Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.

Race in Bahrain?

Yes.
27
29%
Don't care either way.
7
8%
No.
59
63%
 
Total votes: 93

sknguy
sknguy
3
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 21:02

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

Really though, this is what happens when you walk into someone else's conflict. We're there now and stuff, like what's been going on for the past year, is gonna happen.

User avatar
strad
117
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 01:57

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

You can really tell who has an understanding of the downtrodden.
The race is a definite mistake whether anyone gets hurt or not.
So much vested interest..it's a shame.
To those who condemn them: What would you do? Have them simply walk up bowl in hand and say "Please sir..I'd like more"?
Those in power aren't giving up anything,,,I must be wrested away.
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss

User avatar
SeijaKessen
4
Joined: 08 Jan 2012, 21:34
Location: USA

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

strad wrote:You can really tell who has an understanding of the downtrodden.
The race is a definite mistake whether anyone gets hurt or not.
So much vested interest..it's a shame.
To those who condemn them: What would you do? Have them simply walk up bowl in hand and say "Please sir..I'd like more"?
Those in power aren't giving up anything,,,I must be wrested away.
This.

I think the belief that the protesters can get what they want by doing it peacefully is not a realistic assessment of the situation. Oppressive governments/monarchies will march on their own people no matter how peaceful the protests are.

Absolute power absolutely corrupts.

This all boils down to power; who holds the power in Bahrain and who holds the power in Formula One.

Those in power do not relinquish it easily, or ever, because in their eyes it is tantamount to showing weakness/defeat. Give an inch, and you'll eventually give a mile.

This race is still on because of one thing only: greed.

The problem with greed is that it is all-consuming. It does not know when to stop, and it doesn't stop till there is nothing left to consume.

myurr
myurr
9
Joined: 20 Mar 2008, 21:58

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

strad wrote:Those in power aren't giving up anything,,,I must be wrested away.
And that's achieved by injuring or murdering civilians?

What would I have them do? This http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17788091. A peaceful protest march by tens of thousands of people. I would have them do other peaceful acts like mass strikes and walkouts. I would make sure footage was available be it shot professionally or on mobile phone, and spread around the internet.

I don't have all the answers and am fortunate to have never had to live through such a situation. But if you ever think that injuring or murdering civilians is the answer, particularly in response to a government you accuse of injuring and murdering civilians, then you are asking the wrong question. It is terrorism pure and simple once it goes that far.

manchild
manchild
12
Joined: 03 Jun 2005, 10:54

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

myurr wrote:
SeijaKessen wrote:Another interesting point that seems to have been forgotten is that when the Falkland War broke out, the 1982 Grand Prix of Argentina was canceled because Bernie had fears of being taken hostage.

Which kind of goes to my whole point that Bernie only cares about his own safety.
Do you not think a war where the aggressor country is the host country of a GP and the teams and Bernie come from the other country involved in that war, that the circumstances are just a tinsy bit different to Bahrain?...
Argentina invaded UK? I always though it was imperialistic war over a small group of islands rich with natural resources, in Southern Atlantic.

Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain last year to suppress uprising at the behalf of Bahrain tyrant. I haven't seen Bernie ending his deal with formerly mentioned because of that invasion.

myurr
myurr
9
Joined: 20 Mar 2008, 21:58

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

Or it was a war about self determination for the small group of people who actually live there. Doesn't that perfectly illustrate how everything is relative and that everything you've said is merely your point of view and not gospel?

Russia is corrupt with state sponsored murder, China is an oppressive regime that murders students with tanks and has an abysmal record on human rights, India is just as bad, the USA invades other sovereign nations in the name of world peace, the UK is an old colonial power, etc. I challenge you to name one single race on the grid where it is impossible to find some objection from somewhere in the world to the ruling body. So why does Bahrain which is just one troubled country among all these others receive your wrath whilst all these other races, regimes, and grubby deals completely pass you by without mention?

User avatar
SeijaKessen
4
Joined: 08 Jan 2012, 21:34
Location: USA

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

myurr wrote:Or it was a war about self determination for the small group of people who actually live there. Doesn't that perfectly illustrate how everything is relative and that everything you've said is merely your point of view and not gospel?

Russia is corrupt with state sponsored murder, China is an oppressive regime that murders students with tanks and has an abysmal record on human rights, India is just as bad, the USA invades other sovereign nations in the name of world peace, the UK is an old colonial power, etc. I challenge you to name one single race on the grid where it is impossible to find some objection from somewhere in the world to the ruling body. So why does Bahrain which is just one troubled country among all these others receive your wrath whilst all these other races, regimes, and grubby deals completely pass you by without mention?
Russia, China, and India do not need F1 to race there.

Bahrain does.

F1 is allowing itself to be used as a pure propaganda piece for Bahrain so they can continue their line of "everything is on the up and up".

User avatar
Hail22
144
Joined: 08 Feb 2012, 07:22

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpgDtoj73DQ[/youtube]

This about sums it up...
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.

Gilles Villeneuve

manchild
manchild
12
Joined: 03 Jun 2005, 10:54

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

myurr wrote:Or it was a war about self determination for the small group of people who actually live there. Doesn't that perfectly illustrate how everything is relative and that everything you've said is merely your point of view and not gospel?

