Bahrain in doubt yet again

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
El_Bando said:
so...all this violence displayed from the protesters on innocent people who mean no harm is all because.... The rulers of the country follow a slightly different view of the muslim religion????
Click to expand...

Yeah. They're the Bahrainian Popular People's Front. Splitters.

Dan Roan &#8207 said:
2nd Force India F1 team member asks to leave Bahrain after incident last night I understand
Click to expand...

One exodus coming right up.

Hulkenberg stands up for vacillation and equivocation.
 
El_Bando said:
so...all this violence displayed from the protesters on innocent people who mean no harm is all because.... The rulers of the country follow a slightly different view of the muslim religion????

Also the protesters call them self 'Pro-Democracy'?
Click to expand...

From what I'm able to make out both sides are as bad as each other, the protesters complain about the police using live rounds on them while they tear around town hurling petrol bombs at people. <doh>

This whole situation is absurd, we haven't even got to Friday yet and already people have been put in danger, although I doubt the Force India situation was anywhere near as dramatic as has been reported. Should've gone to Istanbul where the biggest danger is stray dogs roaming onto the circuit.
 
Some driver opinions:

BBC Sportsday said:
1522: FORMULA 1
F1 stars are having their say on the uncertainty surrounding the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel said: "I think generally being in the paddock, it seems to be no problem. Surely outside the paddock there is a risk, but I think there is a risk everywhere we go. I haven't seen anyone throwing bombs, there is a lot of hype, it is good we start our job here which is sport and nothing else."

Fernando Alonso said: "There is nothing new to say from me, to be honest. We are here because of the decision made by people who had all the information in their hands and because everyone thinks it is safe to be here - so there is no problem. But we need all the information about this incident."
Click to expand...

And from Adam Cooper:

AdamCooperF1.com said:
Jenson Button said: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to get into the details of it. You&#8217;re here interviewing me as a driver. Exactly what I&#8217;m going to talk about is motor racing. That&#8217;s the important thing at the moment. The outside issues, I&#8217;m not going to talk about, because it&#8217;s not what I&#8217;m here to do.&#8221;

Asked by this blog about talking to him as a human being, he said: &#8220;No but you&#8217;re not are you? You&#8217;re sat here with a tape recorder in front of me. If I wasn&#8217;t racing in F1, would you have that in front of me? You might have but I wouldn&#8217;t be able to answer any questions&#8230;&#8221;

Pressed on the fact that his mechanics were here to work for the drivers and were potentially at risk, he said: &#8220;That&#8217;s wrong in itself, we&#8217;re here to work together as a team, they&#8217;re not here just to work for us.&#8221;

chael Schumacher refused point blank to make any comment: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t mind I don&#8217;t really want to get involved. I&#8217;d just like to say I don&#8217;t want to mix the sport with political things. I&#8217;m here for the sport.&#8221;
Click to expand...

SpeedTV reporter suspects plain clothes military presence:

You must log in or register to see images

I don't think he's joking.
 
Barrichello said:
I think it is horrible to compare [Bahrain] to Brazil. It is completely different. There is no war. This kind of opinion comes from those television shows they have in Europe, where people are shown surfing on trains - which gives some of them a totally wrong view.
Click to expand...

What shows are these? <laugh>

It's a valid point about Brazil in terms of driver safety, there's loads of crime there, didn't a gang try to hijack Button's car in 2010 or something?

Edit: Here's the story about the attempted robbery on JB: http://www.f1.co.uk/read-news/2010/336/button-survives-attempted-armed-robbery
 
Basil_Brushzenberger said:
It sounds like the drivers are worried, and that they have been told not to say anything that might upset the fascist pigs that run the place.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have put it better myself. As the Guardian reports police firing tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of anti-government demonstrators today and Human Rights Watch reports "a dramatic escalation in the use of birdshot and live ammunition by police against protesters over the past week, as well as a marked increase in related injuries", I found this article examining John Yates's role as consultant to the Bahraini police:

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mehdi-hasan/2012/04/why-john-yates-working-brutal-bahraini-regime
 
Its sound like JB was quite sharp and to the point when questioned - not his normal affable self! It must be difficult for the drivers because the slightest comment made and then taken out of context could blow up in the FIA's face! Horrible situation for everyone involved.
 
Smithers said:
Its sound like JB was quite sharp and to the point when questioned - not his normal affable self! It must be difficult for the drivers because the slightest comment made and then taken out of context could blow up in the FIA's face! Horrible situation for everyone involved.
Click to expand...

Has any driver said anything at all about the political situation and the human rights abuses going on in the country? I will guess that no, no driver has said a single word about the violence.
 
I find this bloke a complete idiot:

Bahrain circuit chairman Zayed R Alzayani said: "They weren't targeted. They just happened to be there. I think it's unfortunate. It's an issue of timing. It could happen in any place in the world really, getting caught up in a riot or a fight or anything."

It just so happens that at the moment, Bahrain is one of the most likely places for this sort of incident to happen. The whole situation is farcical and perhaps one of the ways to show this disgust is not to watch the race?

The whole thing should've been cancelled months ago, or even last year.

PS Rant over!
 
Stephen Lickorish said:
I find this bloke a complete idiot:

Bahrain circuit chairman Zayed R Alzayani said: "They weren't targeted. They just happened to be there. I think it's unfortunate. It's an issue of timing. It could happen in any place in the world really, getting caught up in a riot or a fight or anything."

It just so happens that at the moment, Bahrain is one of the most likely places for this sort of incident to happen. The whole situation is farcical and perhaps one of the ways to show this disgust is not to watch the race?

The whole thing should've been cancelled months ago, or even last year.

PS Rant over!
Click to expand...

Damn right! And yet, apparently, the real protests have not really begun; they start tomorrow after Friday prayers, the "Three Days of Rage".
 
And now the Bahraini authorities are denying entry to journalists from the Associated Press and Sky News without explanation, according to the Guardian. So, everything's normal then?

Edit: @ramsaysky if you're interested.
 
If Sky News can't get in, does that mean the Sky F1 team can't either?
 
Bergkamp a Dutch master said:
no cameramen?
Click to expand...

Again according to The Guardian:

Agence France-Presse joins the list of news organizations barred from entering Bahrain to cover the Formula One race. The AFP report says cameramen already in the country have to put fluorescent stickers on their cameras so security forces can see them at a glance and keep track of what they're filming.

An AFP photographer, accredited by the sport's governing body, the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile), was informed by Bahrain's information affairs authority that there has been a "delay to your visa application, so it might not be processed."
...
Meanwhile, cameramen already in Bahrain were required to keep fluorescent orange stickers on their cameras so that they would be easily recognisable to ensure they do not cover any off-track events, such as ongoing protests.
Click to expand...
 
More from The Guardian:

Damon Hill said:
[F1] is difficult to ignore. This is especially so when it becomes involved in moral issues that affect us all, such as a death of one of the participants or spectators, deliberate cheating, consuming the earth's resources at a prodigious rate, promoting smoking or banking, spending taxpayers' money, instructing a driver to crash, or being apparently deaf, blind and dumb to human rights abuses. Formula One provides ample ammunition to be labelled "the bad boy" of world sport...

There are three main considerations for the FIA to make; security, politicisation, and the reputation of its blue riband event, F1.
Click to expand...

Here's a video from last night featuring @F1Kate on BBC News.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back