its commercial partners will stay silent, and that the pageantry of F1 will distract from the bloodshed.”
Reprieve’s statement came after a coalition of 21 rights groups and Trade Unions wrote to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali ahead of the season calling for disclosure of human rights articles in F1’s contracts amid concerns about both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain using their races for sportswashing.
Concerns over human rights are not unique to Saudi Arabia, and the nation has long argued that having international attention on it through the hosting of events like F1 is as much a means of exposing it to outside scrutiny from the international community, as it is about self-promotion. It has also never shied away from understanding that the kingdom needs to and wants to evolve, grow and become better.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14, the rest of the field at the start
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
And things are slowly changing. That much was clear for anyone arriving at King Abdulaziz International Airport last week, as the promotional videos of the race showcased the story of a young girl who dreamed of – and achieved – finding herself on the F1 grid battling against her rivals. For a country that only ended its ban on women drivers five years ago, this is a clear sign of how attitudes are fast evolving, even if some would like action to be running at a much faster pace.
For the Saudi government, the main benefit it sees…
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