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Formula 1 teams agreed unanimously to continue with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in an extraordinary meeting called in the wake of a missile attack nearby on Friday.
Yemen’s Houthi rebel group struck an Aramco facility close to the Jeddah circuit as part of what it is calling a “third siege-breaking operation” in the past two weeks.
It claims it carried out over “66 various operations” today as part of an escalation in the war between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels.
One of those was striking an Aramco oil facility roughly six miles from the Jeddah street track on Friday which meant thick, dark grey smoke was visible from the circuit during opening practice.
According to a Reuters report, two storage tanks were hit in the attack but there were no casualties.
The start of FP2 was delayed by 15 minutes as drivers and team figures were summoned to a meeting by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, attended by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
In that meeting, Domenicali passed on information from the Saudi Arabia authorities and informed the drivers the weekend would proceed as planned.
Second practice then began with all 10 teams and 20 drivers participating, although another meeting was scheduled for afterwards for a further update.
This meeting was attended by every team and driver and ended with Domenicali and Ben Sulayem jointly stating that unanimous agreement was reached with drivers and teams to continue with the event.
The Race understands several drivers have expressed concern over the event going ahead but the FIA says they were part of the unanimous agreement reached in the meeting.
“We’ve received all assurances that the country’s safety comes first, no matter the situation,” said Domenicali.
“Safety has to be guaranteed, they are here with their families, so they have in place all the systems to protect this area.
“We have to trust the local authorities in that respect and, therefore, of course, we go ahead with the event.”
He added: “We’re all together on this, it’s something that is relevant for all of us, and we need to trust the local authorities – not only here, all around the world.”
The Race understands that national intelligence plus heightened security already in place around the event following the recent Houthi attacks leave the authorities convinced the grand prix is not a target itself and that there is no substantial risk posed.
Essentially the Saudi Arabia authorities believe the Houthi attacks are only targeting infrastructure and specifically Aramco facilities, leaving the grand prix safe – although it is believed to have a missile defence system in place as well.
Ben Sulayem said: “We had a meeting with high level security officials, we had meetings with the team principals, we had meetings with the drivers.
“Who are they targeting? They are targeting the oil company, not the civilian and not, of course, the event.
“Of course, we had assurances from a high level this is a secured place, the whole place will be secured and let’s go on racing.
“We’re only looking forward but with the assurance that nothing is going to happen.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said “it was a good meeting” with the drivers continuing the discussion as part of the normal Friday drivers’ briefing that immediately followed.
“All the team principals have been assured that we are protected here, that’s probably the safest place that you can be in Saudi Arabia at the moment,” said Wolff.
“And that’s what we [agreed], we are racing.”
Asked if it was unanimous, Wolff said: “Between the team principals, yes.”
Wolff’s Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner said not going ahead with the race would be tantamount to giving in to terrorism.
“The sport has to stand together collectively. Any act of terrorism cannot be condoned, and sport shouldn’t be bullied into a position that…a situation like that just isn’t acceptable,” said Horner.
“Stefano and the president, they’re dealing with it, there’s been all the assurances from the organisers, and we’ll be going racing.”
