Formula 1

There is no chance of a grand prix in Bahrain, says Max Mosley

• Teams do not want 30 October race to go ahead
• FIA report into Bahrain under fresh scrutiny

The judgment of Carlos Gracia, the FIA vice-president whose flimsy and much ridiculed report provided the basis for the decision to reinstate the Bahrain Grand Prix, has come under fresh scrutiny after he described some objections as "frivolous".

Gracia, whose report read more like a postcard, said speaking in Spain : "The Bahrain Grand Prix is being spoken about too much. The FIA decided to send an emissary to look at the situation. It fell to me and I was there for a day and a half."

The former rally driver added: "Some people who are dead, sportingly speaking, say that Formula One has done a disservice to human rights." The Spaniard took a swipe at Damon Hill, one of the few people involved in F1 to speak out against the decision, when he said the British former world champion reflected the "view of someone who is sat comfortably in a chair in his mansion".

If the FIA is capable of embarrassment, and its recent actions would suggest otherwise, it will be red-faced over Gracia's latest howler. Earlier Max Mosley, the man who preceded Jean Todt as president of the FIA, questioned the choice of Gracia as a fact-finder: "The problem was they sent someone to look at Bahrain who speaks no English and, as far as I know, speaks no Arabic. He was taken around by representatives of the government, had no knowledge of what was really going on and obviously didn't ask to see the people a human rights lawyer, or somebody of that kind, would have asked to see."

Mosley said there was not "the slightest chance" of the Bahrain race going ahead on 30 October and the FIA is looking isolated as the teams' consolidated their already known opposition to the race. Simone Perillo, the secretary general of Fota which represents 11 of the 12 teams, said: "We have had a meeting with regard to the 2011 calendar and we have written to the FIA, Formula One Management and the Bahrain Grand Prix organisers to express our view."

The teams do not want the race to go ahead on 30 October, although they are not ruling out the possibility of it taking place at the end of the season. While the commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, also wavering on the October date and is suggesting a move to December F1's governors seem to be the only people who do not know what is going on in Bahrain, where 36 people have died, with hundreds arrested and thousands wounded in the protests for more freedom and human rights.

‘Peaceful’ Bahrain ready for grand prix, says FIA president Jean Todt

• Todt: 'It's all very peaceful in Bahrain, go and have a look'
• Report gives Bahrain all-clear despite continuing unrest

Jean Todt, the president of motor sport's world governing body, has blamed unreliable media reports of unrest in Bahrain – particularly in the British press – in an attempt to defend the decision to reinstate the grand prix there to Formula One's calendar this season.

Todt appeared to be in denial as he tried to explain Friday's "unanimous" vote to stage the race, postponed in March, on 30 October, a move that has enraged human rights activists and race fans, as well as all 12 teams in the F1 paddock. Todt said: "With the press, from one country to another one, it is different. What is true in the UK is not true in France, is not true in Italy. Same in Germany. I read the newspapers every day. In the UK it is big."

Speaking in the opulent offices of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile in Paris, as further incidents of violence and unrest emerged from Bahrain, the former head of Ferrari said: "The information we have is that at this moment the situation is very peaceful in Bahrain. You should go there and have a look."

When asked if he was doubting the integrity of news organisations such as Reuters and CNN he said: "I don't say I don't believe. But times have changed. The information I have is that the situation is settled in Bahrain. That is the information I have now. I don't want to judge CNN. I can only judge the information I get. "I don't think we should anticipate problems. If you were in a more optimistic frame of mind, when we arrive everything is nice, sunny, no wind, friendly, you will say we were right."

In an effort to lend credence to his argument Todt then produced the report which was the basis of the FIA's decision in Barcelona. It was a simplistic, seven-page report put together by the FIA commissioner Carlos Gracia, who listed his various meetings with leading Bahrain officials over two days. Gracia concludes his report: "It is my view that there is no indication of any problems or reason why the Bahrain Grand Prix should not return to the 2011 calendar." The race should have opened the season on 13 March, but it was postponed, with a decision to be made in May. That, too, was postponed until 3 June. It is now scheduled for 30 October.

Yet Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's commercial rights holder, has revealed he was not convinced by the report and was trying to get a fresh FIA vote – if necessary by fax –to switch the Bahrain Grand Prix from 30 October to December. "Better that we move Bahrain to the end of the season and, if things are safe and well, then that is fine, we can go," he told the Times. "If they are not, then we don't go and there are no problems.

"We listened to that report from the FIA and that was saying there were no problems at all in Bahrain. But that is not what I am hearing and I think we can see that we need to be careful."

If Ecclestone gets his way the Indian Grand Prix would return to the 30 October date it had before being shunted to December to accommodate the reinstated race in Bahrain.

The Bahrain race, more than any other of the 19 events, is used to promote the country, which pays $40m for the privilege. But Todt, like the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone, said the decision to go back to Bahrain was not based on money. "Bernie will have more headache to organise it and get the money rather than not organise it and not get the money."

Healso denied that he was embarrassed by the fact that his son is a business partner of Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, who has a 30% stake in Nicholas Todt's ART grand prix team.

"My son is a lawyer. He's a straightforward person, hard working. He should not get any advantage through being the son of the president of the FIA."

Todt called the small press conference to be "transparent" following the negative response to the FIA's action, he appeared to be unsure that Friday's vote had been unanimous, as he had reported. "I would not be able to tell you precisely," he said. "I look at all the hands up and I pronounced unanimous agreement and nobody objected."

Last night Todt's remarks were ridiculed by the Avaaz human rights campaign, whose director, Alex Wilks, said: "Claims that calm has been restored and life is back to normal in Bahrain are completely untrue. In the last week the police have continued to use tear gas, rubber bullets and sound grenades to break up peaceful marches, killing and injuring tens of people. Just today 47 Bahraini doctors and nurses, who simply provided treatment to injured protesters, have been charged by a military court with attempting to topple the kingdom's monarchy.

"Whitewashing these abuses is an insult to the hundreds of protesters jailed and dozens killed in their struggle for change. The FIA's decision to go ahead with the race based on one blinkered account of the situation shows how money has prevailed over morals."