F1: We can’t force teams to go, says Ecclestone

Formula One supremo says Bahrain GP ‘still on’.

LONDON: Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone admitted that he was unable to force teams to participate in this month’s Bahrain Grand Prix following a fresh outbreak of violence in the Gulf state.

Formula One teams are reportedly reluctant to race in Bahrain this season amid ongoing concerns over security in the country.

Last year’s event was postponed following violent anti-government protests before eventually being removed from the schedule altogether.

Now Ecclestone has confirmed that the fate of this year’s event on April 22 could be decided by the teams as authorities in Bahrain confirmed seven policemen were injured late on Monday in a bomb attack.

“We’ve no way we can force people to go there,” said Ecclestone. “We can’t say, ‘You’ve got to go’ — although they would be in breach of their agreement with us if they didn’t go, but it doesn’t help.

“Commercially, they have to go, but whether they decide to or not is up to them. I’ve had no one say anything other than, ‘We’re going to be racing in Bahrain.’”

Ecclestone added that, as far as he was concerned about this year’s race, it was still on.

“We’ve an agreement with [governing body] the FIA that Bahrain is a round of the world championship, and we’ve a contract with the promoters, but I want to make clear it’s nothing to do with finance.”

Ferrari still off the pace:
Technical director

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s technical director Pat Fry believes the Italian constructor is still almost a second off their main rivals, despite Fernando Alonso leading the championship.

The Spaniard drove a brilliant race in the rain in Malaysia to leap to the top of the drivers’ standings following his fifth-place finish at the season opener in Melbourne.

But he said there was still room for improvement. “From quite early on, we realised we had a few issues we needed to sort out,” Fry was quoted as saying on the team website. “Everyone at the factory has been working hard at that, as we still have a long way to go.

“I think our dry qualifying performance is still around eight-tenths [of a second] off the best.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2012.