Bahrain race has been cancelled

  • Thread starter blaaah
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blaaah
Ok this is the place I have been told to post F1 and motor racing information regarding the Bahrain disruption.
The GP2 race has been cancelled, surely they will cancel the F1 race also?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9400392.stm
BBC F1 news site tells how the F1 teams are concerned about the developments.
Decision will be made before the 25th of February.
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Damn. Taking a selfish view, I'll be gutted if the race is cancelled as I have been awaiting this season starting since seb crossed the line in abu dhabi. I hope a replacement is found.

I don't really know enough of the situation in Bahrain to comment. I just followed Blaaah here to comment on the grand prix at the advice of the moderators. All I really know is that key politicians are trying to have their unelected opposition executed. As a result, there have been protests and people have been needlessly killed by the army during these protests. Call off the race. This is a very disturbing situation and holding a major sporting event there will not improve the situation. It will just make it look like the FIA and FOM are taking sides.
 
I wonder if there is time to hold the race in another country, would be great if they could organise it quickly. A European race where they can do the test week beforehand then the race to follow. Hmm if they did it in the UK and then sold cheap tickets I could attend my first F1 race.
 
blaaah
I wonder if there is time to hold the race in another country, would be great if they could organise it quickly. A European race where they can do the test week beforehand then the race to follow. Hmm if they did it in the UK and then sold cheap tickets I could attend my first F1 race.
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Think Qatar would be the best option as the race freight is already en route to Bahrain and it is fairly close by, and has a good circuit that is up to scratch. I believe it even has the correct FIA grade for Formula one. The other option would be Abu Dhabi. If this happened, it would be the first time two consecutive world championship grand prix were held on the same track. The closest we have come to this before was the 1995 season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide and the 1996 season opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
 
I don't see why they couldn't just do Australia first (on its original date) then come back to Bahrain at some point later in the calendar.

This would be the perfect opportunity for Macau to finally host F1 on the Guia Circuit, one of the best street circuits in the world! and it wouldn't take them long to setup! :lol:

Robin.
 
There's a difference between discussing the F1/GP2 events at Bahrain International Circuit being canceled, and talking about the protests in the region.

This is about F1/GP2 at Bahrain. Lets keep it that way, please.
 
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Okay, I'm going to re-open this thread. However, it is to stay on the subject of how the race will be affected by the protests. Anyone who starts getting political will get an infraction and the thread will be closed permanently.
 
Robin.
I don't see why they couldn't just do Australia first (on its original date) then come back to Bahrain at some point later in the calendar.
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It actually has happened sometimes in the '80s where the Belgian GP was delayed several months to fix the asphalt. Ayrton Senna claimed the victory there... So also I couldn't see why it cannot happen this year.
 
interludes
Okay, I'm going to re-open this thread. However, it is to stay on the subject of how the race will be affected by the protests. Anyone who starts getting political will get an infraction and the thread will be closed permanently.
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Bit of a difficult fuzzy line though....I think its perfectly fine to discuss, for example, the political ramifications of cancelling or not cancelling the race. But I don't see it necessary to go into the detail of how many were shot today or a discussion of Bahrain's particular politics.
 
Ardius
I think its perfectly fine to discuss, for example, the political ramifications of cancelling or not cancelling the race. But I don't see it necessary to go into the detail of how many were shot today or a discussion of Bahrain's particular politics.
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I agree. So long as posts in this thread are primarily about the race/F1 weekend and the consequences for F1, then they are OK... similarly, I don't think that discussion of the F1 weekend is appropriate for the more general thread on the unrest in the Middle East in the Opinions forum. Obviously, it's not reasonable to completely ignore the reasons behind the possible cancellation of the race, but it should be relatively easy to keep this thread on topic.
 
Not with only a few weeks' notice, although Abu Dhabi has stated they would be happy to host the final test+first GP weekend.
If Bahrain is cancelled, Australia will be the first race.
 
haitch40
Could they go to a different track like they were planning to if Korea wasn't ready.
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No. Bernie was planning a replacement race for Korea three months before it was held. There's no way he could organise a replacement in three weeks.
 
The sea freight has been on it's way to Bahrain since last month, Virgin Racing have confirmed It's either Bahrain or nowhere, even if another track was available.
Gives me a few more weeks to purchase my HD box ready for the BBC1 HD coverage.
 
In my opinion the event has to be cancelled. Who cares if we have one less race in the 2011 calendar. It is already one of the biggest yet and in my books the lives of bahrainis is much more important.
 
Bobtehblob
In my opinion the event has to be cancelled. Who cares if we have one less race in the 2011 calendar. It is already one of the biggest yet and in my books the lives of bahrainis is much more important.
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Looking more and more likely to be cancelled

I would hope it would at least get rescheduled...

Considering it was possible to go from Brazil to Abu Dhabi in 1 week in 2010, there is a two week gap between abu dhabi and brazil... Seeing as Abu Dhabi and Bahrain are roughly 250 miles apart, would it be unreasonable to give them a provisional date for the week in between Abu dhabi and Brazil? On the provision that things have settled down of course.

