Shanghai: Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone said yesterday that the Bahrain Grand Prix will go ahead next week as scheduled — unless national authorities decide to cancel the race.
Pressure has been growing for the April 22 race to be cancelled for the second straight year because of ongoing clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters.
However, Ecclestone said ahead of the Chinese GP that there had been no change of plans.
"The race is on the calendar. Unless it gets withdrawn by the national sporting authority in the country, we will be there," he said.
Ecclestone plans to meet with the F1 teams today for discussions, but stressed that wouldn't change the situation.
"I don't see any difference between here [China] and Bahrain," Ecclestone said. "It's the same. It's another race on the calendar."
Bahrain's leaders and race organisers remain committed to going ahead as a way of showing the divided island nation is moving past the strife of the past year.
Extremist groups
Bahrain's circuit chairman said this week that extremist groups are using "scare-mongering tactics" to make the unrest seem worse than it is to force the cancellation of the race.
Last year, Bahrain organisers cancelled the race after an attempt to reschedule it by motor sport's world governing body (FIA) was criticised by rights groups, F1 teams and fans.
Many drivers avoided talking about the situation yesterday.
When six of them were asked at a news conference whether they had any moral problems with competing in Bahrain, all six sat completely still and didn't say a word.
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel also deflected questions about the race.
"No Bahrain questions. Ask the people in the paddock," he said. "Maybe I don't watch enough TV."
Mark Webber of Red Bull noted the difficulty of the position the drivers have been put in.
"Ultimately, we are all human. We have morals, we have ways we see things," he said. "We like to think that people and situations are fair and everything is, as I suppose, correct as we would like it to be."
