Valtteri Bottas says F1 told drivers that they will reconsider where races are staged if they cannot 100 per cent guarantee the safety of everyone involved. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend was marred by a missile attack on Friday at an oil depot located some 20km from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Following the incident, all 10 Team Principals engaged in lengthy talks between the Saudi government, Formula 1, the FIA and their own drivers on Friday evening. After reassurances that it was safe to continue the event, the teams voted unanimously to proceed – but the drivers proved harder to convince, with crisis talks between them stretching long into the night. "It's definitely [been] a challenging weekend," Bottas told media including RacingNews365.com . "Obviously, [the drivers' meeting went on] quite late, and in some places, you don't need to have that discussion. "F1 promised to reconsider all the events for the future, including this one, to make sure that we go to the right places where they can guarantee our safety 100 per cent, always, when we go there."
Bottas hails unity between F1 drivers
When asked whether he had wanted to race at Jeddah, or would be willing to race there in future years, Bottas declined to answer, though the Alfa Romeo driver did talk up the current sense of unity and togetherness that had developed between the 20 drivers. "I feel like the [Grand Prix Drivers' Association] is really united at the moment, and it felt like everyone was feeling the same," Bottas explained. "With any issues, we will always regroup and go through them and give our view, if it makes a difference. That's nice. But it's not always guaranteed it will." The GPDA is the trade union for F1 drivers with elected representatives. Former Benetton, Williams and McLaren driver Alexander Wurz has served as Chairman since 2014, with current drivers Sebastian Vettel and George Russell among the group's Directors.
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