Russia is corrupt with state sponsored murder, China is an oppressive regime that murders students with tanks and has an abysmal record on human rights, India is just as bad, the USA invades other sovereign nations in the name of world peace, the UK is an old colonial power, etc.

I agree with all you've said.
myurr wrote:I challenge you to name one single race on the grid where it is impossible to find some objection from somewhere in the world to the ruling body. So why does Bahrain which is just one troubled country among all these others receive your wrath whilst all these other races, regimes, and grubby deals completely pass you by without mention?
Monaco - no army, no wars, no invasions, no murders, no human rights violation, no poverty, no huger.



Unlike other hosts I'll mention later, Bahrain, China and Turkey are leading full scale military operations against their own citizens, including ones who became citizens against their own will, so I'm with you that Bahrain is not any worse than China or Turkey. I've already mentioned that.

GP races should be holiday for the people, not propaganda tool in the hands of tyrants, especially where organization is not on private business level, but controlled directly by tyrants. I'm not trying to find an excuse for many countries involved in wars, especially NATO countries, just pointing out the difference.

As far as I'm concerned, nations and countries are archaic, outdated and shouldn't interfere in sporting events, because that is by default abuse of sport for the sake of politics. In the 21st century, sport should be politics-free, no national lags, anthems and politicians and rulers on the grid. Even the names of GP should be given by circuit, not by country. Just teams, sponsors and media.



Now this is priceless:
http://www.f1today.net/en/news/crown-prince-teams-not-targets-of-bahrain-violence wrote:
Crown Prince: "Teams not targets of Bahrain violence"

Published on 20 Apr 2012 23:19

Bahrain's Crown Prince on Friday ruled out cancelling the troubled island kingdom's Grand Prix. "I think cancelling just empowers extremists," he told reporters, whilst standing alongside F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Pressure on the race organisers, Ecclestone and the FIA to cancel the race has only intensified after Force India and Sauber revealed their brushes with petrol bombs. "I can absolutely guarantee that any problems that may or may not happen are not directed at F1," the Crown Prince insisted.

Ecclestone, meanwhile, pointed his finger at the media. "There are other countries much higher up the priority list you should be writing about," he told the scrum of reporters.

"Go to Syria and write about those things there because it's more important than here." When asked about the violent clashes between Bahraini protesters and the police, Ecclestone said: "It's a lot of nonsense. You guys love it."

However, he did admit that going ahead with the race is "a little bit silly" for the Bahrain government because it gives the protesters "such an incredible platform." (GMM)

manchild
manchild
12
Joined: 03 Jun 2005, 10:54

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

http://www.sportal.co.in/motorsport-news-display/f1-bosses-toe-party-line-172569 wrote:
F1 bosses toe party line

20/4/2012 10:00 PM

Formula One team bosses have kept to the party line and backed the decision to go ahead with the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

The lead up to this week's F1 action has focused on the current political unrest in the tiny Middle Eastern kingdom and whether it is proper for the race to go ahead.

The issue intensified on Wednesday when a car carrying Force India team members got caught in traffic caused by protesters and was almost hit by a Molotov cocktail as the dissidents clashed with police.

But despite all the pressure to stop the GP, the team principals of McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Lotus, Mercedes and Force India again supported the decision to go ahead with the race, at a press conference on Friday.

Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren said his team had been happy with security so far.

"There have undoubtedly been difficult times here but from a pure team perspective, we've been comfortable with the situation," Whitmarsh said.

"Clearly we race as an international sport all over the world and we have security concerns and issues at a number or races and we take that very seriously, and we're cautious, and we try to take the right precautions."


Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali argued that all security promises had been fulfilled.

"We have received all the guarantees from the organisers, the federation, the embassy, and it is pretty clear at the moment that it is like that," Domenicali said.


Red Bull's Christian Horner believes the political pressure on F1 this week had been unfair.

"Formula One is a sport at the end of the day and it's wrong for it to be used politically," Horner said.

"We're here to race, we trust in the FIA, in the decisions that they made, and we're comfortable with the decisions that they have made."


Whitmarsh agreed.

"Ultimately we're a race team," Whitmarsh said. "We're here to go motor racing and that's our number one priority."


But Bob Fernley of Force India had a slightly different take on the role of F1, but still agreed the race should be run.

"The Formula One programme has brought the world's media here, it gives a good platform for debate and hopefully it will help with the healing process for Bahrain, and that's why we're here," Fernley said

User avatar
SeijaKessen
4
Joined: 08 Jan 2012, 21:34
Location: USA

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

If this was back in the 1960s when you had a slew of gentlemen drivers in Formula One, I wonder if they would have even traveled to this race.

GSBellew
GSBellew
0
Joined: 07 Feb 2011, 16:34
Location: Ireland

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

richard_leeds wrote:I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a society where sectarianism and discrimination dictate your path in life. Nor can I imagine how intolerable life must have become to trigger civil disobedience that leads to the destruction of your own community. Most (all?) of us have never been in those conditions, so who are we to judge.

