Motorsports Mondial

A horse with no name has a race. In the desert you can’t remember your name, but the FIA wants to give no pain to the Royal riders of Bahrain. Their Grand Prix, which was supposed to open the 2011 Formula 1 season, was dusted-off from the calendar due to natives getting restless – thanks to the shifting of sands of time in the Middle East.

State of emergency and out-sourcing of security in the island nation to Saudi tanks and troops forced a two-week delay in the start of the F1 racing season in Australia.

The Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix will now take-off on October 30 and the inaugural Indian Grand Prix will now welcome the arrival of season finale in December.

The FIA decision to re-instate the race has not received support from all quarters.

The Federation’s ex-President, Max Mosley, concluded his column in www.telegraph.co.uk by saying, “By agreeing to race there, Formula One becomes complicit in what has happened. It becomes one of the Bahrain government’s instruments of repression. The decision to hold the race is a mistake which will not be forgotten and, if not reversed, will eventually cost Formula One dear.”

Australian Grand Prix star Mark Webber has also expressed concern about going to Bahrain. He was quoted on www.autosport.com saying “As a competitor I do not feel at all comfortable going there to compete in an event when, despite reassurances to the contrary, it seems inevitable that it will cause more tension for the people of that country.”

Bernie Ecclestone, not surprisingly, is pleased to see the race back on the calendar. He has forty-million reasons to be. Read between the bills…………….

 

— Nasir Hameed

Greetings and racing regards from America!