Welcome back to the F1 Hangover. This is a mini edition of the series, which takes you inside the off-track happenings during a race weekend. I wasn’t on the ground in Saudi Arabia, but I’ll be returning to form in Miami early next month, so mark your calendars.
In the meantime, let’s look back on the week in Jeddah. It’s no secret that the Saudis are paying big bucks to attract sporting stars to the region, and same goes for the world of entertainment. Jennifer Lopez, Usher and Major Lazer were flown out to perform at the MDLBEAST music festival attached to the race. Somewhat bizarrely, all of the musical guests were seen posing for snaps with the Saudi race promoters and Stefano Domenicalli – I’m not being facetious when I say I’d love to know what a conversation between Diplo and the F1 chief sounds like.
Lopez made her presence known when she watched qualifying from the Ferrari garage in a hot pink, skin-tight catsuit (I just know she was sweating under that Middle Eastern sun) and posed for snaps with Lewis Hamilton. Usher was also seen walking into the team’s garage with the seven-time world champion the following day, shortly before the race began.
Ferrari has never been in dire need of extra publicity or celebrity shine, but it’s interesting to see the power of Hamilton in full effect as A-listers who previously would have made a beeline for Mercedes head straight to the Scuderia. They say everyone’s a Ferrari fan, but with Hamilton in tow, everyone is donning their racing red.
Earlier in the week, Sebastian Vettel made a powerful return to the sport – not in the paddock, but on the karting track. The four-time world champion hosted a Race4Women event in support of his ongoing push for gender equality in motorsport. “Generally Saudi is opening up and it’s great to see the next generation of girls and women speaking out their dreams, being able and being allowed to do a lot of the things their mothers weren’t able or allowed to do,” Vettel told F1.
F1 Academy was also on the docket this weekend and there was a noticeable shift in the support series paddock, as several F1 drivers and team bosses publicly showed up for the young women getting behind the wheel. Yuki Tsunoda, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri were among the figures in the F1 world who spent time with their affiliated junior drivers. The rest of the grid will have another opportunity to support the F1 Academy drivers when the series heads to Miami for round three. We’ll see you there!
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