Major motorsport event moved out of Saudi Arabia amid growing F1 safety concerns
With controversy raging over whether Formula 1 will complete its season in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has now moved one its biggest motor sport events out of the country due to safety fears.
The Dakar Rally, a huge off-road event which sees 4x4s, trucks and bikes take on the formidable Saudi desert, will now not take place in the country due to the region’s ongoing conflict.
Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz both spoke out this weekend about the idea of racing in the Middle East this weekend, but the FIA President Mohammed Bin Sulayem has been adamant the events will still take place.
Dakar Rally moved out of Saudi Arabia due to safety concerns
Motorsport’s governing body the FIA has now confirmed the 2027 Dakar Rally, which was scheduled to take place on January 3-17, will not be run in Saudi Arabia.
Over four hundred entrants took part in the sprawling event’s last edition, but according to reports it’s now thought it likely to take place in Africa instead.
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Dakar, which was first run in 1978 in Africa and then South America, has been held in Saudi since 2020. However, two separate Saudi airports have been attacked recently by the neighbouring Yemen’s Houthi rebels several times, with a pilot and then two other people killed.
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It’s against this backdrop that some Formula 1 drivers are concerned about competing in nearby Qatar and Abu Dhabi, with rebels stating they will fire at any plane which flies through Saudi airspace - the British government recently advised its citizens to avoid “all travel to parts of Saudi Arabia.”
“It's very difficult to be convinced right now," Sainz, whose father Carlos Sr is entered into Dakar, said of racing in the region.
"There's still plenty of things happening in the Middle East and also there is obviously an election that is going to happen in the US and things that are going to happen in the political side of the world that could affect the next month, month and a half.
"So I think it's relatively premature to be so convinced. But as it stands, we would go to Qatar and Abu Dhabi and if the FIA and Formula One decide that's still safe and a good scenario I think we as drivers have to go with whatever they say."
Verstappen added: “When there is a war nearby, and if some of the countries are in conflict with each other, then I think we shouldn't go. Then, it doesn't matter if you have a contract or not.”
However, Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, has seen its president remain bullish about the events still going ahead.
"Yeah - fine,” was his reply when asked about the races last week.
"One thing I would say: I have my children there [in the UAE]. You think I would leave them there and I'm here now with you?
"You have to be sensible in this. Saying, 'Are we going to have an issue?' is one thing.
"But what you read in the media is actually different than what we have there. What we read and see on TV, we say, 'Where is it?' We don't have that, really. Otherwise why would I stay there? Why would I leave my family there?
"Does this say that there is nothing that is going to happen? I can't predict this.
"I can only tell you today that there is nothing and the two races are going to happen."
Topics: Formula 1
James Elson