Saudi Arabia's powerful motives for quelling the pilots' mutiny

• Classification Sergio Pérez annuls Ferrari and scores his first 'pole'

• Mick Schumacher Serious accident at more than 250 km / h

• Starting grid Classification and times

• Frantic early morning in the 'paddock' From the FIA ​​agreement to a threat of rebellion

• Saudi Arabian GP Missile attack on Jeddah

• The path to the presidency of Pérez's father "Mexico belongs to everyone, not a few"

The wind dispersed the smoke and Formula 1 continued as if nothing had happened.

From the first hour of this Saturday, on the shores of the Red Sea, the power of nature exerted with the same force that Liberty Media, the FIA ​​and the 10 teams on the grid, determined to strictly apply one of the mottos that unites them: "

".

The last embers of the Yemeni missiles were extinguished like the threat of mutiny of the pilots, another symptom of the current state of the business, another chapter to be forgotten.

The third in just two years, after the 2020 Australian GP and the 2021 Belgian GP, ​​marked by the stigma of discrepancies around covid and the distribution of points in a race that was not such.

Unlike then, the show, this weekend, should continue.

Everyone had slept less than expected, but fatigue did not prevent breathing an atmosphere of normality in Jeddah.

Almost at lunchtime,

wanted to convince the press of this.

"Getting out of here would not have been the right choice," said the Ferrari boss, accompanied by a circumspect

.

The Italian was not going to get out of the line drawn the night before by

, his counterpart at Mercedes: "Right now, this circuit is the safest place in the whole country."

Of course, the

teams came from being warned by

, executive director of Formula 1 and

, president of the FIA.

And they, in turn, by

, crown prince of Saudi Arabia and de facto sovereign.

After paying Liberty Media its annual canon -100 million euros- the royal family could not run out of a career.

Aramco, the world's largest oil company and main sponsor of F1 for two years, either.

a suspended dinner

Bin Salman has been in charge of both alliances in the company of his brother, Prince

, president of the Automobile Federation.

And to enhance them, Khalid had summoned

, F1's sporting director, to a dinner on Friday, at 9:30 p.m., away from the prying eyes of the cameras.

Logically, the attack by the Houthi rebels frustrated the meeting, but the harmony between both parties is becoming stronger.

After agreeing on a contract for the next 15 years, that confidence is not even going to be shaken by the disappointment of Qiddiya, whose plans for a permanent circuit outside Riyadh are postponed until 2025. Today and tomorrow, F1, with all its power of media drag, will support Saudi.

strategic plan

, with which he intends to legitimize his monarchy in the eyes of the West.

Sport opens paths with more ease than parliamentarism.

Far from being scandalized, the FIA ​​and F1 have been promoting this route throughout the Arab world for years.

In fact, the 2023 World Cup will host five events in these lands.

To the usual ones from Bahrain and Abu Dhabi will be added Arabia and Qatar, which has just signed an agreement for the next 10 seasons.

For a short-term future, we must not lose sight of Dubai, the emirate where Ben Sulayem was born,

's replacement , who had exhausted his mandate at the head of the FIA.

building bridges

Winning the battle against the British

, a traditional reference in the highest instances of the motor industry, gives something more than authority to the new president, who has granted a grace period before placing his team with absolute confidence.

Domenicali and Brawn, perfect dominators of the corridors of power in F1 for decades, also want to continue building bridges.

This very Saturday, when the engines were not yet roaring on the asphalt, the FIA ​​and F1 issued a joint statement.

"The local authorities have given us full security guarantees for this Grand Prix. We will continue to work in the future with all interested parties," the text detailed, without a single reference to the drivers.

Only a few minutes later, the replica of the GPDA, the association that brings together the members of the grid, admitted defeat.

Several pilots, before qualifying in Jeddah.AFP

The previous morning's summit had been of no use, where "a great variety of opinions were shared and debated."

Although some of them were unaware of the story, the memory of the 1982 South African GP resurfaced, when the grid did challenge

, president of the FIA, en bloc.

After four hours of meeting, they gave in to the power of money.

Except for the honorable exceptions of

,

,

,

and

, they all left

Formula 1

The Spaniard had established himself not only as the protagonist of the meeting, but also as a spokesman for the common cause.

"We were united and we asked for transparency. We did not like to see that column of smoke without knowing the real facts," he explained yesterday, after his seventh place in Q3.

"It seems that we were there talking about our own safety, but the one that worried us was that of the journalists, that of the mechanics, that of the fans. We must move forward and we hope we do not see more things like this," he concluded.

It is not necessary to take again the photograph of last weekend in Sakhir, when the 20 pilots posed with a flag against the war in Ukraine.

Knowing how to navigate between the contradictions of this business, where financial reasons prevail over the rest, is essential for survival.

And that, better than anyone, those above know.

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Know more

• Fernando Alonso

• Carlos Sainz Jr.

• Lewis Hamilton

• Saudi Arabia

Formula 1Sergio Pérez annuls Ferrari and scores the first 'pole' of his life

Formula 1Great party at Ferrari: a lot of jokes from Leclerc, but Sainz wants more

Formula 1Sainz completes powerful Ferrari one-two at Sakhir

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