Formula One organizers are to make a final decision within days on whether to go ahead with the Bahrain Grand Prix as they consider whether anti-government protests will flare up again. Fresh protests have raised uncertainty over the long-planned race, while organizers and the Bahraini government appear set on going forward and keeping things calm. Ecclestone hinted that the matter was all but settled. “The race is on the calendar, it's scheduled. The only people that can do anything about it is the national sporting authority in the country that can ask for it to be withdrawn from the calendar,” he told Reuters at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. “Unless it gets withdrawn by the national sporting authority in the country, then we'll be there.” At stake is not just a race that in 2010, when it was last held, brought in more than 100,000 visitors and half a billion dollars in spending to Bahrain, but the country's pride in being the first in the Middle East to host Formula One in 2004. Bahrain's rulers are eager to bring back a successful race as part of their efforts to show progress on reconciliation and reform. Crown Prince Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa initiated the race in Bahrain and is also its honorary president. A final decision on whether to go forward is due this weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Bahrain leg of the Formula One circuit is to follow on April 20-22. “Saturday could be a likely day for any emergency meeting,” commented one racing team member, who did not want to be named. Among the teams, McLaren has particularly close ties to the kingdom. Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat owns 42 percent of the McLaren Group and 50 percent of its automotive wing. Circuit officials said preparations are fully under way and there was no reason to think the race would not proceed at the Bahrain International Circuit, built in Sakhir at a cost of $150 million. “We are satisfied the sport's governing body, the FIA, is satisfied and the commercial rights holders are satisfied that a safe and successful event can be achieved,” said Jassim Albardooli, a spokesman for Bahrain International Circuit. Circuit Chairman Zayed Al-Zayani accused “certain small extremist groups” of distorting the situation in Bahrain on social networking sites. Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's largest opposition group, said that while it did not like the idea of Formula One's return, it did not see any point in trying to disrupt the event. John Yates, a former assistant commissioner of the British metropolitan police who was hired by Bahrain to oversee reform of its police force, wrote to the head of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) saying that Bahrain was safe and that portrayals of current protests were overblown. “The almost nightly skirmishes that take place in certain villages are a potential block on progress and are putting those involved in their policing and innocent members of the public in significant danger,” Yates wrote in a letter to FIA President Jean Todt, obtained by Reuters Thursday. “However, in spite of how these events may be portrayed through the medium of Youtube and other outlets, their significance should not be overplayed,” Yates said. “Along with my family, I feel completely safe. Indeed, safer than I have often felt in London.”