I admit it must be a logistical nightmare, but last year would suggest it can be done. Plus, if the season generates as much excitement as last year did, it could be good to have the final three races on three consecutive weekends. The teams will get a bit of a break in this way as well, as they would only be travelling 250 miles between abu dhabi and bahrain. Then they have the final 6000 odd mile journey to brazil...
 
If F1's logistics could handle the volcano disruption which lasted for weeks then I'm sure they can handle a rescheduling of a race with a reasonable amount of notice. Or just move on to Australia.

Robin.
 
F1 fan
Looking more and more likely to be cancelled

I would hope it would at least get rescheduled...

Considering it was possible to go from Brazil to Abu Dhabi in 1 week in 2010, there is a two week gap between abu dhabi and brazil... Seeing as Abu Dhabi and Bahrain are roughly 250 miles apart, would it be unreasonable to give them a provisional date for the week in between Abu dhabi and Brazil? On the provision that things have settled down of course.

I admit it must be a logistical nightmare, but last year would suggest it can be done. Plus, if the season generates as much excitement as last year did, it could be good to have the final three races on three consecutive weekends. The teams will get a bit of a break in this way as well, as they would only be travelling 250 miles between abu dhabi and bahrain. Then they have the final 6000 odd mile journey to brazil...
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The difference being that was planned well in advance, so the logistics and costs could be sorted out.
This is not the same situation, its not like they turned up to Brazil and went "oh yeah we need to be able to go to Abu Dhabi next week".

There is too much to organise and manage for an alternative race to go ahead before Melbourne. Not to mention it would require money (to pay for the right to hold a GP..TV money, spnonsors, etc). We will simply have 19 races instead of 20 if Bahrain doesn't happen.

Robin.
If F1's logistics could handle the volcano disruption which lasted for weeks then I'm sure they can handle a rescheduling of a race with a reasonable amount of notice. Or just move on to Australia.

Robin.
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That happened just after the Chinese Grand Prix and before the Spanish GP (If I remember right), so it wasn't a huge issue for F1, most of the important freight would have arrived early and from flights from the east. (Also I seem to remember Spain not really being effected that much by the Volcano?). It did effect the ability of some of the team staff and media from getting to the event though.
 
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One interesting point to note about changing venue from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi is how this would affect team's upgrade packages. I don't actually know how different Abu Dhabi is to Bahrain in terms of downforce, but it could be a pain in the backside if the packages developed for the first race are somewhat useless.
 
Ardius
That happened just after the Chinese Grand Prix and before the Spanish GP (If I remember right), so it wasn't a huge issue for F1, most of the important freight would have arrived early and from flights from the east. (Also I seem to remember Spain not really being effected that much by the Volcano?). It did effect the ability of some of the team staff and media from getting to the event though.
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The big worry during the volcano was that the actual drivers wouldn't be able to get there which in a way would be worse than the kit not arriving! So in this instance its better because neither the freight or the drivers are really affected, they just have to make their minds up or whether to go ahead or not.

If it really came to it they could run the race with closed doors and empty grandstands, I think some football matches have done that in the past to prevent trouble.

Robin.
 
The news as of now regarding the situation in Bahrain is that the local government has televised a national broadcast and appealed for calm and that a solution can be reached with dialogue not violence. The military have been removed from the streets and local law enforcement is now back in charge of the situation.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a more passive approach to this ordeal and the people of Bahrain and fans of F1 the world over can breath a sigh of relief...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/19/bahrain.protests/index.html?hpt=T1
 
I don't think that will make the F1 race more likely, as it was the government that caused the violence and the deaths, not the protesters. Unless they are making an announcement to their own police and military over the TV...
I can not imagine how we can get an F1 race going on in Bahrain this year.
 
blaaah
I don't think that will make the F1 race more likely, as it was the government that caused the violence and the deaths, not the protesters.
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Um, they're showing a willingness to negotiate. They just want the protestors to stand down first. They know full well that if they offer a chance to talk things out, convince the protestors to stand down, and then ignore the pledge for negotiation, it will only redouble the violence. They wouldn't have made the offer if they had no intention of following through because they know what the consequences would be.
 
News nuggets:
The teams do not want to go to Bahrain.
At least one top team will boycott the race if the event goes ahead.
Bernie has absolved himself of responsibility by saying the race will go ahead if the Crown Prince says it is ok.
Webber says the race should not go ahead.
Decision made on Tuesday.
 
blaaah
News nuggets:
The teams do not want to go to Bahrain.
At least one top team will boycott the race if the event goes ahead.
Bernie has absolved himself of responsibility by saying the race will go ahead if the Crown Prince says it is ok.
Webber says the race should not go ahead.
Decision made on Tuesday.
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Could be interesting, Prince says it's OK, Bernie says race is on, teams boycott race, Bernie fines all teams, teams revolt, F1 explodes, another revolution is born, teams form own series.
 

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