Despite Bahrain’s reassurances some sponsors and teams are understood to be
nervous about returning, fearing that even if the situation is quiet now
Formula One’s presence could cause it to flare up. They point to the
decision of the European Tour to drop their 2012 golf event in Bahrain.
Domenicali said there was little point in speculating. “I heard that there
are a lot of rumours about the situation but we need to rely on the
competent authorities,” he said. “We have the international federation,
we have the commercial rights holder, we have relations with that country
and we cannot rely on different social media and information.
“We need to be very cool and realistic about that. Because otherwise we
are just dealing in speculation, which cannot help the country because in
different countries there can be situations that can be used in different
ways.”
Asked if the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, could be trusted to make the
right decision after what happened last summer – when it sent a
delegate to Bahrain who returned with a widely discredited report – Domenicali
said he hoped so.
“I think we need to trust them,” he said. “Maybe the experience [of last
year] will give a different approach to that and the information will be
more accurate.”
Speaking at Ferrari’s annual pre-season media event in Italy, Domenicali
revealed that Ferrari have hired Hirohide Hamashima, the former director of
Bridgestone’s tyre development, to give them a better understanding of an
area in which they struggled last year.
It was also announced that Ferrari will launch their 2012 challenger at their
Maranello base on Feb 3. Winter testing begins in Jerez on Feb 7.