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F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is ‘fully aware’ of the passion motorsport fans in Bahrain have for rescheduling the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix later this season.
A dossier containing messages of support for the event as well as framed campaign copies of GulfWeekly were handed over to the Formula One Management headquarters in London’s Knightsbridge by Editor Stan Szecowka during a whistle-stop trip to England.
Lucy Hibberd, PA to Mr Ecclestone, accepted the petition and said her boss was ‘delighted’ to receive first-hand feedback from the kingdom.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, commonly referred to as the FIA, the sport’s governing body whose most prominent role is in the licencing and arbitration of F1 motor racing, is due to make a decision on Friday as to whether or not the event will take place later this year after the season opener was cancelled due to safety concerns after anti-government protests turned violent.
Mr Ecclestone said he wasn’t concerned about safety if everything goes ahead. “They are all nice people there and I don’t think we’d have any problem,” he said. “We’ve got to make a decision because the teams want to know what’s going on.”
As reported in last week’s GulfWeekly, he has suggested that the inaugural Indian GP could be moved to the end of the 2011 schedule to make room for Bahrain on October 30, while also allowing organisers extra time to ensure that the Buddh International circuit is ready for F1.
Staging the Indian race to a date in December – one week after the current finale in Brazil – would make sense for numerous reasons as the FIA’s traditional end-of-season activities will all take place in India rather than Monaco this year, with a reunion of the governing body’s World Motor Sport Council on December 6, the annual Awards Gala a day later and the General Assembly a day after that.
