“I guess it’s a nervous place to be” Lando Norris on Houthi “terrorist” attack in Saudi Arabia


“I guess it’s a nervous place to be” Lando Norris on Houthi “terrorist” attack in Saudi Arabia

Lando Norris

Lando Norris the McLaren Formula One driver has recently shed light on the “butterflies” he had in Saudi Arabia after the Yemeni Houthi terrorist attack on the Aramco Oil factory.

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Lando Norris has admitted that after the “attack” Saudi Arabia was a nervous place to be for him as there were concerns regarding the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Friday practice in Saudi Arabia was overshadowed by the smoke that was coming out of the nearby located Aramco Oil Facility and after the incident, a meeting took place between the team Principals and drivers after which it was decided that the second practice would go on ahead as per schedule.

Aramco Oil Factory
Aramco Oil Factory

After the end of the FP2 session, all the team Principals agreed on having the race in Saudi Arabia but a few of the drivers were “skeptical” about it, and hence another four and a half-hour meeting ensued between drivers after which the final “go-ahead” for the race was given.

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Lando Norris was relieved that no further incident took place after the Oil Factory attack

Lando Norris
Lando Norris

Lando Norris was a happy man after not witnessing any more attacks on any of the facilities and said, “Of course I’m relieved, we love racing. In any circumstance all we want to do is race and that’s what we love, that’s why we do the jobs we do.”

I guess it’s a nervous place to be and as drivers, you wouldn’t have these nerves and that’s why we had the chats we did.”

We were given the reassurance from everyone, Saudi and everyone that it was safe. From our side, we had to believe it.”

Lando Norris while talking about the Saudi weekend wasn’t very inclined to talk about returning to Saudi Arabia for future races but admitted that he really enjoyed the characteristics of the Jeddah Cornich Circuit.

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Lando added, “I’m happy and whether we come back here or not, I would love to look forward to it as it’s a fun track but that is a discussion we’ll have after the weekend.”

Mick Schumacher's crash at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying
Mick Schumacher’s crash at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying

The Jeddah Circuit has been deemed “dangerous” by many experts and even Max Verstappen has labeled it too risky of a track. So it will be interesting to see whether Formula One is going to return to Jeddah for the next season, given the number of crashes that have taken place at the circuit, it would be a tricky decision to make.

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