In Jeddah the night was longer than expected. At the end of FP2 the riders decided to meet to discuss the hot topic of the day, the attack by a group of Yemeni militia on an Aramco plant a few tens of kilometers away from the circuit which continues to burn blazingly during the night. We discussed to the bitter end, the riders who had already expressed their disagreement with the decision to continue with the various sessions, were first joined by Stefano Domenicali and Ross Brown, then by the team principals who had already expressed their will in the early evening to run, reassured by the local authorities who have underlined the security surrounding the Circus.
Four hours later, at 2:30 local time (00:30 Italian time) after the meeting between the riders, the feeling is that of having reached an agreement: you can race. Sergio Perez also reports it, saying goodnight with a tweet in which he writes “Ready and focused for tomorrow's qualifying!”
The word "end" to the matter arrives in the early hours of the morning with the official press releases from F1, FIA and the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GDPA), headed by George Russell.
“Formula 1 and the FIA can confirm that, after discussions with all the teams and drivers, the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia's FIA Formula 1 2022 will continue as scheduled. After the widely reported incident that took place in Jeddah on Friday, there was extensive discussion among all stakeholders, Saudi government authorities and security agencies who gave full and detailed assurances that the event is Safe. It was agreed with all stakeholders to maintain a clear and open dialogue during the event and for the future.” (joint press release between F1 and FIA)
“Saudi government ministers explained how security measures have been implemented and maximized” GDPA affirms that in the communiqué it reaffirmed the pilots' concern in seeing the great cloud of smoke rising behind them as they continued their work on the runway.
We will therefore race in Jeddah, hoping that what happened on Friday is just a bad "inconvenience" in a festive weekend in which only the track speaks for itself.
