Why human rights, justice and driver safety mean F1 should not return to Saudi Arabia

Formula 1 is enjoying a brilliant start to the 2022 season.

The resurrected Ferrari jumps forward with Charles Leclerc, the dull Mercedes reigns for the first time in almost 10 years, and the order of running in the middle is shaken, so the beginning of a new era in the top tier of motorsport Doesn’t want any more. A fascinating story.

In addition, the quality of racing between drivers has already improved significantly, thanks to a redesigned design to bring cars closer together and easier to overtake. The action is breathtaking, the fans are delighted and the series earns monetary rewards.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday night was a thrilling continuation of the early season competition. Leclerc and Verstappen defeated it in a tense tactical battle that lasted to the finish line and the sparkle of fireworks.

This was the first time F1 raced in Saudi Arabia at an even more exaggerated inaugural event last December, but this is the second time. But for so many reasons, F1 shouldn’t come back here again.

First and foremost, the Jeddah Cornish circuit, which hosts the Saudi Arabian race, is too dangerous and the race here has big problems. This is the fastest street circuit in the history of the F1 calendar and presents a great challenge for drivers as they slide sharp and tight high speed corners between tight concrete walls. It’s certainly a great sight and very rewarding for drivers who have been able to avoid its pitfalls, but the evidence so far shows that the rate of huge accidents is certainly very high.

Only two race weekends in Jeddah caused a series of horrific crashes. The car was torn and the driver needed medical attention. Mick Schumacher was thankfully left unharmed after Haas’s car was thrown into the wall by one of the mysterious hard curves of the circuit during qualifying on Saturday.

In December, F2 driver Enzo Fittipaldi suffered cuts and bruises due to a broken heel after hitting a stall car on the grid shortly after the start. In Saudi Arabia, these two weekends have had more serious incidents than are common throughout the race season.

Of course, drivers are at risk every time they ride a racing car — the speed at which they move is inherently dangerous. However, Jeddah’s trucks deliberately add to the danger in designing to increase speed and excitement to a level where someone could be very seriously injured or even worse in the future. ..

On Friday night, drivers were involved in a four-hour debate on the circuit as they discussed whether to boycott the race for safety reasons. The problem this time was not the layout of the tracks, but the bombing of the Aramco oil facility by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, 10 kilometers away from the circuit.

Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and others have said F1 needs to consider the long-term future in the country, but drivers are forgiving after state authorities have guaranteed that the bomb will not reach the racetrack. I agreed to the race without.

A Saudi-led coalition government supporting the Yemeni government has been bombing the country on a regular basis since 2014. The United Nations states that the war has caused the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet and that 24.1 million people in Yemen need help. It is estimated that 337,000 people were killed in the conflict and more than 10,000 children were killed or injured in the fighting.

By promoting Saudi Arabia and helping to shatter its image on the international arena, F1 stands by the coalition forces that caused these casualties, whether or not they think so.

Saudi Arabia has a 15-year contract with F1, but this year the series cancels the Russian Grand Prix after Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, where public opinion was very fiercely opposed to the conflict. I set a precedent at the beginning of. If you really wanted a close relationship here with a government that had as much blood as Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, has no democratic elections, and oppresses its own people in various ways. Earlier this year, he executed 81 citizens in one day and now has a 17-year-old child on death row for a crime allegedly committed at the age of 14. If the country continues at its current pace, it will execute more than 500 of its own citizens in 2022 alone.

According to Human Rights Watch, Deputy Director of the Middle East, the state has adopted “a set of discriminatory practices and policies that deprive women and make them vulnerable to abuse,” but same-sex sexual activity is illegal. , LGBTQ + people whipping, life imprisonment, deportation that could be punished by the general public.

Even drivers including McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, team principals including Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, and even F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, the presence of F1 in a country like Saudi Arabia during the weekend sheds light on human rights violations. Allows you to guess and about changes.

Domenicali even said F1 is directly helping Saudi Arabia take a progressive step. “We’re not blind, but the country is making great strides,” he told Sky Sports F1. “A few years ago, women couldn’t drive, but now they’re on the grid. They’re changing a lot of the law and we’re playing a very important role in a modernized country.

Domenicali ignores that Saudi Arabia is not aiming for Western-style liberal democracy. To do that, we just need the help of F1. Instead, the country uses sports to express its own image on the world stage as an entertainment paradise at the heart of international culture, hiding conflicts and oppression, increasing popularity and interest in tourism, and long-term. We are trying to protect the future of financial finance. ..

But the argument that Saudi women, gay people, or political dissidents’ lives will be improved directly because F1 cars appear once a year is simply wrong, and it’s really hard for people to spit out that line. Check if you believe.

Perhaps a few months ago, F1 could easily get the Saudi Arabian problem, but the way Russia was made into a sports and cultural paria by organizations including F1 is for fans all over the world to get F1. Means fully aware that Saudi Arabia can be revoked. The agreement with Saudi Arabia and the process of surviving financially well. The question is whether you care enough to do so.

In fact, doing so could lead to debate for almost every country that is currently racing on the F1 calendar. All countries, whether domestic or international, are suffering from abuse, corruption, fraud, and misconduct in some way. However, Saudi Arabia’s malicious conduct is far more industrial than any other F1 venue.

According to the 2021 human rights group Amnesty International, “among those harassed, arbitrarily detained, prosecuted, and / or imprisoned. [in Saudi Arabia] He was a government critic, women’s rights activist, human rights advocate, activist relative and journalist. Virtually all Saudi human rights defenders known in the country have been detained or imprisoned.

“The court has filed a widespread death penalty and people have been executed for a variety of crimes,” continued Saudi Arabia’s summary. “Because of the pandemic, migrant workers are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and thousands have been arbitrarily detained in dire situations, resulting in an unknown number of deaths.”

Principals of various drivers and teams say F1 needs to discuss its long-term future in Saudi Arabia. Especially with the bombing of oil facilities, drivers will reflect on their safety and the human rights abuses they faced. From the media.

However, drivers and teams do not decide where to race in F1. Ultimately, the ball is now on the court of the top rep.

If Formula 1 eventually continues to race in Saudi Arabia, it is important to back the safety of its drivers and personnel, the human rights of the people of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and the pockets of stakeholders rather than the international community. Shown in justice.

After a thrilling victory at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Horner praises “patient” Verstappen

Toto Wolff laments Mercedes’ “painful” start, but warns Ferrari and Red Bull

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