But in that case though, you could argue China should be cancelled too, as their human rights record isn't exactly brilliant, the only difference is that the people aren't staging a revolt.
Without wishing to sound pro-euro, F1 should mostly be based in europe, as that's where the majority of the fanbase is located. For flyaway races, the locations i would pick are: Australia (good fans, love their motorsport) Japan (See above) Malaysia Brazil (psychopaths, but in a good way) Mexico Thats it. Every other race would be in the EU.
I have no problem with new races popping up so long as there is a fanbase there and the general population stand a remote chance of being able to afford a ticket.
No real interest. I'm sorry (i know you're u.s based) but they believe that their motorsports are better, and don't like F1.
F1, like any other sport, should take all steps to avoid becoming a political tool. The trouble is that, as its audience grows in an ever shrinking world, this becomes progressively more difficult, particularly in a tiny place with a disproportionately large element of discontent. But whilst it may be impossible to avoid altogether (just as the Olympics were held in Beijing), it is of the utmost importance that F1 ejects itself from any immediately imminent hot-bed where the stakes are much, much higher. Bahrain is a virtually unique problem (and certainly it is unique to F1): it has an area less than one fifth that of London. I sometimes wonder if people appreciate this. All of Bahrain's troubles are concentrated in that tiny, tiny space. And they have just one global opportunity (potentially) to be seen by virtually the whole world. This is a very different situation to that which exists in China. In Bahrain, any actions have an almost immediate impact and will be very difficult to conceal. Thus, it is a natural platform for any dissenters who feel largely ignored by the outside world. Once again, this is quite unlike China where almost the opposite is true: there the indigenous population is all but excluded from the whole area, which pretty much ensures that F1 cannot be used as a political platform. There is a world of difference between holding an event in a place which has different political ideologies but where F1 cannot be kicked around by two sides and therefore can remain apolitical; and that of holding an event where it is perceived as the only means of communicating internal troubles to the outside world; where it cannot possibly avoid becoming political !- - - o0o - - - Bahrain and China should not be compared. Right or wrong, there is a world of differenceâ¦
There's actually a good number of F1 fans and given a consistent race or two it would pick up further. It'd likely never overtake Indy or NASCAR, But it wouldn't be too hard to build a strong fanbase here. It really needs a good American driver to have the balls to come in to F1rather than sticking to the usual routes to help raise the profile of F1, but let's face it... Why would most if them want to when they can do most of their racing domestically and earn a small fortune in the process?
Going to China does not increase any protests or risk anybody's death so you can't apply that argument to China. You can hurl evidence of human rights abuses at just about every country that hosts a Formula 1 GP, or is likely to in the near future, including our own. The effects of F1 in China are entirely economic (negatively, as it happens) and in line with Britain's stated interests and with Chinese market reforms. If you believe F1 should not be run in Bahrain on the grounds that the Shia majority have very limited freedoms and rights under the Sunni minority rule then that's an argument for it not having been set up in the first place, not for cancelling it now. If you hold similar opinions regarding China's restrictive political rights then you might feel the same way about the Chinese GP. I can respect that but, personally, I don't agree with either of those arguments because the political and cultural environments of foreign countries should not preclude their involvement in trade, diplomacy, security arrangements or, for that matter, sport. Should China be banned from competing in the Olympics? Should the USA? Some of the most draconian and oppressive acts curtailing personal freedoms and basic human rights to have passed into law in recent years, along with the most arbitrary imprisonment and torture without justification, have occurred in that self-proclaimed leader of the 'free' world, whither Formula 1 has elected to travel twice per season. The Bahrain GP (the entire contract, in my opinion) should be cancelled not because of that country's internal political structure but because F1 has been dragged unwilling by its customer into a political debate in which it has no business being involved. The same does not apply to China or the USA.
Bernie can't make them go, but would fine them heavily for not going................... win-win situation as far as the poisonous dwarf is concerned
That's certainly my interpretation. @f1enigma reads the Times report slightly differently: Ian Parkes reveals a little more: And James Allen's round-up says:
The BBC seem to follow the interpretation that the teams can be forced to go; adding that Ecclestone is under the impression that all the teams want to participate.
It's totally unacceptable for Ecclestone to pass the buck onto the teams, it shouldn't be their responsibility, though I suspect he's pissed off that the Bahraini government appear to have used Whitmarsh to try to pass the buck to Bernie. It's a very strange game of pass-the-parcel that they're all playing: the parcel contains tens of millions of dollars but also a bomb - what to do? Where is Todt in all of this, the invisible president? Isn't it his job to show some leadership and take executive decisions? Maybe toads wither in the desert.
Max makes a very good point - at least Mosley would have come out and said something, I'd honestly forgotten Todt was president until you mentioned him! It looks more and more like all involved want to cancel the race but are waiting for someone else to take the decision out of their hands. More crucially however it looks like the race will be cancelled.
Todt really is the Phantom President. All I have heard about him is that insiders suspect there will be some sort of crisis summit in Shanghai between him and Ecclestone but not a word from the man himself. It's not good enough: really, what is he good for?
Absolutement: he's managed today to spin a comment by a mystery manager about the FIA cancelling the race ("We're all hoping the FIA calls it off") into an issue of individual contractual obligation for each team. Nobody mentioned McLaren or Toro Rosso, or whoever, unilaterally pulling out and breaching their contract but it's for that that he's threatening retribution. So, he thinks 250,000 people marching in protest constitutes "very small [clashes] — 10 or 15 people — but it gets blown out of proportion and made to sound as if the whole nation is rising up," he has no idea about the bomb attack that injured seven policemen, despite 'watching events closely' and he also believes F1 is not involved in the politics. He lives in cloud cuckoo land. If F1 lacks the vertebrae necessary to make a decision and cancel at least this year's race, surely the main sponsors (Santander, Genii, Vodafone, TexMex or whoever) will step up to the plate? It would be as bad as advertising in the NotW for them. The administrator? It's more than his job's worth, guv. Yes - desiccation's what you need. The waiting around is increasing the damage and giving the impression of spinelessness throughout F1.
Benson has just tweeted: But didn't Ecclestone also say, "We're not involved in any of the politics in Bahrain, over who is right or wrong. When you go to somebody's country you have to respect exactly how they run their country and the laws of that country"?
Yes but you can't trust anything he says. This is insane. Is he hoping that if he gets the opposition a spot on international news then they'll stop protesting the race and everyone will get along for a weekend? Or does he just want to be able to go back to the Bahraini ministers and tell them he did his best and now they have to cancel? The rest of @alaashehabi's tweets are interesting:
