Mixed feelings about race in Saudi Arabia: 'Hope it's the same now'

Everyone is jumping at the fact that the Dutch Grand Prix is back on the Formula 1 calendar of 2021, there is one country where people are less inclined to visit: Saudi Arabia. Jan Lammers addresses this difficult situation.

The fact that Formula 1 would go to Saudi Arabia wasn't a surprise because F1 announced the new sponsor Aramco on a grand scale. The state oil company of Saudi Arabia was a first step for the country that, according to Amnesty International, persecutes people for defending human rights and the country where women still do not have equal rights.

''There is a lot of work to be done to make another, announced race. Namely in Saudi Arabia, given the situation there. I always find it difficult to get politically involved in sport. As a columnist, I personally take a double view of it. These kinds of races are particularly an opportunity for opponents to draw attention to their objections," says the sports director of the Dutch Grand Prix in his column for De Telegraaf.

''You often see that these kinds of major sporting events improve the situation in all sorts of areas in such a country, so let's hope that it is the same in this case. It is good that we are talking about it and that certain problems are highlighted. And that attention contributes to a solution," concludes the former Formula 1 driver.