In Bahrain TGI Friday should really be called TGI Thursday. The weekend here in Manama begins on a Thursday and runs to Saturday night. They go back to work on Sunday. We went to the TGI Friday restaurant because it was next to our hotel. It was something familiar. One might say comforting, but we don’t really need comfort. Manama is fine. Yes, there is trouble out there if you want to find it, but the vast majority of the population is going on doing what they like to do on Thursday and Friday nights.
It never even entered our heads that TGIF would not sell alcohol. When you think about the brand, one of the brand values is booze. But not in Bahrain. When in Rome do as the Romans do, even if a part of me screams that a non-alcoholic mojito is as disappointing as Halle Berry walking into a James Bond movie wearing a burka.
This is the weirdest weekend that we have had in Formula 1 in the 25 years I have been covering the sport. Everyone has a different opinion and everyone thinks that they are right – even more than normally.
The fundamental problem, when you boil it all down, is that the Bahrain government created the problem last year with its disgraceful handling of the initial protests for more democracy in the kingdom. Naturally they want to go back to how things used to be, but finding a way back is not easy because of the troubles that have been stirred up. They are right to say that there is a difference between protest and rioting, but you reap what you sow. The key now is to re-establish the rule of law and rebuild trust between the communities.
Formula 1 is in Bahrain because it is contracted to be in Bahrain. The FIA and the Formula One group are contracted to each other. The Formula One group is contracted to the Bahrain government. The teams are contracted to the Formula One group. The drivers are contracted to the teams. The cynic in me says that it is just as insane as the web of treaties that caused World War I, when it was utterly illogical for England and Germany to go to war because a relatively obscure Austrian prince and his wife had been shot dead in Serbia.
The government of Bahrain is trying to use the race for its own political ends, using a slogan of “Unif1ed — One Nation in Celebration,” hoping that the race will draw the people of the country together and also show off Bahrain as being peaceful and open for business. One can understand that attitude, even if one is appalled by the bad things that were done a year ago and highlighted in the Bassiouni Report. The government says reforms are happening, the opposition says they are not happening fast enough. The protesters and those behind them know that if they protest against F1 they will get the international media coverage they want. They have been stuck in the shadows for most of the last 12 months, because of Egypt, Libya and Syria. Thanks to F1 Bahrain is now on the front pages of newspapers across the world.
It is ironic that the only thing that the two sides seem to agree on is that Formula 1 is a useful vehicle for them to send out their political messages.
The FIA statutes state that that the federation shall “refrain from manifesting racial, political or religious discrimination in the course of its activities and from taking any action in this respect”. No doubt lawyers can argue over the meaning of that and it can be applied in different ways, but for me there is a political situation in Bahrain and both sides are exploiting the Grand Prix. The argument that F1 has to go because of its contracts sounds too much like the Nuremberg Defence to me. It is not enough to say “Befehl ist Befehl” (which loosely translates to “I was only following orders”). The courts in Nuremburg found that such a defence was not enough to escape punishment, but could be deemed as a mitigating factor. Thus everyone with any responsibility in F1 must share the blame, because no-one has stood up and said no. The FIA made the decision and made it very clear in its statement that it understood the responsibility it was undertaking.
“The FIA ensures that any event forming part of an FIA World Championship is organised in compliance with the FIA Statutes and the relevant Sporting and Technical Regulations, and that the safety of the public, officials, drivers and teams is secured at all times during an event,” it said. “The FIA must make rational decisions based on the information provided to us by the Bahraini authorities and by the Commercial Rights Holder. In addition we have endeavoured to assess the ongoing situation in Bahrain.”
My view is that Formula 1 should not be here at all because it is being used by both sides in the political conflict in Bahrain. The world’s media has whipped up a storm, but it is an exaggerated view of what is actually happening on the ground. The only danger that F1 seems to be in is the possibility that its people will get caught in the crossfire between extremists and the forces of law and order.
