F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Huge fire breaks out in Jeddah ahead of race
Thick black smoke coming from the Aramco factory was clearly visible from the ꦆcircuit and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, unaware of the incident, asked on his team radio: “I smell burning - is it my car?”
A statement from F1 sꦇaid: “We are waiting for further informati𓆉on from the authorities on what has happened.”
Yemen's Houthis rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack. Just days ago, t🎐hey attacked the same location.
Local reports in Saudꦦi Arabia have acknowledged these latest attacks on Friday as a "hostile operation".
Saudi 🥀Arabia and Yemen 𝓡have been involved in a long-running conflict.
The fire is less than 20km ꧃from the race track, where Ferrari’ཧs Charles Leclerc followed up last week’s win at the Bahrain Grand Prix by setting the pace at Practice 1 ahead of the second round of the championship.
F2 qualifying began after the fire, however Practice Two for F1 was delayed by 15 minutes because drivers and team bo🧔sses were called into an urgent 🅘meeting with F1 president Stefano Domenicali.
They ha𓃲ve now emerged and Practice Tꦓwo is underway.
