There was a lot of controversy leading up to and following the first race in Bahrain last weekend.
As we approach the race in Saudi Arabia at the perhaps soon-to-be-expanded Corniche Street track, more news is beginning to circulate, which began last week and will probably continue for many more weeks to come.
Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull Racing, was cleared of inappropriate behavior toward a Red Bull employee, and just yesterday the company suspended the accuser from her employment. That should have brought closure to controversy surounding Horner, but it hasn’t. A new salvo of friendly fire has emerged by way of Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, who wants Horner to be removed from his role as Red Bull principal “for the good of the team.” The elder Verstappen, who accompanies his son to every race, will not be in Saudi Arabia for this weekend’s Grand Prix, and analysts wonder if his absence will affect Max’s performance. For his part, the younger Verstappen is doing his best to distance himself from the rift between the team boss and his father, but he also recently stated that “he (his father) is not a liar.”
Then there’s what’s happening on the FIA front. The organization’s boss, Mohammad Ben Sulayem, is under investigation based on whistleblower input. The messenger claims that Sulayem intervened inappropriately to affect the outcome of last season’s Saudi Arabia GP.
Bad enough? There’s more. Just this week, the Alpine team lost two more engineers involved with the design of this year’s car when Matt Harman and Dirk de Beer left the team voluntarily. Then, advisor Bob Bell, who had been a big part of the team’s two world championships (2005 and 2006), departed for Aston Martin. The awkward shakeup has tounges wagging about the poorly timed departures, coming as they did at the start of a new racing year.
The Formula One controversies have led two veteran drivers to speak out about the sport.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: “It’s a really, really pivotal moment for the sport in terms of what we project to the world and how it’s handled. It’s not been handled very well up until this point. I think transparency is key, and I hope to see some progress moving forward. But I hope it’s not a year that it continues to go on with this.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin: “There is too much talk off-track because on-track activities are not very exciting at the moment. One car has more or less dominated the past three years. When that happens, there is always a lot of activity off-track.”
What remains to be seen is whether the domination of which Alonso speaks will continue. If what happened last week in Bahrain is any indication, it just might. It’s why this weekend’s GP in Saudi Arabia is more pivotal than it might otherwise be.
STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Free Practices 1 and 2 were held today (FP1, Verstappen, best time; FP2, Alonso, best time/best time of the day). FP 3 and Qualifying will occur on Friday (ESPN2 will carry race qualifying at Noon Eastern time). ESPN2 will also televise Saturday’s race beginning at Noon Eastern.
