Bahrain gets go-ahead for grand prix as rights activists condemn F1 decision
FIA chiefs reinstate Bahrain grand prix after original race was postponed because of clashes between protesters and regime
Bahrain has been granted permission to stage the most coveted event on its calendar, the Formula One Grand Prix, in a move that has drawn condemnation from human rights groups angered by a three-month crackdown against anti-regime protesters.
The event will be held in October.It had been originally scheduled for March but was postponed as clashes intensified between Bahrain's majority Shia population and the Gulf kingdom's security forces, heavily backed by the forces of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Pressure on organisers to not reschedule the motor race had been intense, with a Facebook campaign calling for cancellation getting 320,000 signatures. At least a quarter of staff from the Grand Prix's organising committee, Bahrain International Circuit, all of them Shia, were sacked in April after being accused of taking part in anti-government demonstrations.
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone had earlier indicated that staging the race in Bahrain would be difficult if widespread allegations of discrimination and torture against civilians were proven. Sports teams had lobbied Ecclestone and Formula One executives not to hold the event, citing numerous human rights violations.
The sport's organising body, the FIA, said: "After considering all the factors … and taking into consideration all stakeholders' concerns, the World Motor Sport Council unanimously agreed to reinstate the Bahrain Grand Prix … this decision reflects the spirit of reconciliation in Bahrain, which is evident from the strong support the race receives from the government and all major parties in Bahrain, including the largest opposition group, all of whom endorse the Formula One grand prix and motorsport in the country."
The decision has angered human rights activists. Alex Wilks, the Avaaz campaign director whose online poll to ban the race was backed by hundreds of thousands of people, including former world champion Damon Hill, said: "Formula One's decision is a kick in the teeth for the Bahraini people. The race will happen in a country where government troops continue to shoot and arrest peaceful protesters.
"Money has trumped human rights and good judgment, so now Formula One, plus Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and every other team will be directly linked with a bloody crackdown that's ruined the lives of hundreds of innocent people."
Amnesty International has claimed that serious human rights abuse continues in Bahrain; more than 2,000 people had been suspended or sacked from jobs because they had been part of protests.
Zayad R al-Zayani, the chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit, hailed the FIA decision: "This is welcome news for all of Bahrain. As a country we have faced a difficult time, but stability has returned; with businesses operating close to normal, the State of National Safety lifted and countries removing travel restrictions.
"Importantly, it will also offer a significant boost to the economy. The Grand Prix attracts 100,000 visitors, supports 3,000 jobs and generates around $500m of economic benefit. Its positive effect will be felt throughout the country."
Three months of martial law imposed by the ruling monarchy were lifted this week, but recriminations from the anti-regime protests continue that have paralysed the kingdom are still being played out. Some of those arrested are still being tried in secret by a powerful judicial body set up under emergency laws. Several dozen doctors and nurses remain under arrest. And Human Rights Watch claims the number of people detained could top 1,000.
Clashes have continued in the four days since martial law was lifted, though not on the same scale as the running battles seen in mid-February and March. Security forces again fired rubber bullets and bird shot at demonstrators in several parts of Manama on Friday.
Authorities have been pursuing Shia opposition supporters who staged street marches to demand greater freedoms, equal rights and an elected government in the island kingdom. As the violence intensified, the calls for reform became calls for an overthrow of the 200-year-old Sunni dynasty, which demonstrators say actively discriminates against the country's majority Shia population.
The kingdom accused Iran of inciting the demonstrations and invited in Saudi forces under heavy pressure from Riyadh to help quell dissent.
The Formula One Teams' Association – which represents 11 of the marques, with Hispania Racing the exception – is to look into the FIA decision.
A McLaren spokesperson said: "All FOTA teams, of which McLaren is one, acknowledge the decision made by the FIA World Motor Sport Council today. That decision is likely to be discussed internally within FOTA, and a more detailed joint position may be defined after those discussions have taken place."
Hill, the 1996 world champion, and Max Mosley, the former FIA president, have both called for the Bahrain race to be abandoned, while Red Bull's Mark Webber is the only driver to speak out against the country hosting the race.
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Bourne Ultimatum director could soon be on board to direct captain's story Maersk Alabama and grand prix tale Rush
Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass is eyeing a drama about Somali pirates and US Navy Seals for his next film, according to the Vulture blog. The project has Tom Hanks on board for the lead role of Richard Phillips, whose capture off the coast of Somalia and subsequent rescue following a daring American raid was big news in April 2009.
Maersk Alabama's screenplay is based on Phillips's own book about his experiences, A Captain's Duty. The title comes from the name of the merchant seaman's ship, which regularly negotiates the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes, among the most dangerous waters in the world. Since he was rescued, Phillips has been confronted by pirates trying to take him hostage on four subsequent occasions, most recently in May.
