Damon Hill urges FIA to rethink their support for Bahrain Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Damon Hill has urged FIA to look into the Bahrain matter once again.
Hill said that FIA has shown a strong willingness to race in Bahrain this season and the situation in the country is looking worse than a few days before, the rioting in the country has increased and it might not be wise to visit at this point.
Violent protests took place in this past week and the event date is drawing closer. The situation was not as bad before but the shooting of a 22-year-old boy has ignited a furore of rioting in the country. The clashes between civilians and the police have
also increased. Amid this crisis Hill believes it would not be viable for FIA to go ahead with the race.
Hill was amongst the people who opposed the even in 2011 as well, but F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone formed a delegation to send to Bahrain to analyse the situation in the country, Hill was part of the delegation. Hill changed is decision after he visited
the country and said that F1 could return to the country with a clear conscious.
“Things are different now,” Hill is quoted by The Telegraph. “The protests have not abated and may even have become more determined and calculated. It is a worrying state of affairs. What we must put above all else is what will be the penalty in terms of
human cost if the race goes ahead.”
“It would be a bad state of affairs, and bad for Formula One, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race. That is not what this sport should be about. Looking at it today you'd have to say that [the race] could be creating more problems
than it's solving,” he said.
Hill added that these type of situations are above contractual agreements, the knowledge received from the last visit allowed him to realise how important the Bahrain GP is for the country.
The Bahrain Human Rights Center has been against the event to go from the start and say that it will allow the government to portray an image of peace in front of the world when it is exactly the opposite situation.
It will be interesting to see how the situation unfolds in the near future.
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