Saudi Arabia tried to buy Formula 1: the exorbitant amount that Liberty Media refused

The authorities of Saudi Arabia They know that through sport they can clean up an image that has been challenged by human rights violations denounced by international organizations.

Only in the first month of the year did they give a taste of their wealth by organizing the Rally Dakar 2023 -for the fourth consecutive year- and hosts at the King Fahd stadium in its capital, Riyadh, the Spanish Super Cupthe Italian Super Cup and the unprecedented friendly he faced Lionel Messiwith his Paris Saint Germain, yes Cristiano Ronaldowho was part of a combination of players from his new club (Al-Nassr) and Al-Hilal.

It has now been revealed that in 2022 they tried to buy Formula 1 with their dollars through the PIF fund (The Public Investment), the same one that recently bought Newcastle United and transformed them into a team that went from fighting not to fall in the Championship to being protagonists in the Premier League.

The Arab country, which entered F1 in 2021 with the design of an urban circuit that has become the fastest on the calendar, has offered the American consortium Liberty Media 20,000 million dollars during the past year through an investment fund.

Although the offer was tempting, because the group had bought the rights to Formula 1 from the British Bernie Ecclestone in September 2016 for about $4.4 billionthe response was negative, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

Liberty Media had reason enough to sell: although the business is growing and F1 is adding more and more fans around the world, some come through the series of Netflix “Drive to Survive”idea of ​​the Americans-, the coronavirus pandemic has left large economic losses and currently the category is valued at 12,500 million dollars, 7,500 million less than those offered by the Saudis.

While the Americans have been forthright, PIF does not consider the issue closed. As reported, they confirmed this to Liberty Media the offer will remain in force and they would even be willing to raise it.

Currently, Saudi Arabia has stakes in the McLaren and Aston Martin teams and his oil company aramco It is the main sponsor of numerous Grands Prix and of the same category. With their petrodollars, they also expressed their intention to build a city that would be the headquarters for the gridiron teams.

The commitment of the Middle Eastern country is firm. They already have one Grand Prix on the calendar, the one in Jeddah, and they are building the second one (Qiddiyah). Furthermore, they agreed that the Saudi Arabian GP will mark the start of the 2024 season at the request of the local government to respect Ramadan.

The event, which joined the calendar in the 2021 season and hosted the penultimate race, became the second race in 2022, something that will repeat this year, as the action kicks off in Bahrain March 3-5 and will be moved to Saudi Arabia from 17 to 19. But in 2024 it will have a new calendar change and it will be the inaugural venue.

Initially, Australia had all agreed to return to being the first stop on the Great Circus, as they did between 1996 and 2019. However, within the contract extension they carried out this year, the agreement indicates that “Melbourne will host the first race of the Formula 1 season for at least four years between 2023 and 2037, with the exception of 2024 which will be reserved for Saudi Arabia out of respect for Ramadan“.