Liberty in F1 race talks with Saudi Arabia
Liberty Media is in talks with Saudi Arabia about a grand prix in the controversial Kingdom for 2021.
London's Times newspaper reveals that talks between Saudi officials and F1's owner have taken place "several" times. Correspondent Rebecca Clancy also said the "teams have been asked for their views" about racing in Saudi Arabia, which is often accused of human rights violations.
But the expansion of the currently 21-race calendar to 22 races next year and then even more in 2021 and beyond will also be controversial.
"If you look at 2021, at the moment we are discussing for 24 races," said Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto.
Claire Williams confirmed: "We are incredibly worried about the prospect of having 24, 25 races on the calendar. "Asking the people who work for us to travel as much as that is a huge undertaking," she said.
"Bringing new parts to 21 races is hard work, bringing new parts to 25 is going to bring even more pressure on our businesses, so that for me is a huge concern."
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I do not like this idea (24-25 races) at all! The 3 or 4 "richer" teams will not be affected much but the rest of the teams just cannot afford to appoint more staff in order to alternate. Development of their cars will slow down even further. F1 already became so boring with on average more than 50% of the cars finishing 1 or more laps down.
I don’t usually care about politics or other people in general, sadly for me, but F1 racing in Saudi seems to me a bit awkward on a lot of fronts, I mean like, there are countries on the roster that still have questionable things going on but Saudi is a different level? I understand that it’s sport but I’m not completely comfortable with that thought yet.
Liberty Media in bed with Saudi Arabia....I wonder if MbS even knows what 'Liberty' means. Saudi Arabia needs a GP, I mean Bahrain and Abu Dhabi they're all the way on the other side of the Saudi border. Makes sense, Saudi is a wealthy country and Liberty Media is always chasing the money.
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