With Saudi Arabia’s vast investment in Formula 1, are we turning a blind eye to its worsening human rights record? Giles Richards reveals the desert state’s deep involvement in racing amid flames of controversy

The 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix went ahead despite a missile attack 10 miles from the circuit

DPPI F1

There were many striking moments from the 2022 Formula 1 season and one, indicative of how the sport still brings out the best, was George Russell leaping from his car at Silverstone. Russell’s first thought was to do anything he could to help fellow driver Zhou Guanyu, trapped in his stricken Alfa Romeo.

The image stood in stark contrast to another, that of plumes of black smoke rising over the Saudi Arabian desert as F1 cars lapped the Corniche circuit below. The smoke was the result of a missile strike on an oil refinery carried out by Yemeni Houthis who have been in a seven-year conflict with a Saudi-led coalition.

The scenes could not have been further from the slick, Netflix-friendly image F1 is working hard to promote. Yet F1 raced on in the shadows of that missile strike and it returns to Saudi Arabia on March 19 for the second event of the 2023 calendar. The Saudis and the sport have a deal after all – adeal that F1’s global director of race promotion Chloe Targett-Adams has said will last a “decade if not longer”.

Even before it found itself in the midst of a warzone, F1’s involvement with the kingdom had been the subject of controversy. There is unease among some at the vast amounts of money pouring into the sport from Saudi and claims the state is using F1 to distract from human rights abuses.

All of which prompts a number of questions – many of them uncomfortable and many requiring more than the soundbites into which the official channels of the sport so often descend. Why is F1 there? Why has Saudi pursued the sport? Is F1 a force for good in the country? How deep does Saudi influence really extend into F1? And what does that say about the future direction of the sport?

In considering the answers to these questions we must first weigh up the true scale of the Saudi involvement in F1. The most obvious place to start is with the Saudi deal to host the race. The hosting deal, currently at the Corniche circuit but with a brand new complex in Qiddiya set to become the venue from 2026, is one of the richest on the calendar (last year the Saudi minister for sport Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal expressed interest in hosting two races).