That was predictable as well. If one wants to draw a parallel, it is as if F1 had wandered out into No Man’s Land on the Western Front and started to play cricket between the front lines in the hope that this would help to end the war. The decision was made and F1 is now living with that decision. Neither F1 nor Bahrain is going to come out of the experience better off. The only real question now is how much damage can be done to their respective reputations in the next 36 hours.
Come Monday the media storm will be over, the newspapers will turn away from Bahrain and focus back on Syria, or a celebrity divorce… F1 reporters will stop being told to be more than they are.
Bahrain will drop out of the spotlight and get on with trying to find a solution.
joeblogsf1 
You finally wrote something on this topic i can actually agree with, totally
To me this article is consistent with Joe’s other posts about Bahrain.
@Joe Is it under French law possible that someone unrelated to F1 files a complaint against FIA? I mean, it’s obvious that FIA doesn’t follow their own rules and it’s just as obvious that nobody related to F1 will sue FIA for this. But can somebody else?
Wow. Seems I’ve read all the other posts on Bahrain backwards. Doh!
I am so dissappointed no one in F1 stood up and said NO. I admire Force India for their actions, even if out of fear. F1 should realise it is irrelevant in itself. It is entertainment, sports at its best. Racing doesn’t matter, but human rights do. What’s next Bernie, the GP of Syria, or North Korea?
Joe, does having the working week starting on sunday effect the attendance at the GP? I doubt many people will go this year, but in your opinion is the crowd smaller because of this ?
is it possible for there to be saturday races in f1 again ?
Doesn’t affect me, the prices are so high that I can’t go to any GP on any day of the week. I suspect the same applies in Bahrain to most of the Shia population.
I am against the reasons for F1 being in Bahrain (cash), but it has helped to draw attention to the demonstrations for reform against a government with a poor track record over the past year.
Lets hope that when we move focus to Spain, the people of Bahrain have some positive reforms, not more repression.
Otherwise this race next year will again be in the headlines for the wrong reasons, and F1 will again be there for the wrong reasons.
TGI ? (I don’t suppose it’s Tribunal de Grande Instance, which is what my google brings up)
“Thank God it’s…”
Ah, thank you. You can see I’m not a texter.
Disagree with your translation. “What happened, happened” is the quick loose trans, since we took the word befell directly. Context of Nuremberg, you may be right, but that is a connotative trans.
Over on RTL, who have been far better at reporting, a classic scene:
Niki Lauda being asked about his views on the trouble, and camera pans to J Todt jaunting by, all bouncy, glancing a winning smile at the camera! Please, someone have that on tape.
One thing that will stick from all this is what happens when sponsors are up for renewal. That is going to send shockwaves through the sport financially. Yes, advertisers *always* keep schtum – golden rule – but they sure vote with their feet.
I’m with Joe on the translation: ‘Befehl’ means order/command, so literally it’s “An order is an order” and Joe’s use of movie vernacular is entirely legitimate.
On a tangent, there was a headline in yesterday’s world-of-headlines post that included the phrase “Der Schein trügt” (“appearances are deceptive”), which offers opportunities for mischievous translation. ‘Der Schein’ has another meaning, as a ‘pass’ – as in travel pass, VIP pass or – conceivably – pitpass…
What gets me about the ‘F1 has a contract’ argument is that if FOM’s contracts with race organisers don’t have sufficient ‘force majeure’ clauses to allow F1 to withdraw gracefully from holding a race in circumstances as we have now then they need to fire whoever’s drafting their contracts, frankly.
Thats a very good point, Bernie has said publicly that the only people who ‘could’ have canceled the event was the bahrain government. That sounds like he would have made a huge concession when agreeing the terms of the contract, I wonder what/how much that concession was worth?
Well said Joe. Hang in there and stay safe!
It comes across like you are being carefully monitored – your tone is much more conservative since being on the ground. I hope its actually the case that the situation is more managable than thought.
