There are many countries which hold international sporting events that have a rather dubious human rights record, but there is a distinct difference which should be made clear to why Bahrain is a different proposition.
The government in Bahrain is using the race as a political tool to present a unified country which is moving forward and are putting to rights the problems they have faced over the last year. This is in contrast to slogans from the protesters including ‘Stop racing on our blood’.
There is the real problem; in Bahrain the race has become a focus for pro-democracy protesters, using it to show that the government would rather the world think that everything is fine. They pay upwards of £25million for the privilege of holding the race, yet are continually disregarding and cracking down on protests that demand reforms in a country ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa family to a Shia majority.
Doctors are still being arrested for treating protesters, tear gas is fired indiscriminately and next Tuesday Amnesty International has announced a fifty page report detailing human rights abuses since February 2011 when the Arab Spring sparked to life.
As it has become a target of what is wrong with the country’s priorities, Formula 1 should have taken the decision to cancel the race, but then again money of course talks, only if Bahrain’s authorities had cancelled would F1 and Bernie Ecclestone still be entitled to the race fee.
The teams are uncomfortable with going with one unnamed team member telling the Guardian newspaper "I feel very uncomfortable about going to Bahrain. If I'm brutally frank, the only way they can pull this race off without incident is to have a complete military lockdown there. And I think that would be unacceptable, both for F1 and for Bahrain. But I don't see any other way they can do it."
It's for this reason Formula 1 should not be going. Sport and politics don't mix so everyone says, but this race is political, it is being used by both government and protesters to make a point therefore the decision should have been taken to say the race will only return when the situation has been resolved.
It's for this reason Formula 1 should not be going. Sport and politics don't mix so everyone says, but this race is political, it is being used by both government and protesters to make a point therefore the decision should have been taken to say the race will only return when the situation has been resolved.
The teams are more concerned with their own safety, which is fair enough really, but the problems in Bahrain should not be ignored, it’s only Red Bull’s Mark Webber who has openly doubted whether Formula 1 should be in the country whereas most other drivers and teams have said it is down to the governing body the FIA to make the call to go or not. Sebastian Vettel has said it is not our business to interfere.
Vettel does have a point, it is not for a sporting series to pass judgement, they are merely there to provide entertainment, but it’s doubtful whether a motor race is the way to bring a disconnected country together. But for better or worse, for now at least, Formula 1 will be in Bahrain.
Actually there’s a race this weekend too …
Anyway Formula 1 doesn’t stop, there is actually a race in that other human rights paradise of China this weekend where practice has been and gone with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes setting the pace. Rain is forecast over the weekend, should be an exciting one.
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