Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

[Mr Alcatraz]

Forget about this race happening in 2011!

Faced with a possible rebellion by teams who did not want to go to the troubled kingdom or want to extend the season into the second week of December to do so, Ecclestone appeared to suggest another vote could be taken, possibly by fax or email.

It emerged the FIA decision was based on the evidence of Carlos Gracia, one of its vice-president s, who spent a day in Bahrain where he met with officials from the government and the Bahrain International Circuit. He also spoke to shoppers, businessmen and a representative of a human rights group believed to be backed by the Bahraini government.

His report, which did not mention any dissent or reports of repression widely cited in the media, concluded there was no sign "of any problems or any reason why Bahrain's grand prix should not return to the 2011 calendar". In the light of that, the decision was made.

http://en.espnf1.com/fia/motorsport/sto ... MP=OTC-RSS

[myurr]

That is a lot written out of context.

Bahrain has an autocratic ruler where basic rights, the freedom of speech and self governance is not a option for the people. How is any of this relevant to India? Can you also provide any document on accounts of people killed in police custody? If you are against the Indian GP pls do not use misrepresented facts to claim your case

Care to be more specific about where I've gone wrong?

As for sources for the police custody numbers, here's a Reuters story: http://in.reuters.com/article/2008/06/2 ... 5620080625 and more can be found if you Google. Even if those numbers are out by a factor of 25 that would still mean the same number of deaths every year in India as in these Bahraini protests. Other reports claim hundreds of thousands of minorities have been killed in state sanctioned murders over the years. Clearly things are a lot worse there than in Bahrain.

I also think you need to do a little more research into just what the Bahraini protestors want as an end goal. I freely admit I need to look into this more, but based on what I've read so far the majority of the population is actually less progressive than the monarchy. Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy, so whilst the royals are heads of state they operate within the limitations of the constitution. The people do get to vote with one of the two National Assemblies consisting of 40 representatives appointed by the royals, and the other housing 40 elected representatives.

The only female representatives have been appointed by the royals, with none elected to power. I believe this is also true of Christian and Jewish representation. The elected house has also been highly critical of the Bahraini royals signing the country up to the UN's International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, have sought to restrict female rights, and generally follow an Islamist agenda having little interest in western human rights and ideals.

Finally you misunderstand my basic viewpoint - I believe that the Indian's should have a GP, just as I believe the Bahraini GP should go ahead as long as basic security standards can be met. Only through engagement with these regimes will change be effected, and the scrutiny brought by the western media presence at these events will do far more good than a one off news story of a country being denied a GP for political reasons. I also believe it is highly hypocritical and counter intuitive to single out Bahrain out of all the countries on the F1 calendar.

[andrew]

A "Day of Rage"? Doesn't sound very peaceful:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/motorspor ... -23182501/

I am disappointed that MrE has done a spectacular handbrake turn and is now siding with the teams. I thought he would have put up more of a fight.

[Just_a_fan]

I can understand the teams not wanting to do a late season race but I think F1 needs to be careful using human rights etc. as an excuse when they're happy to race in other repressive regimes around the world. China, for example, isn't a shining beacon for human rights.

Bernie will change his mind if he thinks not doing so will cost him money. I'd bet there's a clause somewhere that says the FIA pays if a race doesn't happen because the teams don't turn up.

[xpensive]

According to MrM, the entire thing is dead anyway;

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92053

[andrew]

According to MrM, the entire thing is dead anyway;

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92053

Interesting. I am suspicious as to why Mosley has reared his head on this issue and has become extremely vocal. I can't help but think he is trying to sound like a moral authority to try and wheedle his way back into the FIA by undermining Jean Todt.

Maybe a wild theory but the more I think about it, the more plausible it seems. After all, he didn't bump his gums when F1 went to China or agreed to have a race in India.

[Hangaku]

I don't believe he has any interest in getting back in with the FIA, but he certainly has interest in making Jean Todt look like he's floundering.

[andrew]

I don't believe he has any interest in getting back in with the FIA, but he certainly has interest in making Jean Todt look like he's floundering.

That's what I thought it was initially but then I asked my self why. What is Mosley's motivation for doing this? Jean Todt was Mosley's candidate of choice for the FIA presidency.

Like I said, it is a wild theory but .....

[Giblet]

The only reason this thread is still open as so far it has managed to remain on topic. Please stick with Bahrain.

[xpensive]

They say that when Satan gets old he turns to religion, perhaps MrM actually feel just as disgusted with what's happening in Bahrain as everyone else, well, almost everyone I guess. But is he correct saying that the FIA needs all teams' approval?

[Richard]

tsk.... Silly FIA for opening all this up again. There was good reason for cancelling back in Feb and that should have been that.

The situation in Bahrain would have been resolved by Feb 2012, one way (revert to previous status quo) or another (new government). They could have returned in 2012 without controversy. Instead of letting sleeping dogs lie, they've decided to unnecessarily stir up a hornets nest.

Don't you just love a mixed metaphor!

[Giblet]

I don't believe he has any interest in getting back in with the FIA, but he certainly has interest in making Jean Todt look like he's floundering.

That's what I thought it was initially but then I asked my self why. What is Mosley's motivation for doing this? Jean Todt was Mosley's candidate of choice for the FIA presidency.

Like I said, it is a wild theory but .....

Mosley is still part of the FIA. He is one of 10 members of their senate. Being someone so closely involved for years his opinion is still asked for and given. Mosley doesn't need to be directly asked to know that people want his opinion as well.

Mosley saying what he wants, par for the course.

[rahulsampath]

@Giblet - so why no outrage at the Indian GP? For every person killed by the Bahraini state, 2 are killed every single month in India whilst in police custody. That's 66 people a month, 800 a year. So many more have been killed by the Indian state *since* the Bahraini protests than in Bahrain in total."

Where did you get these facts,people are killed in police custody,there may have been 1 or 2 incidents but if your facts are right then India wont be second largest country in population.As far as I know If 10 people get together and protest against any project or anything that project will be put to halt by the Indian judicial court.You may have heard about agitation at Indian GP site by the people for blocking their path to a temple and the whole project was affected by that.After 4 days of agitation another path was made and problem solved.

[Richard]

eh? How can one compare events in Bahrain's population of 1.2m in a tiny 750 sq mi with India's population of 1.2bn spread over 1,269,219 sq mi? That's 1000:1 ratio. So 100 killed in Bahrain over 10 weeks would be 100,000 in India that's 10,000 per week, even Bernie would notice that.

The key issue for cancelling the race was the sustained use of military force against unarmed civilians on the streets that were to be used by F1 teams and fans. I'm sure if that was repeated in any other country in the build up to a GP then that GP would be cancelled as well.

[myurr]

I've already given a source. And assuming no new births or deaths from any other causes it would take 1.5 million years for India to be wiped out by those police custody deaths. So it's a bit dumb to say it would have any measurable effect on the overall population.