Britain’s 1996 world champion Damon Hill, who had spoken out against going
last year but had been a supporter 12 months on, reversed his position again
this month when he called for a rethink.
“It would be a bad state of affairs, bad for Formula One, to be seen to
be enforcing martial law to hold the race,” he told the Guardian
newspaper.
The Formula One Teams Association, which includes seven teams but not
Vettel’s, have said the decision is not their’s to make and have said it is
up to the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) to offer
guidance.
The FIA and commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who is close to Vettel, have
both expressed a desire for the race to proceed as planned.
Two members of the Lotus team who visited Bahrain earlier this month also lent
support to the race going ahead in a report circulated to all the teams. It
spoke of the likelihood of peaceful protests rather than any threat of
violence.
Others disagree, and point to the wounding of seven policemen on Monday after
a home-made bomb exploded in a Shi’ite village outside Manama.
The situation in Bahrain has also grown more tense with protesters and
international rights groups calling for the release of jailed activist
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike since Feb. 8.