F1 again not to race in Bahrain?

[Bram Hengeveld]

Lots of rumors on the internet again about the situation in Bahrain. F1 should make a statement and just drop this event for once and for all with the current regime in place.

 

[James Chant]

D'oh, I spent all that time writing that calendar out last night....

 

[SteveGee]

I agree 100%, but we all know Uncle Bernie's gonna wait around until the last minute to make a formal decision....or at least until the Prince pays him the race fee, like he did last year.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Good. The country's government doesn't deserve the benefit of F1 helping their economy.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I agree 100%, but we all know Uncle Bernie's gonna wait around until the last minute to make a formal decision....or at least until the Prince pays him the race fee, like he did last year.

Bernie wanted to give the money back but Bahrain said it was no problems.
Funny how a tiny lack of knowledge can make the subject look entirely different then it actually was.

 

[SteveGee]

Bernie wanted to give the money back but Bahrain said it was no problems.
Funny how a tiny lack of knowledge can make the subject look entirely different then it actually was.

The day I see Bernie give money back is the day I'll believe he's actually going to do it...not just based on what he says.

He also said that he had no involvement whatsoever with the whole Gribkowsky affair initially, yet we found out that wasn't quite the truth, having paid him to keep attention away from the Bambino Trust after being threatened blackmail concerning it.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

The day I see Bernie give money back is the day I'll believe he's actually going to do it...not just based on what he says.

He also said that he had no involvement whatsoever with the whole Gribkowsky affair initially, yet we found out that wasn't quite the truth, having paid him to keep attention away from the Bambino Trust after being threatened blackmail concerning it.

Had Bahrain said they wanted their money back they would have got it. You can´t steal money from another government and expect that it´s all good after that, or even come back next year...

If Bernie really stole that money you really don´t think the Government would say anything? What is Bernie compared to a whole government?

Just think for a moment here, the goverment would have to take money out of their bank account and give it to Bernie in order for him to get the money.
Or are you implying Bernie is a hacker and hacked the system?

 

[Eric Parker]

Unless something major happens between now and the GP, it will go forward. Last time it took the Saudi army coming in and shooting people in the face to postpone the race.

Personally, I wish it wasn't on. If they have to run some race that weekend I would rather the Bahrain's to sponsor a race in Turkey (an extremely gray area of ethics in which Bernie resides). Hell some state run company can even be the sponsor. Its like a lesser of two evil's. But this late in the game, with ticket sales it probably won't happen. Better yet, scrap them all and bring back Imola or the A1 ring... but unfortunately just like the gnome at the head of F1, money has no soul.

 

[SteveGee]

Where did I say or imply he "stole" the money from Bahrain? What I pointed out with the Gribkowsky comment was just because Bernie "said" something doesn't mean it's true. You look back at his history and you'd be hard pressed to find where he's displayed any compassion towards a race promoter. Bahrain wasn't worried about getting their money back...they were glad to pay the fee to keep goodwill with FOM, the FIA and the race teams for this year's event.

Do you think Bernie, and to an extent the FIA on it's red-carpet tour with Jean Todt and Damon Hill visiting Bahrain recently, would be stating that they sees no problem going back to Bahrain in 2012, if that fee wouldn't have been paid last year? I highly doubt it.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Why do you bring up other causes? I thought we were discussing if Bernie was willing to give back the money he got from Bahrain despite Bahrain saying that it was totally fine that he kept them.

Your response was that he might not give them back, which in turn assumes he´s holding their money despite them wanting that which leads us to Bernie keeping money that the Government wants back but Bernie refusing to do so.

All i´m saying is that If Bernie is holding their money without them feeling it´s ok, it would have hit the news hours after the incident.
Whatever happened with Gribkowsky i can´t speak about because first of all it wasn´t part of the discussion and second of all i know nothing about that incident.
I just replied to your statement regarding Bahrain and Bernie.

It would be impossible for Bernie to get a hold of let alone keep money that wasn´t his unless the Bahrain Government gave it to him.

 

[SteveGee]

As I stated...I'm guessing you didn't read it... I brought up the Gribkowsky affair to show that just because Bernie "says" something doesn't mean you can believe it. You said "Bernie wanted to give the money back but Bahrain said it was no problems" and then proceeded to imply that my "tiny lack of knowledge" meant I was wrong. If Bernie said he would return the race fee, it was nothing more than a public relations move....nothing else.