On a tangent – Any mention of the crowd size itself?
Ignoring the current political situation – the idea of holding and F1 race in the desert for nobody but a handful of rich sheiks has always annoyed some fans (When much better attended races are dropped or threatened)
Does anybody actually turn up?
I am not being monitored. My tone has changed because I have realised a lot more.
Absolutely agree with you, Joe!
Just a little thing (actually not important to story)…
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had been shot dead in Sarajevo, Bosnia not in Serbia, by Gavrilo Princip, who was Serb.
Lets see how the world’s media exaggerate the killing of this poor soul then shall we Joe?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17796833
You have seen the way things get exaggerated here. You just don’t know it, because you are not here.
But being there, how far can you actually see? Did you go out to villages?
Apparently there were several clashes last night with one man being shot dead, many beaten and gassed. Note that the euphemism “bird shot” is now being used for shotgun attacks.
Are you able to get about and look or are you being contained/inhibited.
I find it extraordinary that people all over the world think that they can know more about the situation than the people on the ground. Firstly, you need to understand the geography of Bahrain. The incidents last night were in the north-west of the island. That is nowhere near the circuit. No-one from F1 was involved in anything anywhere, except perhaps the reporters who are specifically going into the areas where there is trouble. Just because this week they are shouting slogans about F1 does not mean that this man was killed because of F1. We have no idea what happened, except that a guy was shot in an area where rioting was taking place. Next week the slogans will change but the protests will probably continue. I think it is unfair to portray Bahrain as a war zone, because the trouble is very localised. If you know where to look you will find trouble, but it is not everywhere as the reports are attempting to portray it. I think that there is a lot of media manipulation going on on both sides and some of the reporters may have got themselves a little too caught up in the excitement. I can go wherever I want to go and most of the neighbourhoods are peaceful and people are going about their business. I have been past some of the villages and I have seen much the same as everyone in F1 has seen, but I have not sought out trouble. This does not mean I am not giving a balanced picture of the situation. Most of the coverage at the moment is of the extreme views, be that the government or the protesters. You have to understand that there is a huge silent majority. You are not hearing from them.
Thanks Joe that clarifies things for us a bit.
Thanks for the perspective Joe.
After the race the ruling class will have an entire year of suppression without the impending race calling attention to their actions.
Who told you what was happening rpaco ?
For the middle east I tend to follow Al Jazeera and Gulf News on the RSS feeds. The stuff still happens, but as Joe says it is very much less concentrated and common than we are led to believe by most of the media.
Agree, Aj and GN are reasonable sounding boards
Thanks rpaco
I can imagine that some things are indeed being exaggerated or misrepresented by both sides – it is, like most of the “Arab Spring”, a propaganda war, after all.
But, on the other hand, there seems to be little doubt that someonehas actually been killed. Whatever the circumstances, this could hardly be exaggerated (if it is true, which it seems to be). And it should not happen as a government response to protests.
And in any case, F1’s presence in Bahrain does not seem to help the situation at all.
An international sport like F1 should not be seen as taking sides in a conflict that is has claimed several victims already, and that is clearly so hard to understand from the outside.
Obviously BE and CVC have played a binder here, as usual. Had the Formula One Group stood up to be counted instead of just counting the pennies the FIA would have had to abandon the race, contractually obliged or not.
One could also blame the team owners for being a totally disorganised bunch of self-interested clowns who allow themselves to be played in such a fashion by said organisations. What a sad tale.
Certainly F1 ought not to be in Bahrain in the present circumstances, any talk of contractual obligations or indeed as you earlier mentioned ‘sport’ being a catalyst for positive change is frankly naive. Appeasement has never worked.
In any event F1 could never be describes as a sport, it’s a cash cow for those involved, all of whom are seemingly totally out of touch and devoid of a moral or ethic compass.
