FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX –‘THE RETURN OF A WINNER’
CASE STUDY | FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX – ‘THE RETURN OF A WINNER’
Why: The inaugural SAGP was set to launch as a new destination on the Formula 1 calendar. With little widely known heritage within F1, Saudi Motorsport Company (the promoters) wanted to highlight the Kingdom’s historic association with Formula 1 when a roster of Saudi companies were key sponsors of the Williams team during the successful 1969 – 1971 period during which Alan Jones won the World Championship in the FW07 - one of the sport’s first ground effect cars.
How: After one of the title winning FW07 cars was found in a Saudi palace, lying dormant in in a poor state of repair, SMC decided to restore the famous car and capture the process in a documentary to be screened after the inaugural Grand Prix. The culmination of the documentary would be the FW07 taking part in the Kingdom’s special event and running on track over the four days, overseen by its champion driver Alan Jones.
Result: NKrush commissioned a production company to capture the documentary that followed the restoration of the car at every stage of the re-imagination. As the car was nearing readiness to run on track at the brand-new Jeddah Corniche Circuit, NKrush engaged a range of historic Formula 1 drivers to test it on the track and be filmed for the documentary, as well as to use a track guide for international broadcaster’s programming including Sky’s Martin Brundle and Damon Hill, C4’s David Coulthard, Emerson Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti and most excitingly for the home crowd - Prince Abdulaziz, The Minister of Sport. With the death of Sir Frank Williams coinciding with the race weekend, the FW07 took centre stage in front of the global audience in a ceremonial lap before the race start, a fitting tribute to the great man and arguably his finest creation.
