Bernie Ecclestone says that Bahrain will not have to pay the fee for its event if the race doesn’t take place this year.
Ecclestone was apparently stung by suggestions that he made sure the Bahrainis withdrew the race in order to ensure that the payment was forfeited.
“The fee that is normally being paid for the event is not being paid,” Ecclestone told The Daily Telegraph. “I am not charging them for a race they are not getting. Whether they are covered by their insurers for loss of revenues, ticket sales etc I am not sure. But if anything is force majeure then that is. It is similar to if an earthquake had struck — no one could have foreseen that a month ago.”
Bernie added that FOM was “not insured for this sort of thing,” and insisted that he’s still trying to reschedule the race.
“If and when it is rescheduled they will pay their usual fee.
“What has happened in Bahrain is desperately sad but one month ago everyone was looking forward to the race. No one had a problem with it then. If everything is peaceful, which we hope it will be, then we will try our best to fit it in.”
Ecclestone also insisted that Bahrain did not pay an extra premium to hold the first race.
Adam Cooper F1 
I wonder what the teams are going to say about this … they’ll lose their share of the revenue.
That’s the point, if the BMF has to pay up, then why bother having the race at all? If the teams don’t get their competition money unless there is a race, they’ll be insisting that there is, and they will help Bernie make it happen.
Bernie gets to come off as a nice guy, but it is all very clear in the contract documents about force majeure. Everyone knows the score, I am sure of it.