When I see these events unfolding, my thoughts are "there but for the grace of God go I". It is an accident of birth that lets me sit here at my laptop looking out over the peaceful Dales, and not a stone throwing youth in some intifada.
There are still parts of the uk, specifically just up the road from me in northern ireland were sectarianism is still rampant.
Thankfully it's much more localised than it used to be, but still scary when you find yourself in an area where your accent or car reg makes you unwelcome to the point where you are followed around a shopping centre for example in an attempt to intimidate you into leaving.

I also do not understand what drives people to destroy their own community, but it's not that far fom home for any of us, just look at the riots & looting over on your side of the water last August for an example of civil disobedience.

User avatar
WhiteBlue
92
Joined: 14 Apr 2008, 20:58
Location: WhiteBlue Country

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

Q&A with a Bahraini

Q:
Seeing how big that protest was, I wonder if Sunday this people will march to what is the circuit, only some km away. Who will gonna stopped them and how?
A:
The same way they stopped us today from heading to the highway, a huge wall of tear gas that is way too potent to say the least, behind that a huge riot police presence with all sort of vehicles. You can even make it to them before succumbing to tear gas and the few ones with gas masks (as well as large enough balls) get the sh!t kicked out of them if they last long enough in the area of proceed forward.
Q:
Can you please tell us if something has changed this weekend with the arrival of F1? Are the protests always like this and always so many people? Are protesters speaking about F1 and how to stop the race?
A:
Nothing changed with the arrival of F1 besides the media exposure, we've been as al jazeera puts it "screaming in the dark" for over a year. Size and frequency of the protests hardly changed it's always been this active here.

Talk about disturbing the race is limited to using protest in large numbers in the capital and the highway leading to the circuit to delay proceedings, There is no tack of any protest at the track everyone knows it's a fortress there.
An Al Jazeera English documentary on the Arab spring in Bahrain. PLease view to understand what is going on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTKDMYOBOU[/youtube]

I did not know how weak the protestors are but this posts from the Autosport forums with a genuine Bahraini show that Bernie and Salman can do what they want. The opposition is too weak and will not make it to the TV cameras unless they get someone in as Trojan horse.
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best .............................. organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)

manchild
manchild
12
Joined: 03 Jun 2005, 10:54

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

I think that Bahrain problem is being kept under the rug, not because of Bahrain's importance, but because of it's neighboring Saudi Arabia. I think that west, especially US fear of success of revolution in Bahrain, that could motivate people in SA and some other countries to try the same. West is tolerating absolutely everything that is done in SA and similar monarchy regime to their citizens, because they are oil and military allies. Loosing SA as an alley, would me global turn around for the US and NATO. That is why by my opinion small Bahrain nation is being kept in the dark, while UK sells arms to their tyrant. Fortunately, sometimes history makes surprises even to most powerful and reassured ones.

After reading statements from Mclaren, Ferrari and Red Bull bosses, I can say that I'm hugely disappointed by modern F1. They are either scared to death to be in the middle of it, and just hope to pull trough the weekend, after being naive or whatever to go down there at all, or they have no virtues at all.

I'm even more disappointed that not a single driver has raised his voice and said "This is not good, we shouldn't be here, let's pack our bags". Unfortunately, none of modern drives has any authority, they are all replaceable, highly payable, and they will hardly ever have better chance to gain some, than today or tomorrow. It takes just one line spoken to TV camera by any of known drivers to launch unstoppable boycott of whole paddock.

Just one "I'm not going to race, I respect will of people of Bahrain". It would be something, wouldn't it? I can cross my fingers and hope for Kimi to say something like this. Can't see any other driver having integrity and guts for such move. If we had Villeneuve, Senna, Hunt and any of other legendary drivers who spoke their mind without help of personal assistants, this PR corporate suck-up BS would collapse like a card-tower.

User avatar
ringo
230
Joined: 29 Mar 2009, 10:57

Re: Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

Post

Who cares about what is really going on in Bahrain?
Most of you protesting here, didn't care last year once the race weekend passed over.

I am glad i am getting a race. I'm gonna watch it for what it is and enjoy it. It's a race, it's not a political stunt. No different than football.
I hate it when extremists try to implicate non related topics to push their agenda.
There is an article on the cnn website that is very poorly writen.
It talks about some revolutionary opposition guy in bahrain for like 99% of the article and they squeeze in a little about the race at the end.
As good as the journo was, she couldn't find anything about the race relating the political unrest. Nothing to do with that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja guy, not one single thing. She was simply using F1 as a vehicle to push her concerns.

The world doesn't need to take on those problems right now. Give us a race and lets move on. I see no connection to it. Focus your efforts on Africa or some place that really needs attention. Bahrain is alright where it is. It doesn't need to be bombed and flattened. It doesn't need to be sanctioned either. Any how you look at it, people are gonna die if things don't take it's natural course. Either things stay the same and a little protests and deaths here or there, the few extremists all give up accept how things are, or UN bomb the daylights out of it and millions die for "peace".

Live and let live. As they say "a cockroach has no business in a fowl fight".
Lets enjoy the race.
For Sure!!