• Track near Riyadh could be ready to host race in 2023 • Human Rights Watch urges F1 to consider its position

Plans to stage a Formula One grand prix in Saudi Arabia would serve only to further the gulf state’s process of sportswashing and help legitimise the country’s repressive regime, according to Human Rights Watch.

Proposals for a new circuit outside the capital Riyadh were announced recently and the track could be ready by 2023. F1 is in talks but will not make any comment on the race. That the track, designed by the former F1 driver Alex Wurz to top FIA standards, is being built suggests a deal is not far off.

Saudi Arabia already hosts Formula E and has been stepping up its sporting ventures. The world heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr in December was staged in a purpose-built arena near Riyadh, the Spanish Super Cup was held at the 62,000-capacity King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Jeddah and this month the world’s richest horse race, the $20m (£15.5m) Saudi Cup, will be run at the King Abdulaziz race track in the capital. The state’s sovereign wealth fund has been in talks over a £340m takeover of Newcastle United.

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Saudi Arabia has a human rights record described by Amnesty International as “heinous” and the Human Rights Watch director, Minky Worden, said F1 needed to consider its position.

“There is no evidence that F1 going to a place that seriously represses human rights has improved conditions there,” she said. “On the contrary, there is plenty of evidence F1’s presence has degraded human rights conditions and worsened conditions.”

Formula One has received considerable criticism for racing in Bahrain and Azerbaijan. “From our research in Bahrain and Azerbaijan, the arrival of F1 led to abuses and did not help the human rights conditions,” Worden added. “There is quite a bit of evidence F1 has ignored its own human rights commitment [made in 1995] by going to these countries and overlooked human rights abuses and taken no action to make them better.”

A spokesman for F1 said. “For decades Formula One has worked hard to bring a positive imprint to everywhere it races, including economic, social and cultural benefits. We take our human rights responsibilities very seriously and make this position clear to every race promoter and host country. We believe that working with countries and giving their citizens to chance to attend global sports and entertainment events is a force for good.”

In recent years Saudi Arabia has made reforms, allowing women to drive and easing strict and discriminatory male guardianship laws. Much publicity was generated by the Saudi woman Aseel al-Hamad driving a Renault F1 car at the French Grand Prix weekend in 2018. What was not publicised was that some of the activists who campaigned for women to be allowed to drive remain imprisoned.

Worden said: “There are real reforms and HRW acknowledges those but they also mask ongoing repression and major sports events also mask ongoing repression. F1 should not be making any deal with Saudi Arabia until they have sat down with women’s rights activists who are imprisoned and have been tortured in detention.

“F1, as part of their inspection visit, should ask to visit these women – Loujain al-Hathloul, Samar Badawi , Nassima al-Sadah and Nouf Abdulaziz – and ask for their release.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Formula One has been criticised for staging grand prix weekends in Bahrain (pictured) and Azerbaijan. Photograph: Valdrin Xhemaj/EPA

In December, Rory McIlroy declined to take play in the European Tour golf event, the Saudi International, that will take place at the end of this month, citing a “morality” guiding his decision.

Race fees are one of the three biggest sources of revenue for F1 but European circuits such as Spa in Belgium and Britain’s Silverstone have been granted reduced rates to ensure they remain on the calendar. The reported $50m (£38.7m) fee for Saudi Arabia to host a race would help cover cash shortfalls elsewhere.

F1 is also believed to be close to concluding a sponsorship deal with the state-owned Saudi oil company Aramco, worth £50m a year. In a report made last year by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute, Aramco was at the head of a list naming the firms responsible for the highest emissions from fossil fuels since 1965. F1 recently made a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030, including a decrease in its use of fossil fuels .

Worden said operating in Saudi Arabia carried import beyond finance. “F1 needs to ask itself whether the murder and dismemberment of [the Washington Post journalist] Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents is consistent with the values of press freedom,” she said. “It is a straightforward issue because Saudi Arabia has admitted to the murder.”

Saudi authorities were approached by the Guardian for this article but declined to comment.