At the event, the president of the Saudi Arabian Automobile and Motorcycle Federation said he was excited to see Formula 1 teams finally make their way to the kingdom.
in short
The head of Saudi motorsport is interested in attracting F1 teams to Saudi Arabia.
The president of the Saudi Arabian Automobile and Motorcycle Federation said he was excited to see Formula 1 teams finally move to the kingdom.
The Saudi government wants to “create a center” of motor sports in the country in the coming decades, said Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al Faisal, president of SAMF. Asked by Motorsport if he thought the F1 team could move its base to the country, Prince Khalid said: “That’s what we expect and what we’re working on.” We hope that we can bring one of the big producers.
“We have a 20-year program starting at the end of 2023, beginning of 2024. Our goal is not only to host international events, but we want to be more involved. We want to have engineers, we want to have mechanics, we want to build cars, we want to be creative.
“We really want to have a driver who can compete in MotoGP for the Formula 1 championship. We are investing a lot in infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, building roads. We want to build academies so that we can be more involved – Saudi teams to compete with Saudi drivers or other drivers in Saudi teams. We hope that we can reach our goal by 2030, 2035, 2040.
He moved early to avoid qualifying for the Australian GP
Outgoing Australian Grand Prix chief executive Andrew Westacott said the move to an hour earlier in the qualifying session at the Albert Park circuit was at the request of the FIA.
In the year Since 2009 moving to a ‘smelly’ running time of 5pm, qualifying for the race in Melbourne has also been held at 5pm on Saturdays. However, this season, the screening will start at 4pm instead. Westacott told the Herald Sun the governing body had informed organizers they wanted the session moved earlier.
“The reason is because there were some glaring problems during the screening,” Westacott said. “And the feedback from the FIA is that they want to do it earlier. We are currently finalizing this, but it could be earlier to make sure there is good light from the sun, as opposed to being too low in the western sky.
The pre-season IndyCar testing is set for the Heat Club.
An open IndyCar test featuring all full-time drivers is set for Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd February at the Heat Club in California.
The resort accommodates the challenge by combining the location’s North and South Palm configurations. All drivers set to compete during the IndyCar season are expected to participate in two days of testing. Earlier this week, Robert Schwartzman was fastest in a four-driver private test at Sebring.
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