The "Bahrain" decision. Who will call it?

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Like someone wisely said on a Finnish forum, it's better to have a month's pause from racing than have a few minutes of silence for the next race due to a death for any F1 person.

No race in Bahrain and that's good. This is exactly the reason why F1 shouldn't so eagerly be dragged out of Europe.
 
Reports of an explosion in a city in Bahrain, taking out two cars this evening. Hopefully enough to stop it going ahead.
 
^I'd rather there were no explosions and the race went ahead peacefully. Why would we want there to be more violence and no racing? Is this a motorsports sub-forum or a politics sub-forum?
 
I'm not saying it's a good thing there's been explosions, just that hopefully Bernie will finally take notice.
 
I'm not sure its Bernie you really want to take notice, I think he's well aware of the situation and quite happy to keep going along with it what with all this press its getting!
 
Or as he said unforgivingly last year.

"It''ll all blow over".
 
I done a presentation about this topic last year at school regarding sport and politics. I think that sports and politics do not got hand in hand and that the Bahrain GP should go ahead, not to show that F1 supports the Bahrain government or the politics that is being opposed, but for the sole reason that the Bahrain GP is on the F1 calender. They are going there to race on the circuit and only that.
 
TheCracker
It's the teams, or more accurately the team's sponsors, who are asking the questions of whether they want to be associated with the event.
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That's the impression I got too - although I figured it was pretty much a safety/security issue for personnel, not just of the teams, but of everyone associated with the event, from sponsors to circuit staff etc., rather than concerns about the morality of racing in the country at this time (although that might well be a factor in many cases).

In any case, I wouldn't like to be in the shoes of those who have to make the call. I fear that they may be damned if they do and damned if they don't. I certainly wouldn't blame anybody who had reservations, for whatever reason, for not wanting to race in Bahrain, particularly if people begin to exploit the race as a handy platform to grab some global headlines.
 
Carbonox
Like someone wisely said on a Finnish forum, it's better to have a month's pause from racing than have a few minutes of silence for the next race due to a death for any F1 person.
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Nobody is going to die. The protests have recently taken a violent turn, but the protesters themselves won't want to be seen to be doing anything aggressive. If they were to kill or injure any outsider, they would probably lose the goodwill that they have with the West.

Carbonox
No race in Bahrain and that's good. This is exactly the reason why F1 shouldn't so eagerly be dragged out of Europe.
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Oh, so Formula 1 shouldn't be in Korea or Singapore or America or India because of what happens in Bahrain?
 
prisonermonkeys
Nobody is going to die. The protests have recently taken a violent turn, but the protesters themselves won't want to be seen to be doing anything aggressive. If they were to kill or injure any outsider, they would probably lose the goodwill that they have with the West.
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Can you guarantee that? What if it was your family that was going to work at the race, would you still want to take that chance? And before you say that someone could get killed by falling space debris at any track, this is a different situation where some could say a death or injury could have easily have been avoided.

prisonermonkeys
Oh, so Formula 1 shouldn't be in Korea or Singapore or America or India because of what happens in Bahrain?
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I support keeping races in Europe, but Bahrain has nothing to do with it.
 
peterjford
Can you guarantee that?
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Do you think the teams are simply going to land in Bahrain and be left to their own devices? The protesters claim that the government is using the race to mislead the rest of the world into believing law and order have returned to Bahrain. If this is the case, and assuming that there are still protests in the country when Formula 1 arrives, then it stands to reason that the Bahraini government will go out of their way to protect the teams.

In the worst-case scenario, the teams could land and stay at Sakhir Air Base, which is literally in the circuit's back yard, and there is an access road between the two.
 
prisonermonkeys
Do you think the teams are simply going to land in Bahrain and be left to their own devices? The protesters claim that the government is using the race to mislead the rest of the world into believing law and order have returned to Bahrain. If this is the case, and assuming that there are still protests in the country when Formula 1 arrives, then it stands to reason that the Bahraini government will go out of their way to protect the teams.

In the worst-case scenario, the teams could land and stay at Sakhir Air Base, which is literally in the circuit's back yard, and there is an access road between the two.
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So in the "Worst Case Scenario" You think the race will go on, but they'll guard the track just so it can happen? Overkill.
 
