F1 COULD RACE IN SAUDI ARABIA IN 2023

F1 could race in Saudi Arabia in 2023 – Artwork: Supplied

A new race track is being built 45km west of Riyadh that could host a Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2023.

By DAN KNUTSON

The track will be part of a vast sports, amusement and entertainment complex that is also being built. The venue, which will also have a Six Flags theme park, swimming pools and shopping malls and was the site for the finish of this year’s Dakar Rally, is set against the backdrop of a 200-metre sheer cliff.

Yas Marina Island, home of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, has been built up on similar themes minus the cliff.

All of the new F1 tracks in recent years have been designed by Herman Tilke. But in this case former F1 driver and two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Alex Wurz is leading the Saudi track’s design team.

Plans for the new venue where announced at the site on January 17. Among those in attendance were Australian Michael Masi, the FIA’s F1 race director, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean, David Coulthard and Wurz.

“It’s a privilege of a lifetime to design the motion and mobility zone in Qiddiyah, including the Speedpark track,” Wurz said. “The project offers us amazing opportunities to design a track, a true racing arena for the drivers and spectators. The design offers amazing elevation changes, making use of the stunning natural landscape. Equally, it is made to challenge drivers and engineers alike and, from our simulation runs, I can assure you it is absolutely thrilling as an on- and off-track experience.”

The track is not guaranteed an F1 race. Instead, it is being built in the hopes of enticing F1’s commercial owners Liberty Media to sign a contract for the event. Liberty is definitely interested in having a grand prix in Saudi Arabia because it is a new and potentially very lucrative market for F1.

“We’re building a facility in the hope there will be a deal struck and there is a race here in Saudi,” Qiddiyah CEO Mike Reininger told the BBC. “The formalisation of a race is not for us at Qiddiyah, it is outside the confines of the project itself. But we are building a facility that will be able to host a really world-class event as one of the signature items we will have on offer here at Qiddiyah as we open in 2023.

“We are actually building a series of facilities both on-circuit and off-road in one aggregated place which really hasn’t been assembled anywhere else in the world like this. The centrepiece for us is going to be the (FIA) Grade One circuit.”

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