I didn't say he was unwilling to give Bahrain's money back....I said "The day I see Bernie give money back is the day I'll believe he's actually going to do it...not just based on what he says."...ANY money, not just the Bahraini Prince's who happens to be the race promotor.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Does that change the fact that Bahrain gave Bernie money for an event that never happened?
Does that change the fact that the whole world would know if Bernie held money against the Bahrain governments will?

If you are not believing Bahrain government did not gave him the money then you must assume either the bahrain government gave it to gim or he stole it. Your choice.

Or do you believe that Bernie would have kept money that the Bahrain government wanted back?

 

[Ho3n3r]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97447

Why don't they just drop the race for good, until they know for sure that the politics is sorted in Bahrain? It must be purely financial at this stage.

 

[Scott Webber]

british man has his fingers chopped off wile driving home.... now some Mp's have urged the FIA to stop the race happening this year due to the surge of protests and violence happening at this stage.

 

[TheHemps]

Good. The country's government doesn't deserve the benefit of F1 helping their economy.

And UK's does? Remember when our wonderful, helpful police beat up the students that just wanted to be able to afford an education? Or shooting people to start riots? We won't help our poor and homeless but we give billions we dont have to already rich bankers and politicians.

Or how about the USA? The boys in blue had a nice tear gas party in Oakland last week. Of course news coverage was minimal. And they get TWO races next year.

The point I'm trying to make is, F1 can NEVER be political. If Bahrain doesn't deserve F1, then neither does China for the same reason. Spain can't employ it's population, 50% unemployment age under 24, yet they pay millions for 2 GP. Same goes for Monza. Or how about India? Your kidding me there right? How on earth is that country worthy of a GP when they're working population is all under the age of 7? Abu Dhabi? Islamist country with bad human rights record. Brazil? A race track surrounded by slums, an aerial shot of Interlagos tells you all you need to know.

F1 has enough internal politics, let's leave the international politics with the other liars and cheats that get paid for it.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

And UK's does? Remember when our wonderful, helpful police beat up the students that just wanted to be able to afford an education? Or shooting people to start riots? We won't help our poor and homeless but we give billions we dont have to already rich bankers and politicians.

Its down to your personal views I guess.
Personally (apologies to take this slightly off topic for a moment), I think that guy in Tottenham deserved to get shot. He was pointing a gun at police officers. What did he expect to happen? That incident was a convenient excuse for the not-so well off portion of North London's population to trash shops and steal stuff. It was one big bandwaggon for scumbags to jump on, thinking that they could blame it on the police.

 

[TheHemps]

Its down to your personal views I guess.
Personally (apologies to take this slightly off topic for a moment), I think that guy in Tottenham deserved to get shot. He was pointing a gun at police officers. What did he expect to happen? That incident was a convenient excuse for the not-so well off portion of North London's population to trash shops and steal stuff. It was one big bandwaggon for scumbags to jump on, thinking that they could blame it on the police.

I agree with your views on the riots.

Sorry, I just looked at my post and it looks like it came from a raving left wing lunatic. Believe me I'm not, I was just trying to raise the fact that politics can be used in many ways and in many forms, and an individual nations politics should not get in the way of F1.

Of course I don't like what's going on in Bahrain, but I also don't like what's going on in at least 8 of the other countries hosting a GP, so how are they allowed one and Bahrain isn't?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Hempsall is just dropping the knowledge like a bomb here i see +1!

 

[Markus Neumann]

Sorry, I just looked at my post and it looks like it came from a raving left wing lunatic. Believe me I'm not, I was just trying to raise the fact that politics can be used in many ways and in many forms, and an individual nations politics should not get in the way of F1.

That's the impression I got as well However, I think you are spot on as far as F1 is concerned.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I agree with your views on the riots.

Sorry, I just looked at my post and it looks like it came from a raving left wing lunatic. Believe me I'm not, I was just trying to raise the fact that politics can be used in many ways and in many forms, and an individual nations politics should not get in the way of F1.

Of course I don't like what's going on in Bahrain, but I also don't like what's going on in at least 8 of the other countries hosting a GP, so how are they allowed one and Bahrain isn't?

If we're just talking about F1, then yes I 100% agree with you.
If F1 is going to take any kind of political stance (which it shouldn't in my eyes) then it needs to be a consistent one.