If it comes to that, then the race will likely be cancelled on the grounds of it being unsafe for the teams and drivers. However, I am simply trying to highlight the way the teams will not simply land in Manama and be left to fend for themselves. The government wants the race to happen, so they will make sure that no harm comes to the teams and drivers.
 
prisonermonkeys
Is it? A month ago, Muqtada al-Sadr expressed support for the uprising. He's the cleric who organised the "Mahdi Army", the first serious insurgency in Iraq. For now, he's only shown vocal support - that we know of - for the Bahraini opposition. But they've started using IEDs, so it's entirely possible that they learned it from al-Sadr and his followers. What happens if Formula 1 decides to make a moral stand, only to learn that the people the sport publicly supported were in league with someone like al-Sadr, who called the US, UK and Israel "the enemy of all Iraqis" and publicly called for the Iraqi people to take up arms and fight?
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And the Arab Brotherhood is said to be behind the Syrian people as well as Egypt and Libya. Point is they too have gained criticism from the West just like you've shown. Does that mean it is true or that they're fully bad? Should Syrian people not be supported now because of a loosely claimed affiliation? The West has done quite a bit to warrant that attitude from west Asia along with various countries across the world not in that area.

Point is, their fight isn't the West and they really don't have much choice in where help is going to come from. Using a new face to the already raging fray and then making them the poster child of it is a nice spin on the story. The true issue here is people's fundamental right to freedom being taken away and now they want to fight for it. There is nothing wrong with that and I myself would do the same if pushed against the wall. The information you post isn't even all that clear to you as you show, but yet you use this "foggy" info to create this sort or atmosphere. A kind of situation that says ignore all the rest of what has been done and look at this bit of info here, yet what you don't provide is info on whether people support it or are amassing to it.


I'm sure I could train a monkey (figurative) to make an ied, it isn't what people would call rocket science. They don't need an extremist from Iraq to show them, especially in an area of the world where that information is readily available.

Either way it's going ahead, I just didn't agree with your philosophy as far as human relations and politics go. Seemed you forgot that, or didn't notice how I didn't attribute anything I just said to F1 racing there. Once again I don't care if or if not there is a race there. Track sucks to begin with, me arguing you is not about F1 going there as I've said.
 
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nitrorocks
I'm still confused as to why the WEC is allowed to go there and not F1...
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I think it's because F1 is more famous then WEC, if the protesters were to rebel during the Grand Prix, it would get more press attention.
 
gorsad
I think it's because F1 is more famous then WEC, if the protesters were to rebel during the Grand Prix, it would get more press attention.
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There's also nothing to say that the WEC won't be affected as well. Just because the FIA have scheduled a round of the WEC in Bahrain doesn't mean that they are less concerned about it!
 
Touring Mars
There's also nothing to say that the WEC won't be affected as well. Just because the FIA have scheduled a round of the WEC in Bahrain doesn't mean that they are less concerned about it!
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True, but I meant it in a way that the protesters would rather cause commotion at the Grand Prix because that would gain more attention for them. I'm sure that the FIA are concerned about the WEC but the protesters might not be, due to the fact that the WEC is not as well known a sport.
 
Sorry, I should have said that I agreed with that point - F1 is by far more high profile, and thus more likely to act as a possible platform for publicity.

Saw this cartoon in the Independent today... not very helpful or fair in my opinion...

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From here: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/the-daily-cartoon-760940.html
 
^What do you expect? Its the media they will ruin everything they can if it sells papers.
 
I'm a bit confused at what they're trying to say, is it that F1 is supporting the monarchy.
 
As Jenson button points out, they have to travel in bullet proof vehicles with guards/escorts when they go to Brazil.. what makes Bahrain so badass all of a sudden?
 
Also no surprise in F1 GP's being treated as publicity stunts. They have always been that. Not sure if crime problem of Brazil can be compared to Bahrain political instability though.
 
MatskiMonk
As Jenson button points out, they have to travel in bullet proof vehicles with guards/escorts when they go to Brazil.. what makes Bahrain so badass all of a sudden?
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The two races and the circumstances surrounding them are scarcely comparable.

Brazil (and other places) have their own security issues to deal with - but what does that have to do with Bahrain?

The decision to race in Bahrain should, oddly enough, be based on what the situation is in Bahrain.
 
haitch40
^What do you expect? Its the media they will ruin everything they can if it sells papers.
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I dont agree, that's what F1 is actually doing if they go there. It just shows that the rich people dont care if the country is killing people for gods knows what reasons.

I'm a bit confused at what they're trying to say, is it that F1 is supporting the monarchy.
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Yes that's what they are trying to said.

I personnaly dont think F1 should go in a country where human right are beeing constantly stepped upon. That's my opinion.
 
I also wonder if they are going to drive in front of empty grand stands if the security is really that problematic there...
 
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