Protest from teams seals fate of Bahrain GP

The ill-fated Bahrain Grand Prix was last night dealt the final blow after Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone admitted it could not go ahead without the support of the teams.

The FIA, the sport’s governing body, are now set to perform a dramatic U-turn and at the very least move it from the October 30 slot and reinstate India to that date on the race calendar, leaving Bahrain, originally called off because of unrest in the country, scheduled for December, if it goes ahead at all. Ecclestone had backed moving the race to October after the season opener had originally been postponed.

But now Ecclestone has admitted the race will not go ahead after 11 F1 teams objected.

Ecclestone said: “Hopefully there’ll be peace and quiet and we can return in the future, but of course it’s not on.

“The schedule cannot be rescheduled without the agreement of the participants – they’re the facts.”

Ecclestone’s comments come after the move to put the Bahrain race on in October – and move the race originally scheduled for that date in India back until December – attracted widespread criticism.

That move was condemned by teams and drivers and also by human rights organisations, who were unhappy with claims by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, that the situation had returned to normal in Bahrain.

Global campaigning organisation Avaaz criticised the FIA’s fact-finding report on Bahrain as like “stepping into the Twilight Zone”, and yesterday welcomed Ecclestone’s latest comment.

Alex Wilks, campaigns director for Avaaz, said: “We welcome the news from Bernie Ecclestone that the Bahrain Grand Prix is no longer on.

“This is a tremendous victory for the brave people of Bahrain and hundreds of thousands of Avaaz members, who together with leading names in Formula 1 have vehemently opposed it and have forced this much needed U-turn.”

The FIA and president Jean Todt have come in for considerable criticism, not least from former FIA president Max Mosley who highlighted a major flaw in the process, something which Ecclestone has now also admitted.

Despite the apparent unanimous vote at the World Motor Sport Council hearing in Barcelona on Friday, Mosley noted a decision cannot be made law unless there is unanimous approval from all the teams.

Eleven of the marques, under the umbrella of the Formula 1 Teams’ Association, wrote a letter to the FIA, Ecclestone’s Formula One Management and the Bahrain International Circuit claiming they do not want to race in Bahrain this year.