A rocket attack hit an oil tank in Jeddah on Friday afternoon, where the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Weekend is taking place. The blast took place just over 10 kilometers from the race track during the first free practice, and the smoke could also be seen on TV. The rest of the weekend was blown up after the attack, but after more than four hours of deliberation, Formula One pilots agreed to continue their race weekend, the BBC.
The target of the attack was the oil reservoir of Saudi oil company Aramco in northeastern Jeddah. The missile rebels were taken over by the Yemeni twenty rebels. Iranian-backed rebels have been rocketing Saudi Arabia since 2015 after the Saudis intervened in the ongoing Yemeni civil war.
A Reuters according to his information, the two tanks of the reservoir caught fire as a result of the attack, no personal casualties occurred. The oil tank hit on Friday had been attacked last Sunday by twenty, then a tank was on fire.
In addition to being the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco is also a major sponsor of Formula One. Within the framework of the contract, for example, the race held at the Hungaroring 2020 also ran officially under the name of the Aramco Hungarian Grand Prix.
Friday is not the first time a rocket attack has taken place during a car race in Saudi Arabia. In February 2021, during the announcement of the results of the Formula E Grand Prix in Riyadh, the Twenty rebels fired a ballistic missile at the Saudi capital, but fortunately the Saudi air defense caught it over the racetrack.
The current attack took place on Friday afternoon, during the first free practice. The internal camera footage of Ferraris Carlos Sainz also showed the smoke of the oil tank, and the red bull Max Verstappen on the radio he complained of the smell of smokeworried that his race car had caught fire.
After the first free practice, Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of Formula One, briefed the pilots about the situation in a meeting, and the race weekend continued with a second free practice with a quarter-hour delay.
After the second free practice, the F1 leaders reunited. The meeting was attended by representatives of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) as well as local authorities, as well as some team bosses and pilots. The team bosses then unanimously voted to continue the race weekend, which Domenicali also announced to the press.
After that, however, the pilots also gathered separately, and they no longer seemed as enthusiastic about racing as their bosses. The riders first negotiated with each other for roughly half an hour, then were joined by Domenicali and Ross Brawn, the sporting director of F1, with the aim of convincing riders leaning towards blowing off their race weekend.
The sports leaders left the room after an hour and a half to be replaced soon after by the team bosses, who consulted with the pilots for another 35 minutes. According to the BBC, several competitors raised concerns about the safety of the competition during the meeting.
The race meeting, foreground Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton – Photo by Clive Rose / Formula 1 / Formula 1 via Getty Images
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The decision to continue the weekend was finally made at 2:20 a.m. local time, almost four and a half hours after discussions began. According to the BBC, F1 drivers have succeeded in persuading pilots to race, among other things, by being told that
“They may have trouble leaving the country if the competition is not held.”
After that, the competitors finally decided to continue their race weekend.
The above argument by F1 drivers may be related to the fact that in October 2019, 175 wrestlers and WWE crew members were forced to wait six hours on the runway after not being allowed to take off after their large-scale Riyadh gala called Crown Jewel.
According to the official version, the machine had mechanical problems, but some rumors According to the incident, the incident was in fact caused by the collusion between WWE leader Vince McMahon, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, after the latter did not allow him to broadcast the event live in Saudi Arabia, claiming that the Saudis owed him hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the end, they managed to reach a last-minute agreement, so with a 40-minute delay, they also managed to cast the wrestling gala in the host country. However, the Crown Prince has so far been so enraged that he has not allowed a Boeing 747 carrying WWE wreckers and staff members to take off after the gala, according to theories.
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Additional program of the weekend:
Saturday:
- 15:00 – third free practice
- 18:00 – timer
Sunday:
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