Bahrain Grand Prix chairman Zayed Al Zayani defends the race

Bahrain Grand Prix chairman Zayed Al Zayani blames “scaremongering extremists” and “armchair observers” as the main reason behind all the unnecessary commotion surrounding the event.

“What has been happening is that armchair observers – who have not been sufficiently interested or committed to investigate the situation for themselves – have been driving this debate, at the expense of those neutral parties who have taken the trouble to investigate the situation at first hand,” said Al Zayani.

There has been much talk over the issue and as tensions are mounting former players, politicians and human rights activists have all joined in.

The race was cancelled over similar issues in 2011 and even last year the race was not cancelled before a lot of pressure from media and the government was put on Ecclestone.

From the start of this year Ecclestone along with the Bahrain organisers have maintained that the race will go as scheduled. Recent developments though have casted a doubt once again.

Al Zayani said that they have welcomed a number of people in Bahrain in recent times who can all vouch that the country is ready to host any event. He urged the stakeholders of the sport to keep themselves aware of the true picture and to form their views and opinions according to that knowledge.

Ecclestone told BBC sport that he talked to Lotus and he has been reassured that the team is willing to take part in the event. Lotus sent a representative to Bahrain in order to analyse the situation first hand.

“One of the teams sent a person over there recently – and I’ve spoken to them today actually – and they said everything’s perfect, there’s no problem,” said Ecclestone. “They’ve been to the circuit, they’ve been everywhere in Bahrain and they are very happy.”

Speculation at this time will be futile as things are changing by the day, the only thing looking certain is that the debate is only going to get tougher and messier if the country’s issues do not resolve quickly. It is imminent that there may be another cancellation of the race but it remains to be seen.

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Posted by Kashif Khan on Apr 22 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.