Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah street track is set to host the country’s Formula One race for at least another four years, the chief executive of the event’s promoter Martin Whitaker has said.
Formula One F1- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah Corniche Circuit [File image]
It is expected to move eventually to Qiddiya, a planned entertainment resort about an hour’s drive from the capital Riyadh, once a permanent circuit has been built.“I suspect that we will run the race there for another four years,” Whitaker, who heads up the Saudi Motorsport Company, the promoter of the race, told a select group of journalists at last week’s final pre-season test session in Bahrain.
“Formula One have made it very clear in their contract with Saudi that they don’t want to be running in Qiddiya when Qiddiya is effectively a building site. That makes perfect sense.The 6.1km Jeddah Corniche Circuit, a thrilling layout comprising mainly flat-out blasts along the city’s Red Sea waterfront and a succession of high-speed corners hemmed in by walls, served up a thriller under the floodlights as host to the penultimate round of the season last year.