Bahrain....

It will be interesting to see what lessons the FIA and Bernie take away from this weekend.

 

If she doesn't she shoud sue. She was the only person with a strong enough backbone not to be an FIA puppet led into the fire.

 

I'd like to see Bernie and Todt will be walking around the steets.

Nico Hulkenberg was unhappy that Force India team members were caught up in an incident with a petrol bomb on Wednesday night.

While not the targets of an attack, four mechanics found themselves in the middle of a clash between police and protesters when leaving the circuit, with reports of petrol bombs flying over their hire van. Speaking to the press at the circuit on Thursday, Hulkenberg said it was wrong that the teams had been put in a position where their safety could be at risk.

"It is obviously not right that that sort of stuff happens," Hulkenberg is quoted by Autosport. "We are here to race. The F1 business is about entertainment, and these sort of things should not really be happening to us.

"Whether it is right or not I don't really know. It's difficult to say. I am not a politician, I am a Formula 1 driver, but it should not really be happening should it? It is not good that we have to worry about it: that is the way it is now, and let's see and hope that the rest of the weekend is good and calm

 

Honest if naive.

 

A second member of the Force India team have left Bahrain after one of their team cars got caught up in a firebomb attack on Wednesday evening.

Four mechanics were travelling in a van on the outskirts of the capital Manama when they got delayed in traffic on the way back to their team hotel from the Sakhir circuit. A firebomb exploded near the vehicle, but no one was injured in the attack.

They returned to their hotel later in the evening and one team member who was not involved in the incident immediately asked to go home while it was confirmed on Thursday that one of the mechanics who was in the vehicle during the incident is also heading back to Europe.

Force India spokesman Will Hings refused to divulge too much detail about the team members who returned home, but said their van was not the target of the attack.

"I won't be giving any details of their positions or names... they were just people working for the team," Hings told Associated Press.

"I can't give you any more information other than that they're returning home out of their free choice."

He added: "We've always taken out direction from the FIA, the sport's governing body. I'm sure they're continuing to monitor the situation in Bahrain.

"We take our guidance from them."

A bit more detail has since emerged about the incident with BBC Sport revealing that 'some tear gas fired by police entered the car, before the driver escaped through a gap in the flames on the road'.

The report adds 'the four men were said to be emotional, upset and angry with organisers that the race had been allowed to go ahead'.

 

Taking guidance from the FIA?
How quaint.

It does raise the question of why the FIA hasn't taken a more visible role in the matter. Their responsibilities extend well beyond Motorsport and their constituency includes many nations that are concerned with issues similar to those in Baharain.

Jean Todt, where are you?

 

+1 The invisible man right now it seems. TBH, I expected a lot more from him in many areas, not just this debacle.

If the protesters are aware of the coverage "an isolated incident on the highway" has bought them around the world they may just escalate their actions, and the cops will escalate and it could get really ugly, really fast.

As someone said earlier, lets just hope nobody gets hurt.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Drinking cocktails whilst the rest try and dodge em, Molotov Cocktail's....that is.

 

How unexpectedly poetic.

 

ok.... pony up and put you money where your mouth is..... ;^)

If the race in Bahrain is that offensive to our sensabilities and moralities, then who here in this forum will boycott watching the race?

Talk is cheap and "commenting" from behind a keyboard to forum is too easy..... deeds and actions will show your real resolve on this issue.



JD

 

I hope they run the race and never return to bahrain.

 

Everyone's up in arms about going to Bahrain, and rightly so. But why is no one,teams, drivers, and fans, complaining about going to China, when they're ruthless in how they treat their people. Could it be because that's where everyone's making money? Just because you don't see the demonstrations on the street doesn't mean people are not dying there daily at the hands of Communist China, oh exuse me, we don't even call it Communist anymore, it's just China. How nice.

 

I really can't understand why JT and Bernie didn't cancel the race. Independent of the question of the teams' safety: If the political situation in a country is heated enough for violent protests, F1 has nothing to do there - and neither would other sports like soccer etc.

 

I'll watch but boycott all the wonderful products and services advertised on SPEED.

 

See my Bernie sucks thread ...

 

I won't watch be watching the race or visiting any websites that cover it.

 

Agree 100%.

 

Of course I will watch it doesn't mean I agree with it.

Talk is cheap, so as to action, the guy dying in a prison cell on hunger strike has he changed anything....2 months later er no.

I really hope it goes off without any trouble, the damage has been done to F1's image anyway, won't be the first time and won't be the last.

 

The demonstrations and clashes with police have started and so has the backlash in Europe's newspapers: F1 gets a black eye for playing the role of the joker at the King's court.

Ecclestone never had a reputation beyond being a greedy bastard, but now Todt gets plenty of egg on his face too.

 

You mean those 1-900 sex chat lines?

 

Oh oh. I forgot that they bought time too.
This is what's referred to as a moral dilemma.

 

The only thing that matters to Speed and Bernie is what the race could cost them. If you truly believe the race should not happen, don't support any advertisers that advertise during the race!

 

I liked the mail order brides from South America.

Sadly once the races get back to Europe the commercials will get less racy.

Sounds like an oximoron.

 

Bahrain denies visas to foreign journalists for F1
AFP – 5 hrs ago...

Bahrain has denied visas to foreign journalists and photographers, including from AFP, to cover this Sunday's controversial Grand Prix race.

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."

Associated Press said two of its Dubai-based journalists were prevented from covering the Grant Prix because they could not receive entry visas, despite being accredited by the FIA.

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.

 

I was at the Indy USGP when the teams pulled off the track because of the Michelin tire debacle, so I know how disappointing it is to have the event cancelled with 2 minutes to go. This race should have been cancelled weeks ago.