What next for F1 and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

F1 was already facing accusations of sportswashing a “blood-soaked regime” and criticism for its decision to go racing in a country with a dubious human rights record heading into the second-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The race took place less than two weeks after Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in a single day in the largest mass execution in the modern history of the country. On the same day as F1’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, an Aramco distribution plant in Jeddah was struck by drone and missile attacks.

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Lewis Hamilton stressed ahead of the weekend that he still felt uncomfortable racing in Saudi Arabia and added it should be “easy” for people in power to make changes in the country.

Other than Hamilton’s renewed calls for Saudi Arabia to improve its human rights record, F1 pressed on as planned. That was until the race was left hanging in the balance following a missile strike on the nearby Aramco depot while opening practice took place on Friday.

As thick black smoke engulfed the sky and was visible from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, F1 suddenly could no longer ignore what was happening on its doorstep.

The attack was the latest in a string of air strikes launched by Yemen’s rebel Houthi group, which has spent seven years fighting the Saudi-led coalition backing the country’s official government.

It is a hugely complex conflict that has left Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

In response to the attack, a series of emergency meetings were held by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Following lengthy discussions involving senior F1 figures, Saudi representatives and team principles, the decision was taken for the weekend to proceed as planned.

It did so without further incident but that did not stop a feeling of unease within the paddock that was underlined by Hamilton when he spoke to the media after the race.

“I am so happy the weekend is done,” the Mercedes driver said after a difficult race in which he finished 10th. "I am also just so happy that everyone is safe and I am just looking forward to getting out.”

Why did the race go ahead?

On Friday night, F1 chief Domenicali stressed that “total assurances” had been provided about security at the venue after receiving a briefing from Saudi authorities.

Ben Sulayem was confident that the Jeddah circuit was safe, while the Saudi Arabian government said it would have cancelled the race if it felt there was a credible threat.

“We had meetings with high-level security and then we had meetings across the team principals and we had meetings with the drivers,” Ben Sulayem said.

“I mean, who are they targeting? They are targeting the economic infrastructure, not the civilians, and of course, not the track.

“Of course we checked the facts from them and we had assurances from the highest level that this is a secure place, the whole thing will be secured and let’s go on racing. For sure all the families are here, we are only looking forward but with an assurance that nothing is going to happen.”

However, F1 drivers remained uneasy about the situation and it is understood that several expressed their concerns during an extraordinary four-hour meeting after second practice that stretched into the early hours of Saturday morning.

Drivers discussed a potential boycott but this was ultimately averted following further talks with team principals, who helped to alleviate their worries.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas later revealed that one of the most compelling arguments to continue racing was that calling off the race at short notice would have been impractical and led to logistical delays.

But the drivers have made it clear that they want to revisit the topic of Saudi’s presence on the F1 calendar, not just because of what happened off-track, but also for what happened on it.

After Mick Schumacher walked away unscathed from an enormous 33G crash in qualifying, there have been calls for further safety improvements at the circuit which Red Bull’s Sergio Perez described as being “definitely the most dangerous place in the calendar.”

What does this mean for Saudi Arabia’s F1 future?

Despite the missile attack, Crash.net understands F1 intends to return to Saudi Arabia. The world championship holds a lucrative 10-year deal, worth £50 million a year, to race in Jeddah before moving to a new venue at Qiddiya.

F1 has given drivers assurances that it will reconsider the safety and security of all its events and plans to share more information about the events in Jeddah as soon as possible, potentially ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on April 10.

Domenicali insisted F1 is “not blind” to the concerns about Saudi Arabia’s place on the calendar and argued that the series is helping to modernise the country, which he explained cannot be done overnight.

“I think that it's not a matter of question mark,” he said. “It is a matter of understanding the situation.

“We are not blind, but we don't have to forget one thing: that this country, also through F1 and the sport on which we believe, is doing a massive step forward.

“You cannot pretend to change a culture that is more than a millennium in a blink of an eye. The resources they're putting in place to move forward you can see here.

"Don't forget, a couple of years ago, women couldn't drive, and they're here on the grid, cheering the kids. They're partying, they're seeing the sport, they are changing a lot of laws in order to make sure that this is happening. We don't have to not consider that.

“Of course, there are tensions inside, there are things that have to be improved. We don't want to be political on that. But I do believe that we are playing a very important role in the modernisation of this country. We are focused, of course, on making sure that these are the centre of our agenda.”

Similarly, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes it is important for F1 to shine a “spotlight” on problems in the Middle East, rather than simply ignoring them.

“We just need to understand that this is culturally very different to how we see our western cultures,” he said.

"For us, is it acceptable to race 10 miles away from a drone rocket that is going in a petrol tank? Certainly not. But for here, within their culture, these things happen here.

"I don't want to say that I'm not racing because I am generally someone that wants to give people the chance to better themselves.

"Does Saudi Arabia and some of the other Middle Eastern countries share the same values and culture as we do in Europe? They don't. Are they where we want them to be? No. Can we by coming here put the spotlight into this place by racing here in Formula 1, by making those things visible and therefore making it a better place? I still think so.

"I'd rather come here and make the spotlight shine on the region so it needs to be a better place rather than say I'm not going there and I don't want to hear anything about it.”

No matter how you slice it, there is no doubt that the Saudi Arabian GP has put F1 in an awkward situation and leaves it facing some pretty big questions.