“The sport has to stand together collectively” – Christian Horner and Andreas Seidl have voiced their opinion on carrying on with the Saudi Arabian GP amidst missile attacks near the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The race weekend in Saudi Arabia has been thrown into chaos after Yemen’s Houthi rebel group attacked Aramco’s oil facility just a few minutes away from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, set to host the qualifying today, and race tomorrow.
After long-drawn discussions between the authorities, FIA/F1, and the teams, the race has been given the green light. F1 president Stefano Domenicali and FIA supremo Mohammed Ben Sulayem have assured everyone concerned of full security.
To strengthen their case, influential teams Red Bull, Williams and McLaren, among others, have voiced their support to continue with the Saudi Arabian GP race weekend.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner
“I think the sport has to stand together collectively.
“Any act of terrorism cannot be condoned, and the sport shouldn’t be bullied into a position that a situation like that just isn’t acceptable.
“Stefano and the president, they’re dealing with it, and there have been all the assurances from the organisers and we will be going to race.”
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl
“It was a very worrying situation for all of us. So it was just important to have the dialogue with Formula 1 to understand what information they have.
“Stefano assured us that the authorities here are aware of the incident have investigated and that there are no safety concerns with the continuation of the event here, so we are relying on that information and that’s why we went back to the pits.
Of course it is not reassuring when you hear about an incident like this that is not far from the track. But we now simply have to rely on the information that we have received.
“We have confidence that Formula 1 will make the right decisions.”
Williams CEO Jost Capito
“It was discussed how security is here,” he said. “We were assured that it is safe wherever there are people and that there have been many attacks, but in areas that are uninhabited.
“Even all the ministers are here and if they aren’t was a safe place, they would certainly be the first not to be there.
“I feel safe. If I didn’t feel safe, then I wouldn’t feel safe for the whole team because I have responsibility for the whole team. There was no discrepancy the drivers and teams.
“I think it’s the right place to drive this weekend because we’re all here. If so, it should have been discussed beforehand.”
