The Saudi stage won't be moving to Kiddia anytime soon.
Saudi Arabia has been hosting the national Grand Prix since 2021, it takes place at the city circuit in Jeddah and this weekend it will be held there for the fifth time. But near Riyadh, the capital of the Middle Eastern kingdom, a whole city of Kiddia is being built, which should become a center for all kinds of entertainment, including the construction of a race track there.
We talked about the Qiddiya Speed Park project, which was designed by the architectural firm of Hermann Tilke with the participation of Alex Wurz, a former Formula 1 racer, and this track is scheduled to be completed in 2027.
It was originally planned that the Grand Prix would move to a new circuit in 2024, but the housewarming party was postponed, and there is still no certainty about its timing. According to The Race, this is due to the fact that Kiddia is undergoing a very large-scale construction on an area of about 400 square kilometers, and the race track is only part of this complex megaproject.
"The highway will be ready in 2027, but all deadlines will be determined by other projects that surround it," Prince Khalid bin Sultan al–Abdullah al-Faisal, chairman of the Saudi Arabian Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, explained in an interview with this publication. – It will depend on whether they are completed on time, because sometimes delays are possible in the case of such megaprojects.
We are in no hurry to leave Jeddah. If everything develops normally, and Formula 1 is satisfied with the upcoming transfer of the race to Kiddia, then it still won't happen before 2027. We are already thinking about 2028 or maybe 2029. But next year we will have a better understanding of when this transfer may occur."
At one time, Saudi promoters expressed the idea that the country could even host two Formula 1 races, in Jeddah and Kiddia, or these tracks could host the Grand Prix alternately. But the chairman of the national federation made it clear that this is not the most relevant topic right now.:
"It is too early to discuss whether to hold two races or rotate between Kiddia and Jeddah," Prince Khalid said. – Our main task now is to enjoy the remaining races that will be held in Jeddah and prepare for the move to the new circuit in Kiddia. It's too early to talk about the rest, we don't have any other plans.
A couple of years ago, the issue of two races in Saudi Arabia was discussed in the press, but I don't think that's possible with such a tight calendar, and we haven't even discussed this idea at home."
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The Saudi stage won't be moving to Kiddia anytime soon.
It was originally planned that the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix would move to a new circuit in Kiddia in 2024, but the housewarming ceremony was postponed, and there is still no certainty about its timing...