Quite. That comment followed on from the previous three or four, and particularly #208, in tone. The FIA has made the decision, without waiting for input from Ecclestone's meetings with the teams later today or any that Todt may have tomorrow: EDIT (6:20am): "Stupid" questions and how recent is "recently"? EDIT (6:45am):
And here's that (brief) interview (give us a reading, SilverArrow - or is Ecclestone completely inscrutable?), and here's Sky's interview. Ecclestone, the FIA, Lotus and BIC must be exceptionally confident that they can pull off the event without any hitches for them to be so conclusively claiming there are no problems and the media don't know what they're talking about.
I doubt there is any doubt left, unless you doubters think my level of doubt is doubtful? I doubt any doubters will respond, no doubt?
I doubt it. Well, Max has accurately said what I wanted to say already. As for genji, they're either extremely confident or they just don't have a clue.
That interview - Crisis, what crisis?! Thing is, pretending it's business as usual just won't wash. The way he said they had discussed "nothing" about Bahrain and the only problem is the media wasn't very convincing, that air of 'why are you asking me?' and deflecting questions with "what do you think...?", pure evasion. But what could he say? The reason they are going ahead is because there's too much money and the future of the Bahrain GP at stake if they call it off again, and that's not a good defence. But Bernie didn't look convincing to me, trying to brazen it out.
please log in to view this image That was a very strange moment. I've no idea how he thought she'd react but I think a little simple professionalism - responding with facts when he wanted her to confuse the issue with a personal and emotional response - outfoxed him because he turned on his heel and walked briskly away, only to encounter the Sky reporter that he churlishly said was asking a stupid question in querying whether he, personally, would be attending. Ted Kravitz later explained that Ecclestone's girlfriend is running in the London Marathon on 22 April and Ecclestone is expected to be there, not in Bahrain, to cheer her on, so it wasn't such a stupid question after all. Lacking input from SilverArrow, I'd say Ecclestone was in a rush to get away and complete the actions decided in the meeting and that he wasn't happy to have to be doing so. The FIA's statement that the original decision on Bahrain's inclusion on the calendar will not be revoked is based largely on John Yates's assurances on security and safety. That may turn out to be true, whether the opposition in Bahrain is not prepared to resort to violence, kidnapping or assassination or because the race is run under "a complete military lockdown," but - at last - the debate is turning onto what has been the real issue all along. Joe Saward has made substantial points that I hope get picked up by the rest of the media and put to Jean Todt when he arrives in Shanghai tonight (about now, probably): EDIT: Ecclestone has given an interview on Bahrain to Jake Humphrey. Damon Hill's up for it again.
Interesting stuff, genji. Where does this awful "UniF1cation" slogan come from? More to the point and once again, where is Todt? We're told that he went on an extensive jolly, sorry fact-finding mission, to Bahrain and we're told he arrives in Shanghai tonight but why has he been so conspicuous by his silence? The teams are all saying that they put their faith in the FIA but the FIA's president has said nothing publicly and been utterly invisible. I wonder if he's less keen to press ahead, not that he'd be likely to say so even if he is.
The FIA statement is Todt's position. I think he'll consider that to be as much as he needs to say. BIC are responsible for "uniF1cation" and it's quite bizarre that the FIA are happy for F1 to be used in this way. As Joe Saward says, it's a gamble for Todt because officially the outcome of going ahead with holding the race in Bahrain now rests entirely on his shoulders. Personally I think, if anything does go wrong, everyone who has failed to stop it will be examined.
If they do go, I fear for the safety of the drivers and team members.. the police/army there are not worth much in terms of security. Just leave it out, it is a crap track anyway.
I think you're correct about Todt's position but, personally, I don't think that's good enough. If he's been there checking the place out and he's confident that everything's "perfect" (Ecclestone's word), then the fact that he won't appear publicly and say so on camera rather undermines his professed confidence. But, he may think that by not deigning to appear he reinforces the FIA/FOM position that it's no biggie, just business-as-usual. I realise that they live in a parallel universe, or maybe we plebs do, but their position looks more irresponsible and downright dangerous by the day from where I am. And I agree with you, all parties who are pressing ahead with this should be held equally responsible.
Here's Bergy's joke again, from The Independent: please log in to view this image Also, this: can someone explain why anyone would even own a burny Ecclestone flag? Or did they get them designed and printed specifically to film themselves blowtorching them?
In Spain they have Bernie wigs and glasses! But I don't think they're flags as such, I think they're photo/printer copies which have been fixed that way to make them easier to burn but it's not very clear. Shame he won't be there next weekend
He has to be there. There's no way he or Todt can stay away... is there? Surely not. Anyways... last throw of the dice, the start of a backlash, or going out with a whimper?
TBH, i'm glad the saga is over now, there will be a race, and nobody can change that. Now we can get back to focusing on F1, rather than global politics.
It's not over, Kyle, and you're not forced to contribute to this thread if you don't want to. This won't interest you, of course, but for anyone else... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17076387
I'm interested in politics, it's just F1 and politics shouldn't need to be mentioned in the same breath. I read the article (just to spite you), it's interesting(ish)
Finland, Finland, Finland - the country where I'd quite like to be... MTV3 says, "Bahrain? Sød thåt."
Glad you liked it (ish). I thought it was interesting because it was written before F1's involvement became an issue again but also because disgraced ex-Met commissioner, John Yates, is involved, charged with cleaning up the Bahraini police.
