FOM chief Bernie Ecclestone has said that he is still happy to bring Formula One back to Bahrain for the 2012 season, despite ongoing concerns over the political situation in the Gulf kingdom, and calls for F1 to boycott their race.
The Bahrain GP will return to the F1 schedule for 2012, after the 2011 race was cancelled amidst ongoing political protests in the capital.
The heavy-handed reaction to the protests by the authorities were heavily criticised by human rights groups and the country's own independent investigation into the protests.
Bahrain has been attempting to prove that it has learned from their mistakes recently, and a recent decree ordered that people who lost their jobs for their parts in the protests were allowed to return to work.
But human rights groups continue to criticise the situation in the country, and a recent report suggested that less than half of the sacked workers at the GP track had returned.
Despite the continued issues surrounding the race, however, Ecclestone has said that he is still happy to see F1 return there.
"Lots of people are talking badly about that part of the world," he was quoted as saying by the Austrian Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper this week, "But Bahrain is the country in the Arab world in which there are the fewest problems."
Ecclestone also downplayed the increased uncertainty over the future shape of the F1 calendar. Although 2012 will feature twenty races, including Bahrain, the future of a number of races is in doubt.
The Korean GP is reportedly under threat of withdrawing from the sport due to a lack of interest from locals, while races in Belgium, Germany and Spain are all seeking smaller race fees to keep their places on the schedule.
But Ecclestone said that he was confident that even if some races vanished, there were plenty of events ready to replace them.
"We could do deals today with five new promoters," he shrugged confidently, "The demand is high, there is great interest from Mexico."
He added: "More races costs more, also for the teams who probably would have to increase their staff a lot. But we could find solution."
And Ecclestone also downplayed the short-term impact of the continued global economic downturn on the sport, despite the recent losses of manufacturer teams and sponsors.
But he admitted that should the current downturn continue for the long-term, the sport may suffer issues.
"Due to the length of our contracts, we are almost immune," he bragged, "But if the situation does not change globally, we must be prepared for problems."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
