Formula One team Force India is being punished for having the gall to abandon Friday’s second practice session before the troubled Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Anglo-Indian team opted not to take part in the afternoon session in an attempt to have its staff away from the circuit before night fell, fearing for their safety due to Bahrain’s recent political unrest.
The team’s decision, defended by Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley, was the closest anyone in the sport has come to protesting the holding of this weekend’s Grand Prix, and comes after a van filled with mechanics had a Molotov cocktail explode near it on Wednesday.
Formula One Management, the company which owns the sports commercial rights and provides the global television feed, responded by simply ignoring Force India throughout qualifying. Throughout the hour-long session, and in spite of their driver Paul Di Restra reaching the final phase of the session, Force India’s cars were notably absent from screens.
FOM’s boss Bernie Ecclestone defended the coverage, suggesting that the cameras were more focused on those capable of securing pole. “Nobody cares if someone is ninth of 11th, only the people that are watching a particular team,” Eccelstone told Reuters.
Elsewhere Ecclestone remarked that the lack of coverage was a result of alcohol advertising on the Force India cars, citing the fact that advertising alcohol in Bahrain is illegal as a possible cause.
His comments aside, not showing Force India during qualifying is not only in keeping with history but ultimately backfired.
Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, the newly appointed British broadcaster Sky was forced to pull an article from its website which revealed some of the financial future of the sport. It detailed confidential information from the secretive Concorde Agreement and was online barely 90 minutes before it was pulled down. It’s understood Sky was given an ultimatum for encouragement.
Force India meanwhile has enjoyed more coverage by not being on television that it would have otherwise. Headlines have drawn attention to its lack of coverage, while the team trended on social networking site Twitter throughout qualifying.
The team is expected to face the same treatment in the race as it continues to be punished for its ‘insubordination’.
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