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BAHRAIN’S motorsport executives have cast aside any disappointment they may have about not opening next year’s Formula One season – by concentrating on delivering the best race possible in November, providing that is the month it takes place.
The proposed 2012 calendar has been revealed with Australia re-installed as the opening race, instead of the kingdom where this year’s race was axed because of the unrest. Bahrain has been retained, but provisionally moved to the later part of the season to run in tandem with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Bahrain International Circuit’s chief executive officer Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, said: “We are very happy to be on the calendar and we look forward to having the teams back.
“Whenever we look at the race it always comes down to what we can deliver and I think the weather is an important factor to consider. I think the weather will be good for us in November.”
Autosport magazine suggests that next year’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix – postponed, reinstated and eventually cancelled this season because of rabid international media coverage and pressure from protest groups targeting drivers, teams and sponsors – was moved to the end of 2012 from the start to give the country ‘more time to sort out its problems’.
The calendar also proposes the return of a United States Grand Prix, at Austin in Texas, immediately afterwards in late November, prior to a season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
The calendar also suggests an Indian Grand Prix for a second year and the dropping of the Turkish race.
However, anything can change in the fickle world of Formula One, as Bahrain knows to its cost.
Already some teams have expressed concerns with F1 supremo Bernie Eccelstone’s proposed changes, specifically with the suggested final part of the season which will include three consecutive events in quick succession – Japan and Korea, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, and the US and Brazil.
Team bosses are alarmed about the cost and timescales involved with moving equipment and personnel from continent to continent.
Renault team boss Eric Boullier suggested that having that many races on different continents in such a short time could be a logistical nightmare.
He said: “We plan actually to ask for a rethink for the logistics.
“It is to make it a little bit easier for the task force and a bit cheaper by way of moving logistics differently.
“We have a thought between us already and we would like to suggest a couple of ideas.We are not involved in the final decision of the calendar, but I understand it is not definite so we have room to ask for discussions and to make suggestions.”
The teams may simply be asking for more time between races in the run-in, rather than moving events around, and that will come as good news for US Grand Prix organisers too, who appear to have been handed a break by the decision to reschedule the Austin race in October.
While the move is seen as an opportunity to avoid the hottest time of the year in Texas, it will also provide valuable extra time for the US circuit to get its track and infrastructure completed.
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh added: “The calendar is tough, but I understand it is going to change again. So, until we have the final calendar, there is no point complaining about a provisional one.”
But McLaren, partly-owned by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, did have good reason to smile at the weekend when former world champion Jenson Button won the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix.
