By: EFE Updated 26 Mar 2022, 9: 30 am EDT
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the Formula 1 have issued a note in which they “confirm” that after the meetings “with teams and drivers the Saudi Arabian GP will continue as scheduled”.
After the impact of a missile 15 kilometers from Jeddah Corniche, there was a meeting that lasted for more than four hours after which “the Saudi government authorities and security agencies have given full and detailed guarantees that the event is safe ”, so the GP will be held.
At the meeting, and according to the note issued, “it has been agreed with all stakeholders maintain a clear and open dialogue throughout the event and for the future“.
The drivers who compete in the Formula One World Championship were together until around two in the morning this Saturday to see whether or not they would contest the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after the missile attack on an oil facility in the vicinity -about 15 kilometres- from the Jeddah circuit, venue for the second round of the championship; before confirming that they would.
Large fire at Aramco facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after Houthi missile attack. It’s worth noting that Formula 1 is in Jeddah this weekend. pic.twitter.com/Ozk54ekuu0
—Kyle Glen (@KyleJGlen) March 25, 2022
After the Italian Stefano Domenicali, maximum leader of F1, ensured that the Grand Prix was going to take place as “it was planned”, the drivers and the team managers met for more than two hours at the Jeddah circuit. Once the team leaders left the room where they were all gathered, the pilots continued debating until after two in the morning on Saturday (midnight, in Spanish peninsular time; the 23: 00 GMT hours on Friday) to see if they were still in Arabia or if, on the other hand, they stood up and did not dispute the Grand Prix.
The owner of the McLaren team, the American Zak Brown, told ‘As’ that the Grand Prix would take place; since finally, the pilots, some of them quite upset, however, decided that it should be so, according to the aforementioned Madrid sports newspaper from Jeddah.
Shortly after, the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), fourth in the last World Cup -which was won by his Dutch teammate Max Verstappen– and who set the fourth time in free practice on Friday, confirmed that the Grand Prix would take place, through a well-known social network .
“Ready and fully focused on tomorrow’s qualifying”, Guadalajaran ‘Checo’ Pérez, from 32 years old, who is entering his twelfth season in F1, a category in which he has two victories and fifteen podiums.
The Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), leader of the World Cup after having won last Sunday in Bahrain, he had set the fastest time in free practice on Friday. A day that Verstappen finished second, ahead of the Spanish Carlos Sainz, partner of the pilot of the principality of the Côte d’Azur in the ‘Scuderia’ and that he finished second in the first race of the year, in Sakhir.