tagged 
Bahrain, Barcelona, Bernie Ecclestone, Button, F1, Monza, Pirelli, Sao Paulo, Silverstone, Spa
Bahrain, Barcelona, Bernie Ecclestone, Button, F1, Monza, Pirelli, Sao Paulo, Silverstone, Spa B&B
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 11:58AM
Bahrain and Bernie. It is not Bernie's finest hour. He is getting his news from one of his cameramen in a hotel there. What's wrong with watching Al-Jazeera, or better yet consult the British Embassy? Just because it is quiet for five minutes does not mean it is safe to go there. OK, there is a lot riding on an F1 GP commercially, but how can you balance that against a human life. Last year Bernie laughed off the attack on Jenson Button in Sao Paulo as "someone trying to sell him a hat." Insensitive is not quite right, tone deaf might be better. He lives in a different world. He has a history of odd statements, didn't he once say that Hitler got things organised? The Chairman of CVC stepped in then as I recall, and maybe he needs to again.
The UK Foreign Office has issued a warning against travel to Bahrain, so you would expect that as most of the teams are based there with UK personnel that this would make the decision not to go obvious. We seem to be back where we were with Korea, for different reasons. Do we send freight, book flights and hotels or not? If we send the freight it may then not get to Australia. Pirelli are saying just changing the test location to stay in Barcelona is a problem as they have those tires headed to Bahrain. How can you continue to run a world series that cannot guarantee that events will go on? It sends a bad message to your sponsors and fans, and the TV. Some common sense has to prevail here, money cannot be the only consideration.
In a letter to the Editor in this month's Motor Sport a fan decries the need to go to all these "sand races." As he rightly says, if race times are adjusted to make it prime time in Europe then that is where the fans are, so why not keep the races there? Because the European Governments won't foot the bill. The writer suggest a fans association to pressure for a say in where races go. We already have that. It's an association of us fans that tune in to watch. If we had the courage not to watch those races, and only Spa or Monza or Silverstone, how long do you think the TV companies or these Governments would continue to pay Bernie for the rights? A year should be enough.
The UK Foreign Office has issued a warning against travel to Bahrain, so you would expect that as most of the teams are based there with UK personnel that this would make the decision not to go obvious. We seem to be back where we were with Korea, for different reasons. Do we send freight, book flights and hotels or not? If we send the freight it may then not get to Australia. Pirelli are saying just changing the test location to stay in Barcelona is a problem as they have those tires headed to Bahrain. How can you continue to run a world series that cannot guarantee that events will go on? It sends a bad message to your sponsors and fans, and the TV. Some common sense has to prevail here, money cannot be the only consideration.
In a letter to the Editor in this month's Motor Sport a fan decries the need to go to all these "sand races." As he rightly says, if race times are adjusted to make it prime time in Europe then that is where the fans are, so why not keep the races there? Because the European Governments won't foot the bill. The writer suggest a fans association to pressure for a say in where races go. We already have that. It's an association of us fans that tune in to watch. If we had the courage not to watch those races, and only Spa or Monza or Silverstone, how long do you think the TV companies or these Governments would continue to pay Bernie for the rights? A year should be enough.
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