Saudi motorsports chief says F1 debut is ‘signal’ to the world’

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s debut Formula One race will showcase the country to the world, its motorsports chief told AFP, hitting back at criticism over human rights.

The newly built venue in Jeddah is all but completed ahead of Sunday’s night race, Prince Khalid bin Sultan al-Faisal said in an interview, just over a year after Saudi Arabia was announced as the wealthy Gulf region’s latest F1 host.

“When we prove in the coming days that this race will take place on time, this will signal to the world who the Saudis are and what the capabilities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are,” said Prince Khalid, president of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation.

“We can say that the circuit is 95 percent complete. The five percent left are simple things, from branding to tree planting and decorations. The circuit is done, the infrastructure is done... everything related to the race is done,” he added.

“So, we are comfortable and in a very good situation.”

Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen could clinch the drivers’ world title this week in Saudi Arabia, one of four countries in the resource-rich Gulf on the F1 calendar this year.

It is among several big events lured in recent times to Saudi Arabia, which has also hosted heavyweight boxing and European Tour golf and faces accusations of “sportswashing” — trying to detract attention from its human rights record.Prince Khalid also said he expected a Covid-reduced capacity crowd of 40,000, including 8,000 from abroad.

He said “there are no restrictions on dress” despite the conservative country’s strict social codes.

“We expect from the people that they respect the place to which they are coming, the same as any place outside the kingdom,” he said. “So, for example, no one is going to come to the circuit wearing a bathing suit.”