I take some of the things I said about Mosely for that one. Although it's probably a bit altruistic. The memories of people seem to last millienia, as the constant religious strifes prove, they probably have their origins in a missing goat or something.
I do not think that F1 should return to Bahrain this year or any other year until human rights abuses are ended. The debate should also be widened to include any other country with similar oppressive regimes e.g. China. F1 and sport in general should make a stand even if it results in a slight loss of income for those concerned. I think that some people will push hard for a return. McLaren's major shareholder is Bahrain holding company Mumtalakat and Whitmarsh is chair of FOTA.
Miggins: This religous business seem's to complicate life don't you think, personally I only believe what I can actually see, touch, hear, and smell, preferably all at the same time. There are obvious massive social problem's throughout the middle east and speaking to a close Islamic colleague of mine he suggests it will take about another 500 years before resolution becomes close. He explained it as, "It's a bit like England in the middle ages, there were those that 'had' and were land owners and there were those that had 'bugger all', the peasants, and it took centuries of struggle and strife to bring about change" he recons there is no effective short cut to resolution at the moment with the extremist exertiing influence throught the region, as this gives the 'have not's' something to 'have' and believe in. Holding an F1 race in Bahrain give the 'haves' the mandate to continue with their oppresive regime over the 'have nots' simple really. I suppose Bernie is also a 'have' so why should he give a sh8te about a few million 'have not's'.
"It's a bit like England in the middle ages." Indeed it is, Africa is of a similar sociological stage, and, to a lesser extent, south America. The thing is, it's never really about religion, it's about who controls the land and what's on/in it.
Video of Jean Todt talking about Bahrain etc... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13669911.stm Don't trust him always looking to the right, think it means he is lying compared to looking on the left which is meant to be remembering actual things.
I always look to the right, not because I'm dishonest, my left is my good side. Hopefully they'll do the sensible thing and call it off again. And then the teams will do the sensible thing and sort their own series out.
Autospout reports how much of a clusterfuck this is turning into for F1, with Ecclestone now doubting the report of the fact-finding mission Toadt used, in SilverArrow's video above, to justify the decision to reinstate the Bahrain GP, and urging the teams to demand a re-vote. It is reported that social action group Avaaz, who work closely with Amnesty International, "suggested that human rights groups consulted by the FIA had close links to the government, and Ecclestone himself now has doubts that the situation in Bahrain is as good as the report suggested." To be honest, he could just read a newspaper to see that all is not well over there at the moment.
I think we will all agree that Newspapers like to twist the truth somewhat etc... Yes things are wrong over there... but how wrong? Were the killings by accident? Were they just defending themselves? Do these people really want democracy or are they just trying to just take power? I'm not saying lets nitpick the facts like some lawyer and pretend things that happened are just blown out of proportion, we all have different views on this matter and Bernie as a buisnessman has to be 50/50 the whole way.
Without wanting to get into the political discussion I think it's down to things like Bahrain claiming reconciliation processes are underway while medicial staff are being tried for treason because they operated on injured protestors, etc. The point is that there appears to be significant reasonable doubt about the veracity of the evidence on which the report that convinced the FIA to reinstate the race was based. It's also unclear whether the FIA vote was unanimous and whether that is necessary for amendments to the calendar. What surprises me is that there is now talk of a U-turn following the public outcry, Avaaz criticism and (presumably) Ecclestone having sounded out the teams. Surely they expected such a response when they made the decision and were prepared to defend their decision unwaveringly in the face of such a backlash? Max Mosley says Carlos Gracia can't speak any English or Arabic and implies that he was led round Manama like a nodding dog. More importantly he says, "although for reasons of force majeure you could cancel the Bahrain race originally, what you cannot do is move the Indian race around without the agreement of all the teams. So what’s needed is the written agreement of each individual team." Which leads me now to consider the possibility that FIA voted to reinstate Bahrain knowing it wouldn't wash with the teams and would force them into the position of making the decision not to go.
Must be some clause in the contract. F1 as a whole doesn't really want to go there, but if Bahrain can't guarantee their safety like any GP they must get something out of it for wasting their time. Bahrain might even have to fork out half the amount of money for being unable to host it since they have failed to live up to agreement twice.
Toadt is manoeuvering for softening the route to a U-turn. Fancy admitting assuming that it was actually unanimous, simply because no-one objected! (I find that hard to believe in any case. One wonders if he simply could not find a better excuse for what is about to come… I also believe that Max Mosley is having some significant influence over the little toad, in the way many of us predicted before his election. However in this instance, I fully agree with Mosley; he is astute and he is aware of the bigger picture, even if he's tended to choose a self-serving, narrow path through it! In light of recent developments in the face of a huge public outcry which this forum participated in, I think it is likely that it will shortly be called off, again!
This is what I can't wrap my head around. Not that Mosley is but that Toadt and the FIA aren't. I can't believe that's the the case so from what's being reported I can only infer that there are shenanigans going on and a scapegoat being sought.
Agreed. - Mostly… But the FIA have a history of underestimating reaction; even with Mosley at the helm. He was not unaware; he just did stuff that he thought he could bulldoze everyone with and of course he usually succeeded! Being more compliant, Toadt is an altogether different personality and far more of a 'yes man', if he thinks it suits to mediate between other (perhaps) stronger personalities; he is far more likely to slip one under the door if he thinks no-one will notice. At least with Mosley, everyone knew where they stood…
Autospout reports that, as expected, FOTA has requested a delay to the Bahrain GP, possibly returning later in the year (presumably in December).
I wonder if Mosley will come back as president? He still has a lot of influence and it's been a few years for him to keep his head down after his little incident. He is pretty much challenging Todt out in the open with this and for me he's looking like the "good guy" with his head screwed on, expressing the people's opinions.