Three of the pirates were killed and one was captured during Phillips's rescue two years ago. The then 53-year-old former taxi driver had offered himself as a hostage to safeguard his crew of 20. When the USS Bainbridge arrived at the scene, the pirates were forced to accept a tow as their lifeboat had run out of fuel. Hauled in closer to the American ship, they eventually came into range of snipers and were each killed with a single shot to the head – after US sailors refused an offer to give up their captive in return for their own freedom. Phillips was later hailed as a hero by his crew and received praise from president Barack Obama.
Greengrass is also considering a Formula One drama by Peter Morgan, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Queen and Frost/Nixon, and may end up shooting that project first. Titled Rush, the film centres on the famed rivalry between three-time champion Niki Lauda and English driver James Hunt, both on and off the track.
Mutual antipathy fuelled the 1976 championship, which Hunt won by just a single point. So fierce was Lauda's competitiveness towards his rival that he insisted on returning to the track just six weeks after a horrific crash at the German grand prix, which resulted in him losing an ear and lapsing into a coma.
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Detour of Bahrain would be the best way of recognising human rights
Formula One has placed its hands over its ears by deciding to reinstate the Bahrain Grand Prix
Formula One, more than most sports, always had the capacity to make a fool of itself. In this noisy and neurotic world, fuelled by money and madness, rumour and counter-rumour, there is never much space for a hinterland.
A high pitch of competitiveness breeds a certain insecurity in the paddock and there is a level of self‑importance that can stray beyond the borders of solipsism.
In this arms race, this carbon fibre world of telemetry and downforce and double diffusers, where even the subject of tyres has its own esoteric lexicon, the imperative is always to move forward and to thrust one's head into a clamorous engine. The ability to take a step back, to take in a wider view, to contextualise, to glimpse at world affairs even when those involved do manage to get home in time for Newsnight, is looked upon as a distinct disadvantage when it's helter versus skelter for pole position on Saturday afternoon.
The sport is peopled by very eager, earnest, utterly charming and implausibly bright young men whose boffinish abilities can sometimes leave – along with the oil – a stain of obsessive-compulsive disorder on the overalls. Cleanliness is observed quite manically, not only in the garages but in the strangely egocentric motorhomes that are erected and then dismantled with startling speed. But, it seems, there is always room for a little moral ambiguity to go unswept.
For this is the sport which has just placed its hands over its ears (though deafness abounds already in this raucous environment) and decided to reinstate the Bahrain Grand Prix which, in a moment of sanity conspicuous for its rarity, it had postponed at the start of the season. The circus will now return in October to a country where, according to Amnesty International, hundreds of anti-government protestors remain in custody to be tried before military courts and allegations of torture abound. Where even on Friday, as the FIA deliberated its decision, police were discharging tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters.
The hoary old notion that sport and politics should exist independently, a laughing stock of an argument as long ago as 1936 in Berlin, has been allowed to resurface, although the gnomic Bernie Ecclestone, a short man who casts a long shadow, has ridiculed his own thesis by suggesting the race may bring the people of Bahrain together. It is Ecclestone's peculiar genius to be able to sell Formula One to far-flung governments whose vanity either makes them blind to the fact that they don't need them, or convinces them the successful staging of a car race projects their image in a more benign light.
So white elephants – and Bahrain is one of them – are built way out of town at great expense and few people bother to go along to the big top on Sunday afternoon. The crowds are low in Bahrain, Korea, Malaysia, China and Turkey, while traditional centres, such as France, Portugal and South Africa, are now off the schedule.
Europe, until recently, was the centre for the sport. But Ecclestone's drive to broaden the schedule has meant he has had to do business with some very unsavoury governments. Ecclestone was good for the sport in the 80s and through the 90s but he is now a man in danger of being cut adrift, distracted, perhaps, by bribery allegations in Germany as much as takeover talks.
This is the man who said that at least Hitler got things done and, more recently, that there was too much education in the world, though presumably he excluded himself from that remark. He is 80 now, still revelling in the role of the autocrat and dragging a sometimes unwilling sport behind him. Indeed the teams themselves are far from happy with this outcome.
The rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix still may not happen. Insurance will be an issue, and might have to be underwritten by the Bahrainis themselves. The sponsors may argue damage to their brands. And if Pirelli, the tyre suppliers, balk, the whole show would be off.
Formula One is the sport whose history comes wrapped in wreaths. This week Senna had its cinema release, the film a moving tribute to the last man killed on the Formula One track. But the sport