Saudi GP would have been cancelled if security threat - sports minister

JEDDAH : Saudi Arabian authorities would have called off the Gulf kingdom's Formula One race if there had been any security threat to the event after an attack by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on an oil storage facility near the track in Jeddah, the country's sports minister said.

The Houthi group on Friday said it had launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities.

One of the targets was a petroleum products distribution station owned by state-run oil giant Aramco located about 10km to the east of the track.

The strike, which followed similar attacks last Sunday, raised questions about whether the race should go ahead.

But F1 and local organisers said the grand prix would be held as planned.

"If there is a threat, then rest assured we will cancel the race, but there is no threat and that’s what we discussed with everyone," Saudi sports minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal told reporters on Saturday.

"Of course, the security and safety for everyone is a bigger issue than just hosting a race, even if it is the size of Formula One, so the security of the city, the security of the kingdom is the top priority."

Saudi state media on Saturday said fires at two storage tanks at the Jeddah facility, smoke from which was visible from the race track, had been extinguished.

The Houthi group has since said it was suspending missile and drone strikes for three days.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said on Friday the sport had been given safety assurances.

The fact that senior Saudi figures and their families were at the track further underscored the security of the event, he added.

Drivers, who considered a boycott during a four-hour meeting, said in a statement on Saturday that authorities had assured them security was being ramped up to