The drivers who make up the grid of the Formula 1 World Championship launched, this Friday, a powerful message to the promoters of the championship, who after nearly four hours of meeting managed to convince them to go ahead with the program of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The attack on the fuel depot that the Aramco oil company has in Jeddah, less than 20 kilometers from the Corniche Circuit, perpetrated by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the middle of the afternoon, significantly altered the day’s agenda. But the runners, the main protagonists of the Great Circus, demanded more guarantees than the statements that Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the event, made to the displaced media. After half past two in the morning, the various meetings were considered concluded and all the interested parties, from the promoters, to the local organizers, the team managers and also the pilots, left the track and went to rest at their respective hotels. The runners did so with the promise that their safety will be fully guaranteed, both this Saturday, when the third free trials and the time trial are scheduled to take place (at 6:00 p.m., on DAZN).
Little or nothing has transpired from the different perspectives that converged in the F1 caravan in which the runners were grouped. However, the duration of the meeting leads one to think that there was no single position, but rather that a kind of negotiation was triggered, in which the possible repercussions that a possible boycott of the test could have were made known to them. This reaction went so far as to seriously plan the paddock of the circuit, even though the hypothetical plant was finally deactivated. The person in charge of transferring this decision was George Russell, as secretary of the Pilots Association (GPDA), a body that on Saturday morning offered the point of view of the group to which it gives voice.
“Yesterday was a difficult day for F1, and a stressful day for us drivers. It may be difficult to understand for someone who has never driven one of these cars on a track as fast as Jeddah, but seeing the smoke from the incident, it was difficult to remain fully focused and not attend to the logical human concerns. , starts the GPDA in the statement. “After listening to senior F1 officials and Saudi government ministers, who explained to us how security measures were raised to the maximum, we decided that we would participate in the rest of the training, this Saturday, and also in the race, on Sunday”, adds the group. “Leaving the country would not have been the right decision,” Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said.
Before the note from the drivers’ association, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) published another in which it underlined the conviction of all the parties involved, that the event could take place “as initially planned”.
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