Now as the situation degenerates and dozens of armoured vehicles are reported deployed along access roads to the circuit is Ecclestone as sang-froid as sponsor’s undoubtedly seek to distance themselves from what has increasing got the look of a monumental PR disaster for F1 and all those associated with it.
Terribly disappointing not one of the teams demonstrated a modicum of backbone or principle and distanced themselves from the decision by Ecclestone to go to Bahrain.
This is a disaster for ordinary people in Bahrain subjugated by a medieval monarchy and a ‘paper’ parliament, but what would be a tragedy is if, as a result of the civil unrest a Bahraini died, what responsibility would Ecclestone, CVC shoulder along with a regime who if they had any intention of political/ human rights reform (while citing as they do the positive effect of F1 has in the country), haven’t they had ample opportunity over the 9 years or so F1 has been going there to institute meaningful reforms?
Truth is, F1 is complicit in legitimising this regime just as others did in SA all those years before, and what for?
Blood money.
Well now a protester has died, apparently beaten to death by security forces will we still see jurno’s discussing a tenth of a second here and there or actually focusing on the real issues of being there at all?
Why do you assume that a shooting miles from the circuit has got anything to do with F1? If it happens in battles outside the racing circuit then that would be a different matter, but it is not fair to link the incident with F1 as there is nothing to suggest there is any connection.
Perhaps being cocooned within the rarefied world of F1 and being spoon fed news via the regime and FOM its possible you’re unaware the furore generated around the world on the situation in Bahrain.
Certainly the death is being connected to the protests and the protests are being connected to F1 because F1 is legitimately linked to a regime that acknowledges denial of basic human rights.
Attempting to differentiate between the regime and F1 is disingenuous under these circumstances.
What is however concerning is the numbers of accredited journalists with the necessary experience and background being denied entry to Bahrain by the authorities in a concerted effort to prevent objective reporting or access to civil rights activists. Instead we get to rely on sports journalists who are restricted by their brief to the circuit and who with the greatest respect we cannot have similar confidence in, given their connection and reliance upon FOM and Ecclestone’s largess.
While I respect your view I don’t believe you’re right the problems are six of one and half a dozen of the other or that it will all be forgotten on Monday, furthermore the failure of everyone in F1, teams, drivers and journalists to say with vigour what the vast majority of us who live in the real world think is lamentable, frankly they’re in no small measure responsible for at least this death today. Had F1 cancelled there would have been no three days of rage, hence no death.
Hang on TJ, first he was shot, now he’s been beaten to death ? What is it ?
No body has turned up or been shown to the press – not even by the protestors.
Lets wait ’til we see it, find out who it was, check the wounds and review the circumstances before we jump to conclusions shall we.
To be honest – for a country in ‘total turmoil and widespread upheaval’ – one dead after 2 days of ‘national riots’ is pretty mild. That’s either massive retsraint or smaller riots than we’re being told.
The reports include both a beating and gunshot wounds, but how many deaths or beatings is going to be too many.
But you suggest we wait and see, and rely on what?
The impartiality and accountability of a discredited Bahraini administration or judicial system advised by that paragon of virtue John Yates.
Or the legion of the worlds news journalists denied visa’s by the Bahraini authorities intent on suppressing news of events there and forced to report without actual access?
So who are you going to rely upon to provide oversight of the regime? Those with vested interested in the status-quo, better to bury your head in the sand.
I’m not going to rely on anyone.
Never believe anything I’m told. Best to accumulate data over a period from as many sources as possible and gradually form an opinion. that then interacts with other opinions previously formed and forming. gives you a picture and allows you to evaluate the most likely outcome and the motives behind it.
I certainly don’t listen to one source saying someones beaten, shot, freedom fighter, parachutist, gone for dinner been kidnapped etc.
For all we know the dead guy could’ve got into an argument about a parking space.
i never let a one off feed a biased preconception. Couldn’t get through the day if i did
And I do have the ultimate get out – its not my business and appears very low down on my ‘give a s- – t’ list. Hand wringing and tear shedding never solved a problem – nor do many charities by the way.
