With country after country now officially warning its citizens to avoid all but ‘essential’ travel to Bahrain, the GP has become completely untenable as there are obvious insurance issues.
With such warnings in place it would be virtually impossible for team principals and media outlets to send employees to Bahrain, and clearly there will be no spectators and no sponsor guests from outside the country. This is the age of health and safety, after all.
The bottom line is that these warnings may provide the ‘force majeure’ that allows Bernie and the curiously silent FIA to make a call while allowing the Bahrainis to save some face.
But they have to do it today, and not dick about and wait until next week. It’s clear that the longer they leave it, the worse it will be for the image of F1, which has taken a battering in recent days.
Yesterday British actor Stephen Fry wrote in a Tweet: “Can’t quite believe that with the ruthless treatment of Bahrain’s protesters Ecclestone is talking about Grand Prix prospects there.”
Bernie may take the views of a showbiz personality with a pinch of salt, but the point is that Fry has 2.2 million followers on Twitter, and he reflects the opinions of many people around the world who have little or no interest in F1 – and indeed the opinions of many F1 fans who think enough is enough.
Here’s a sampling of what governments are saying:
“US citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security.”
“If travelling within Bahrain, British nationals should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places and on major highways, and avoid large crowds and demonstrations.”
“Canadians are strongly advised to maintain a high level of vigilance and personal security awareness at all times. Caution should be particularly exercised in areas known to be frequented by foreigners.”
“Australians in Bahrain should exercise extreme caution and minimise their travel around the island. The situation in Bahrain remains volatile with reports that the Army has used lethal force against demonstrators. Further demonstrations are likely to occur in the coming days and could turn violent.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Would you like a quote from Bernie in 1985 during the Apartheid scandal:
Interesting! I find it odd when he says that ‘we don’t get involved in politics.’ I can’t think of any races on the 2011 schedule which don’t have a direct connection with city/regional/national governments other than GB and Japan. Pretty much everywhere else at some point Bernie gets involved with the politicians to some degree…
Maybe you should read the definition of force majeure, that Adam mentioned.
To even countenance a race when a government is warring against its people…well, it’s not ~30 years ago when F1 stood out petulantly as it continued racing in SA.
A classic disconnect of Ecclestone and everyone else. While Bernie may like to play with the unsavory monied classes, when it reaches this level of discourse and violence, I as an F1 fan will not participate. This isn’t a matter of cultural difference; this is raw, sustained, political violence against a disenfranchised people.
I have to believe that the teams, while appearing publicly non-committal, are appalled by the notion of participating in a Bahrain GP with this violence as a backdrop. Simple humanity behooves letting this one go.
19 races is nearly 20. We can all live with that. If anything, maybe whoever follows Ecclestone will be chastened by what happens when you fall into bed with these types. Bernie has followed the money at any cost. Hopefully, we as fans and F1’s sponsors won’t.
Hi Adam,
Just wanted to thank you for the tweets and blog posts regarding the situation in Bahrain. I think this is where it goes beyond being an “F1 journalist” and becomes a lot more.
I was vaguely aware of the situation but through the frequency of your tweets I realised the gravity and looked into it further and was appalled.
Only through the awareness of the public will the sport find that it cannot hide from this. Keep it up.
The talk is now of a potential test to replace the Bahrain GP. They probably couldn’t get it organised properly but wouldn’t it be fun if they incorporated a televised, non-championship race in that test? Maybe try out some different race formats – sprint races, reversed grid etc. See how the cars will run with the new aero packages and tyres without the normal pressure of a race weekend. Well, if they’re running anyway, it might be entertaining.
Nice idea, but ‘they’ won’t allow it to happen. The likelihood is that it will end up being Barcelona again and that gets a good paying crowd just for normal testing.
Why has Jean Todt not stepped in? I would think he has a bigger world view than Ecclestone. “Keep roads safe”. More importantly “keep people safe”. He has a chance to be the voice of reason here while Ecclestone dithers.
Exactly, he is missing an opportunity here to assert the authority of the FIA. One could also point out that Bahrain gave him key support during the election campaign so he has good connections and therefore is in a position to get first hand information.
Absolutely, but that’s the problem when your predecesor hives off the commercial rights (some may say at bargain prices) – it’s no longer a 1 shop stop for decision making. As with the Korean GP last year, the face saving exercises are vital for teams with Middle Eastern investors – heck, these are the folk that matter, not mere mortals such as you and I with everyday opinions (there wouldn’t be any trouble in the ME if folks like us could express our opinions freely).
Just going back to Alex Andronov’s post and the Bernie quote from ’85. In the end F1 didn’t go back to South Africa until after Apartheid – lets hope that in these circumstance F1 makes the correct decision and soon.
I think leaving the decision to Wednesday (or whenever – I have only read that a decision is to be made at some point “next week”) merely makes F1 look even more immoral than most people believe it to be anyway. Are they waiting to see if the death toll reaches some cut-off point that they have decided is “crossing the line”? Niki Lauda is about the only F1 personality to have come out and said they shouldn’t go, the rest are just totally gutless/scared/financially-dependent and simply prove the point that F1 seems to exist in some kind of moral vacuum where the normal rules of human decency do not apply. It is the first thing that, knowing I am an F1, mates have been asking me this weekend – why on earth would F1 still go to Bahrain now? I do not know what to say, it’s almost embarrassing to admit to being a fan of the sport. What is happening in Bahrain is an affront to any person who values a free and fair society, if F1 feels unable to state this then there is something truly rotten at its core.
If all they are truly worried about is their own security then they should probably get on the phone to Gaddafi to resurrect the Libyan GP at Tripoli as it appears that they are prepared to do pretty much anything to guarantee “security and stability”.
I think you got it just right. There seems to be a move in the right direction according to reports, and maybe by Wednesday Bernie can claim that it’s all hunky dory, but that doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong over the next couple of weeks – by which time F1 people are there.
It will still be a disgrace if F1 goes to Bahrain, just because the Crown Prince has now changed his tune.
The fact remains that his government callously shot unarmed protesters for no reason.
See; http://english.aljazeera.net/
I think I’ll throw up if I see Martin brundle palling around with the Bahraini royal family on the grid, as he usually does.
Hey Adam, You could suggest to Bernie, That, if he ask’s nicely, just maybe, IMS, might let him bring his Show, back to were it belongs! Tho they might need “Blizzak” Tires for an opption Tire.
Adam,
Hope you don’t mind if I ask, but should it go ahead, will you be travelling out there? Of course, I know this is your job though.
Adam – reference your question on Twitter re ‘Peace Bahrain’. See http://peacebahrain.com/
Effectively an email from the King by the look of it…so I’m guessing they have the F1 media list to hand…