Leaving behind the American triptych, with Austin, Mexico City and Sao Paulo being the host cities of the last three GPs of this exciting F1 season, the Circus is ready to continue its final rush in the Arabian peninsula. The three races that will conclude this World Cup and crown the winner of the Verstappen-Hamilton duel will in fact take place in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. And if the Abu Dhabi race has been on the calendar since 2009, Losail and Jeddah represent two brand new additions to the world championship scene. Understandably, however, there was no lack of controversy over the decision to close this season in countries certainly not particularly known for their attention to respect for human rights.
Amnesty International strongly condemned F1’s choice to race in these countries, accusing the leaders of the category of lending itself to “Sportwashing” of these states that would use “the glamor and glitz of F1 to try to distract attention from human rights violations “. According to Amnesty, the Circus should instead exploit its visibility to bring these delicate issues to the attention of the world during its stay in these countries. The boss of Formula 1, Stefano Domenicali, however, intervened on the issue during a long interview with BBC. According to the Italian manager, going to these countries is the right thing to do.
“Such an important change cannot happen overnight – the former Ferrari team principal told the British channel – it is a cultural change that will take time. But times will be accelerated by the fact that there are big events. AND Formula 1 will play an important role in this regard“. Motorsport would therefore almost have the role of an ‘ambassador’ according to Domenicali. “I believe that the spotlight we are bringing will be useful for the will and desires for change that these countries are showing. I don’t think closing down on these countries and saying we don’t want to go there will help the situation improve. In fact, it’s the other way around. It doesn’t mean that everything is perfect, but for sure what we are doing goes in the right direction “he concluded.
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