Has anyone read the contract between FOM and the Bahrain GP organisers? Who has final say for the event to go ahead, and why does western mainstream media exaggerate stories…
Pretty sure that you will find it is a commercial secret, like most of F1, even some of the rules.
It is also quite likely that several people know the content of most of the secret documents that make the world that Bernie lives in.
The $$$ always have the final say 🙂 😦
It’s not about the money, FOM have enough.
You can bet the global viewing figures will be up for the race.
I am a Hungarian.
Which means I am from a country where a revolution against the then-ruling communist system was put down by the Soviet Union in 1956 with more tanks than the Germans had in WWII.
Fast forward 30 years and behold, F1 is coming to the country. By then of course, the ruling dictatorship was only a shadow of its earlier, bloodshedding self.
But I cannot come up with a single Hungarian or any other person who disliked the idea of an F1 race being organised. And for the record, the Hungarian GP was established only because the Soviet Union refused to host the race, despite Bernie Ecclestone pushing it hard.
Also, just putting it right here: F1 went to South Arica during the Apartheid, with much of the controversy that we have now with Bahrain, and in a Monty Python-esque twist, teams and FOM were discussing last week whether to cancel the Bahrain GP in… communist China.
I mean human rights?
F1 does not need to care about human rights, it shouldn’t. It never did.
F1 should pull out – if ever – only because of safety concerns, not because of the publicity that’s going with it that has been kidnapped by both sides.
If there is a concern about safety, I am backing cancelling the race 100%.
If there is not a safety concern, I am backing the race to be hosted 100% for one genuine reason: the F1 fans in Bahrain.
And for the record, FOM can throw stones at themselves for depriving Force India of publicity on qualifying.
Sentiments that broadly seem to make sense Gabor
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/buddha.html
Try some of these. The one on page three about being careful about what you say is particularly relavent.
Joe, go to Bennagins across the road from TGI for booze!
You’re in an ethnically divided country, as many other Arab countries are. You’re a naive non-native who basically took the line of others know better, we’re sport, not political and didn’t acknowledge the reality on the ground.
As for this “…except perhaps the reporters who are specifically going into the areas where there is trouble…” like Homs maybe? “….the trouble is very localised.” like Homs maybe? the only difference is scale.
This is laughable “…No Man’s Land on the Western Front and started to play cricket between the front lines…” Think more about Emily Wilding Davison – do you think the media will be talking about someting else on Monday if anything similar happens on Sunday. If you felt strongly and wanted publicity…….
Thank you for telling me where I am. Are you here? Or are you just postulating from home? I have not taken the line you suggest. If you think that you do not understand my post. What makes you think you know the reality on the ground? Did you see it on TV? It strikes me that you are naive to believe the TV. As I have said several times when there is a flood the TV cameras always film the deepest water. They do not film puddles. They do not film the 1000 people who walk down the road to buy their fish and chips and nothing happens to them. That is not news. But news is not reality. I am not denying that there is trouble in Bahrain. What I am saying is that it is not the war zone you think it is. And I know because I am here – and my brain is in gear.
To be fair Joe, when you were not ‘on the ground’ over the past few months it hasn’t stopped yourself talking and speculating about what has been happening on the ground and it’s potential impact on the race and F1. Now your there, and your are seeing it first hand for yourself, it seems like you have a different opinion of events. I’m not criticising, i find it interesting reading either way, and i appreicate the time you take writing this blog (was a GP+ sub last season, my finances have stopped me this season).
Patience of a saint Joe, patience of a saint.
All of the previous posters have totally missed the very best part of Joe’s post; “as dissapointing as Halle Berry in a burka.”. Priceless!
“Halle Berry in a burka”
My thought was that this is an example of there being writers and there being they who comment (us).
