Last night the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening race of the 2011 Formula 1 season was postponed. The lead up to this decision and the conditions under which it took place is yet another shameful action by a sport with a complete lack of principles.
Anyone who has watched the news in the last week would be well aware that Bahrain is a very dangerous place to visit with the Federal Government recommending Australians reconsider their need to travel.
It is this threat to the safety and well-being of the drivers, teams and officials that has lead to Melbourne unexpectedly hosting the first race of the season on March 27.
Finally the Crown Prince of Bahrain, HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, announced that “it was important for the country to focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting of Bahrain’s Formula 1 race to a later date.”
He acknowledged the gracious offer from F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone who left the decision on the race entirely up to him.
The Crown Price is the son of Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah.
This is the same King that has ordered the army to open fire on unarmed protestors. A precursory Youtube search reveals shocking videos of protesting crowds marching together, only to be scattered by gunfire with dead and wounded countrymen left in the wake.
Presented with a leader who is openly killing their people in order to preserve control, most people would have some reservations about taking their money and putting on a show for them. But not Formula One, who were only concern only about their own safety.
If that had been secured, rest assured a head in the sand position would dutifully have be taken and the race would have gone ahead.
Sadly, the sport has past form in this sort of thing.
In the mid-eighties, South Africa was isolated for their disgraceful treatment of non-white people through apartheid.
While rugby, cricket, the Olympic movement and indeed most governments from around the world all refused to deal with them, Formula One kept turning up each and every year, pretending that it was just politics and nothing to do with them.
It was only when the sponsors told the teams to stop racing there that they shuffled off.
Similarly, the sport was the last one to begrudgingly cast off cigarette-advertising when all and sundry had realised how hypocritical and uncouth it was.
Even then it allowed Ferrari to spend five long years with ridiculous subliminal imagery on the side of the car that made them look like a well-known pack.
Formula One is an unbelievable spectacle and everyone who sees a car run in the flesh, cannot help but walk away with a dopey grin in spite of any preconceived intentions to hate it. This allows it to get away with a lot that less attractive sports couldn’t dream of even contemplating.
Staggering ticket prices, ignoring traditional fans in favour of cashed up newcomers, confusing rule changes, even allowing two teams with exactly the same name to enter the competition this year.
Just like the best looking girl at your high school, they can get away with this ridiculous behaviour, and people tolerate it because they are in demand and they know it.
But eventually they reach a tipping point, and just as the high school queen finds herself passed over for girls who are just as attractive and far more pleasant, so does Formula One find itself losing fans and money in every country it was once popular.
This cowardly lack of principle displayed over Bahrain is another reason why casual fans are flicking to other channels leaving only the addicted die-hards behind.
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