Driver meeting exceeds 4 hours as F1 team bosses return
All the drivers and team principals met with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem at 7pm GMT (10pm local time) to discuss safety at the second round of the 2022 F1 season after Yemen Houthi’s rebel group claimed responsibility for a missile strike on an Aramco oil facility less than seven miles away from the Jeddah track.
The attack took place during the opening practice session on Friday and led to an emergency meeting being called shortly before second practice, which in turn resulted in a 15-minute delay to FP2.
Domenicali informed teams and drivers that the weekend should proceed as planned after receiving “total assurances” about security at the grand prix, with all 10 teams initially unanimously agreeing to continue with the event.
However, it is understood that several drivers have expressed concerns about the safety of the event.
The drivers have been discussing the situation in the F1 hospitality room for hours and were at one stage joined by Domenicali and F1’s managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn.
Their team principals, some of which had left the track altogether, later returned to the meeting in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Following a further half an hour of talks, the team bosses left the driver meeting and headed to race control with Domenicali.
The drivers finally left the meeting around 11.30pm (2.30am local), with GPDA director George Russell heading to join the team principals.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
