bahrain f1. back on

[walter mitty]

Disgusting decision a black day for f1

[Mr Redknapp]

what happened like?

[PTR]

It wasn't a decision made with money in mind, by any chance

[Treacle]

Ecclestone is all about money...

[super-niall]

Originally Posted by Mr Redknapp

what happened like?

The Bahrain Grand Prix will return to the F1 2011 calendar, it has been confirmed following today's reunion of the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), with the postponed race being parachuted back into the schedule in the slot originally slated for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

Having originally been due to host the 2011 curtain-raiser on 13 March, Bahrain was unable to welcome F1 due to the outbreak of civil unrest and violent political protests in the desert kingdom a month earlier and the fate of the race has hung in the balance ever since, as the troubles have persisted and the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone have weighed up the potential benefits and pitfalls of returning there before the season is out.

The sport's teams and drivers had made little secret of their opposition to returning to a nation blighted by oppression and where at least 30 people have been killed since the anti-government, pro-democracy uprising began. Shortly prior to the announcement that the race will go ahead, Amnesty International UK had issued a media briefing condemning what it describes as a brutal crackdown on dissidents and reporting that 'serious human rights violations continue to be committed in Bahrain'.

Those have included hundreds of arrests – adding that 'in April, at least four detainees died in custody in suspicious circumstances' – 'unprovoked assaults', 'torture', trials resulting in prison sentences for those convicted of 'participating in illegal demonstrations' and 'inciting hatred' against the government, 'excessive use of force and unlawful killings' and more than two thousand job dismissals or suspensions for taking part in the protests.

Amnesty International UK adds that 'the [Bahraini] government has failed to conduct independent investigations into alleged abuses by Bahraini security forces in response to peaceful and other public protests in February and March...these include the use of lethal and other excessive force against protestors and assaults on medical workers seeking to help the wounded'.

Former FIA President Max Mosley had asserted that to return to Bahrain would almost be tantamount to 'using F1 as an instrument of repression' and that 'to go will be a public relations disaster' [see separate story – click here], whilst Red Bull Racing star Mark Webber had tweeted that 'when people in a country are being hurt, the issues are bigger than sport'.

Speaking personally rather than as the President of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), meanwhile, former world champion Damon Hill had similarly opined that F1 'will forever have the blight of association with repressive methods to achieve order' should it return there in 2011, according to the BBC.

Despite the ending of the three-month state-of-emergency there on Wednesday and repeated assurances from the Bahraini government that peace is now almost restored, there have been reports of ongoing violence in the capital on Manama, with police allegedly using tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters today (Friday).

The FIA, however, has decided to press ahead with the race nonetheless, and following a resolution reached by the governing body's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Barcelona, the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix will consequently be held on 30 October, meaning the Indian Grand Prix will shift back to either 4 or 11 December – what would mark the latest finish to an F1 campaign since 1963, a scenario that is immensely unpopular with the teams, who have been petitioned by more than 300,000 people to boycott the race.

“This is welcome news for all of Bahrain,” affirmed Bahrain International Circuit chairman Zayed R Alzayani, after Bahraini information affairs authority president Fawaz Al Khalifa had earlier tweeted: 'Mabrook, Bahrain will host f1. Fia finalizing date now.' “As a country we have faced a difficult time, but stability has returned, with businesses operating close to normal and countries removing travel restrictions.”

Meanwhile, speaking ahead of the WMSC's reunion, F1 commercial rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone had sought to stress that financial motives – with his Formula One Management (FOM) organisation set to lose some $40 million in race-hosting fees were the Bahrain Grand Prix not to go ahead – would play no part in the decision, but that it would rather be based purely upon a safety evaluation.

"Nothing to do with money at all, nothing, in any shape or form,” the 80-year-old – an advocate for the rescheduling right from the start – is quoted as having said by British newspaper The Guardian. “This has to do with whether people...I don't know, to be honest, with this occasion whether people are concerned with their safety if they go or whether people are concerned with what has happened in the past. What has happened in that whole area, in all those countries, is not good in any way, so we will have to wait and see.”

...

[The Flooring Fitter]

Originally Posted by walter mitty

Disgusting decision a black day for f1

Are you still out there or back home? I'm sure you posted from there when it was all kicking off.

[rockaway]

agreed, terrible decision.

[alzeebub]

No doubt bernie will trot out the "this is sport, not politics" excuse, anyday now.

An awful decision.

[Arkle]

Originally Posted by alzeebub

No doubt bernie will trot out the "this is sport, not politics" excuse, anyday now.

An awful decision.

That's already been used. The teams aren't especially happy and it sounds like a lot of the drivers aren't happy.

[alzeebub]

Originally Posted by Arkle

That's already been used. The teams aren't especially happy and it sounds like a lot of the drivers aren't happy.

I know it's highly unlikely, but it'd be great to see teams pull out of this one. Unfortunately the scramble for points won't allow that.