F2 drivers “didn’t notice” new visibility screens added around Jeddah circuit

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In the round-up: Formula 2 drivers say they “didn’t notice” screens installed to help improve visibility around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit

In brief

Formula 2 drivers “didn’t notice” screens to improve corner visibility

Formula 2 drivers were the first to run on track with newly-installed screens designed to help drivers see better around blind corners and avoid collisions.

However, they said after qualifying that they had not taken advantage of the feature.

“It really didn’t change for me because I wasn’t looking at them,” said Felipe Drugovich. “So it was pretty much the same. “

“I didn’t notice them, to be honest,” admitted Richard Verschoor.

While Jack Doohan concluded “I think if you’re looking at those screens, you ain’t going fast enough.”

Jeddah ‘safest place in Saudi Arabia’ – Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said he supports the decision to go ahead with this weekend’s race in Saudi Arabia following a missile attack on a nearby oil plant.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said they had received authoroties over the security of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after the explosion around 10 kilometres away during F1’s first practice session on Friday.

“We the team principals have been assured that we are protected here,” Wolff told Sky. “It’s probably the safest place that you can be in Saudi Arabia at the moment and that’s [why] we are racing.”

Wolf confirmed the team principals had unanimously supported the decision to go ahead with the race weekend.

His opposite number at Red Bull, Christian Horner, said “the sport has to stand together collectively.” He described the attack as an “act of terrorism” that “cannot be condoned.”

“The sport shouldn’t be bullied into a position [like] that. A situation like that just isn’t acceptable. So Stefano and the president, they’re dealing with it, there’s been all the assurances from the organisers and we’ll be going racing.”

Hulkenberg “definitely felt” Bahrain physicality ahead of Jeddah challenge

Nico Hulkenberg, who stepped up last-minute for the Bahrain Grand Prix, replacing Sebastian Vettel after his positive COVID-19 test, has said that he did feel some pain from Bahrain but expected the high-speed Jeddah street circuit to be tougher.

“I definitely felt [it in] my body on Monday – it was a bit sore in places,” said Hulkenberg, although he described the discomfort as “manageable.”

“I think the the bigger physical task is definitely here, this weekend,” Hulkenberg added, about the physicality of Jeddah.

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Comment of the day

After Max Verstappen criticised Netflix show Drive to Survive for giving new fans an inaccurate depiction of drivers in his view, @Fer-no65 has personal experience to add credence to Verstappen’s views:

He’s right. A lot of my friends got into F1 after watching the first season of Drive to Survive and hated Perez. I didn’t understand why, he’s not a character that you’d immediately hate for whatever reason. But after watching DTS myself, I found out why: they depicted him as “the enemy” against good guy Ocon… like he was the rich kid with all the benefits and was being a pushover over Ocon, who was a humble guy, the new guy with lots of potential.

It took me a while to try to convince them that Perez is very good and deserves where he is. They finally saw the light (maybe) when he won at Sakhir and got hired by RBR.
@fer-no65

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Alianora La Canta, Fallon, Henrique Pinheiro, Jake, Jorge H., Lyndell D Wolff and Lyndell D Wolff!

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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12 comments on “F2 drivers “didn’t notice” new visibility screens added around Jeddah circuit”

  1. We the team principals have been assured that we are protected here,” Wolff told Sky. “It’s probably the safest place that you can be in Saudi Arabia at the moment and that’s [why] we are racing.”

    Toto, I know you have to stand for what the FIA supports, but the whole of Jeddah is literally unsafe!!! I don’t want to say the exact sentence with the exact words, but this is a major sporting event in the area with many people attending this on Saturday and on Sunday. Anyone should know what I am trying to portray with this.

    1. It’s almost as disingenuous as Horner describing it as a terrorist attack – the country is at war, how can it be terrorism? They fired a rocket at a fuel depot. Conversely, the Saudis have layed siege to the whole country of Yemen and bombed civilians – if anyone is waging a campaign of terror it’s the Saudis.

    2. @krichelle Given what BBC Sport told us about blackmail allegedly being in play, the team principals may not have been given a choice about this one.

      1. @alianora-la-canta

        ‘Part of this information involved the possible consequences of not racing, such as how easily teams and drivers would be able to leave the country if the race did not happen.’

        I have taken this from planet f1, looks like there is a threat to the teams, though I can’t say in what way.

        1. BBC Sport had an identical sentence in its report. It looks suspiciously like a threat to do what happened to WWE in 2019.

  2. I’m not sure the safest place in Saudi Arabia is the one place in the country that’s suffered multiple missile attacks over the past few days.

    1. Especially when the enterprise has close links with the company established as being the specific target of the last wave of attacks.

  3. I have done a quick bit of Googling but I can not determine if the circuit is actually in range of these missiles or if this is as close as they can get?
    One or two sites do claim that the Houthis employ suicide tactics though and if that is the case then how can anyone be truly safe?

    1. the Houthi tactic is suicide drones – drones loaded with explosives that are flown into targets, not what is thought of as suicide bombing with humans.

      1. Ahh, thanks @hazelsouthwell
        The articles I found were a bit unclear about it, and even though it is still (obviously) a worry, that tactic is slightly less concerning than a bomber actually managing to walk into the venue and get close to a prime target.

  4. The safest is debatable, but I hope nothing bad happens, although everyone should still have reservations.
    On a related note, good timing in Andy Hone’s tweet image. The SPOTY for now.

    I still miss Toyota in F1 a bit. I wish they got more success, given they lacked neither budget nor infrastructure.

    1. Also on this day: 2017 Australian GP.

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