F1 drivers want talks on future of Saudi Arabian GP after race

play

Leading Formula One drivers want to revisit the topic of Formula One's presence in Saudi Arabia once the Sunday race is over.

On Friday night, all 20 F1 drivers were on the verge of boycotting this year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a missile attack on a nearby oil depot raised security concerns.

F1 executives, team bosses and Saudi Arabian officials met for more than four hours to assure drivers of the safety of the event. A decision was made to race on as usual.

Some drivers made clear Saturday that they want to revisit the topic of racing in Saudi Arabia once the race weekend is over, but details of how that agreement was reached have remained private between those involved.

I don't want to give too much away now, but it's definitely a discussion that we should have after this race, once everything calms down and we look back at it.

Carlos Sainz agreed with his teammate. There will need to be discussions after the race. Because clearly what has happened in the last 24 hours is definitely a point of discussion and consideration that we need to take going into the future.

George Russell said that the decision to race this weekend was the right one, but that the discussion on the events of the weekend was not good.

Russell said that the clarity was needed and that the conversation was needed. If we didn't think it was right to be here, we wouldn't be here.

There is going to be some clarity after this race weekend. You can't control what happens outside of the region, but everything was under control in this region. I don't know what to say.

One of the more compelling arguments to race this weekend was that the teams would have been stuck in Saudi Arabia due to logistical reasons and a shortage of flights.

He said that drivers were concerned if it was safe for them to race and that they went through all the options.

Let's finish the race, we are all already here. Everyone agreed that they should do the race and hope for the best because they have increased the security and defense system.

The drivers were a central part of the decision to race this weekend, but issues raised Friday should be reexamined, according to McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo.

He said that it was something that we have to keep assessing.

That is probably the best way to say it. We were very much involved in what happened, which is what we all agreed on.

Domenicali was interviewed by Sky Sports after the qualification session and was asked if the events of Friday had raised question marks over Saudi Arabia's place on the F1 schedule going forward.

He said that it was not a matter of question marks, but a matter of understanding the situation.

You cannot pretend to change a culture that is a millennium in a blink of an eye, the resources they are moving in place to move forward, they are changing a lot of things.

Of course there is tension, things to improve, but we don't want to be political on that, we are focused on making sure this is at the center of our agenda.

Wolff said the most important thing was to avoid a situation like Friday where a race could be called off because of a disagreement over security.

The drivers are stakeholders in the sport, as are the teams and the commercial rights holder.

At the end, it is Stefano who decides where we race, and that is what it is. We want to avoid a situation like yesterday, where we didn't know if the race was on or not.