'You can be whatever you want' - Haifa Al Dhukair on how she's helped bring F1 ACADEMY's race weekend to life in Saudi Arabia

Whilst the on-track action is ultimately the final result, an extraordinary amount of behind-the-scenes effort goes in to making a race weekend happen.

As part of our Pathways Into Motorsport series, we’re highlighting one woman who helped bring F1 ACADEMY to life for the season opening round — Haifa Al Dhukair, Project Manager at the Saudi Motorsport Company.

Situated in the hustle and bustle of the city, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit’s blend of temporary and permanent fixtures means that assembling the track and all the paddock facilities is a real feat of engineering. In the space of four weeks, the seafront is transformed by the appearance of a Formula 1 racetrack.

Responsible for ensuring everything goes according to plan, Al Dhukair has oversight covering a wide berth of areas including construction, engineering and event delivery. Juggling all the competing priorities involved with an eye for detail, she says that having a grasp on even the smallest of elements is fundamental to be able to pull off an event as smoothly as possible.

“My role in the Saudi Motorsport Company is a project manager for F1 ACADEMY,” Al Dhukair explains. “It's such an inspiration for us, especially me as a woman leading this project.

“The key skill of a project manager, in my opinion, is time management. My day-to-day job or tasks are that we need to align with all the stakeholders about the budget, the operations of the structures, how can we run it successfully and easy that everyone is happy — the drivers, the engineers, the spectators and all the guests and staff.”

She adds: “It’s a hybrid job between me and the Venue Operation Manager. So, we both align on how the building is going. Being a Project Manager, it means that you need to have a background in everything and you learn it by working day by day. You actually learn how the technical terms you learn (work), the engineering part, you learn everything!

“Anyone that thinks that the event delivery team are usually just the fun part and are about how to have entertainment and fun, but actually the difficult part of it is understanding the technical details — the power, the cables, how many, what’s the size of the cable that we need for it to be enough to power this size of structure?”

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With F1 ACADEMY bringing its mission of championing women in motorsport to Saudi Arabia, Al Dhukair believes that young people should be encouraged and have the confidence to pursue their dream careers in the sport.

“You can be a driver, you can be an engineer, you can be whatever you want,” she says. “Here in Saudi Arabia, we have reached the point where we don’t see gender equality as a problem anymore. We are so empowered. We are having leading positions and roles in companies, in private companies and in government roles.”

After a huge amount of teamwork, determination and passion, Al Dhukair’s commitment to showcasing F1 ACADEMY paid off with an exhilarating weekend of racing, alongside fans and the local community engaging enthusiastically with the series.

Admitting that it was a tough grind to make it all possible, Al Dhukair knows it was a worthwhile effort and hopes that the series leaves a lasting legacy for children and young people in her country.

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“The amount of tears and sweat that we put into these kinds of projects,” says Al Dhukair. “Sometimes you stay 14 hours working, but if you love what you do, then you will enjoy it. Once you see a little girl or little boy inspired by those females driving, once you see everyone’s excited to deliver something like this.

“F1 ACADEMY will be the first race of the season here at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It’s so exciting. Now we can feel the rewards of every tear, every sweat that we did in building all of this. Building a full paddock in four weeks — that’s amazing! I don’t have the words to say more than that.”