I’ve enjoyed Gabor Vajda’s comments re F1 in Hungary. The only bit I have problems with concern the remark re the number of Russian tanks entering Budapest.As someone who as a young University student had the misfortune of counting them in on Ulloi ut on 4th November 1956 I can confirm that there were indeed hundreds of them but still a fraction of the number of tanks on both sides in the Battle of Kursk in 1943. And unlike Brian Hanrahan in the Falklands I did not have the good fortune of counting them out until 1989/90.
It looks like one of the protest organisers was beaten to death overnight; is this situation really an appropriate venue for F1 participation? Especially if the Grand Prix is fueling escalated violence in the clashes?
It’s not a rhetorical question.
Personally, I wouldn’t have anything to do with supporting a repressive regime, but my voice is irrelevant to Formula One: just one tiny chirp lost in the cacaphonous chorus of fandom. What do matter are the actions of the participants: all it would take is one major player taking a stand to affect change, and I’m disappointed not to see that happening.
The primary arguments in favor of business-as-usual come down to Formula One’s charter as an apolitical institution, a position I can respect in the sense that just about any host nation bears its own legacy of injustices which are ultimately irrelevant to the sport; that to leave politics out of the equation is the only pragmatic course forward in a devisive world. That’s a fine position when there’s no direct involvement of the participants in the cause du jour, but in this particular case the parties are failing to recognise that while they’re insulated from the clashes in terms their own personal safety, those clashes are very much being instigated by the world stage they’re bringing along by virtue of their participation.
Formula One in Bahrain is political, whether it wants to be or not.
I think the question is worth asking until the parties involved at least acknowledge the issues beyond their myopic positions to-date.
Great post Joe and im glad that unlike so many of the Journos youve told it how you see it rather than trying to make more of a story. E.g. BBC News scrolling banner sayong Force India car hit by petrol bomb. Its becoming obvious who had integrity and who is sent to get a story. Whilst i dont believe its good for Bahrain or F1 this weekend i think some of the media portrayal appears to be very catalytic. I also find it hard to stomach that so few people object to the China race but do so for the Bahrain race. I guess Chinese human rights issues wont sell stories though. Its hard to know from the outside though as the media control much of what we see and hear.
It is not good for F1, nor for Bahrain.
Although I don’t live in Bahrain I am a Westerner and do however live in another country that gets similar headlines in the Western press – the sensational ones created by extremists and minorities. The headlines are often wrong, exaggerated (surprise) and seldom have no bearing on what the real situation is.
I feel sorry for many of you with your views either way as the fact is you are just basing it on what info you have to hand – for that I don’t blame you but the bottom line is you don’t have a clue, how could you.
Ironically and just as bad of course, these various “bad” countries also sensationalise happenings in the West that many of you would find ludicrous and laughable if you read them – the media and propaganda has a lot to answer for.
The conclusions I reached are based on the information I have at hand in addition to everything else that you have, plus face-to-face discussions with people on the ground, plus years of going there and following its politics.
I wasn’t directly having a go at your or your comments Joe, was just a generalisation for many of these situations in other countries that get posted about – people can only go on what little information they get fed and then there’s the culture differences. The only way one can ever understand is by living in the country and having social intercourse at all levels of class over a long period of time (8 years for me). I have completely turned my thinking around from what I now know came from complete ignorance and being fed sensationalist reporting bias. What I now know can not be taught.
Oh and just another comment if I may, it’s interesting when there a group of rock throwers in Bahrain and a group of rock throwers lets say in England, how that the Police are the bad guys in Bahrain but are the good guys in England … maybe worth considering for a moment.
Thank you all for your comments on this subject. It is now over. I have read some interesting views from all sides, and have noted particularly the number of people who were pleased that the silent majority has had a voice, albeit a small one. Everyone has a different viewpoint and finding the right balance between the various parties is not easy at all. I hope that there can be some balance found so that the bloodshed can stop. However, this is a motor racing blog and we must now move on.