Former FIA president Max Mosley has condemned the decision to return to Bahrain on October 30th.
The 71-year-old says the decision must be reversed immediately or it will cost the sport dearly.
In his column for the Telegraph newspaper, he likened the reinstatement of the race to Formula 1 becoming a puppet of the government to improve its image on the world stage, attempting to wash over and forget the recent controversy in the country.
“Surely the line has to be drawn when a sporting event is not mere entertainment in a less-than-perfect country, but is being used by an oppressive regime to camouflage its actions,” he said.
“If a sport accepts this role, it becomes a tool of government. If Formula One allows itself to be used in this way in Bahrain, it will share the regime’s guilt as surely as if it went out and helped brutalise unarmed protesters.
“The Bahrain government wants to clean up its image. That’s where the Grand Prix comes in. By running the race they hope to show the world the troubles were just a small, temporary difficulty and everything is now back to normal,” he added.
“By agreeing to race there, Formula One becomes complicit in what has happened. It becomes one of the Bahrain government’s instruments of repression. The decision to hold the race is a mistake which will not be forgotten and, if not reversed, will eventually cost Formula One dear.”
Whilst the FIA shows no signs of reversing the decision, an online petition which has exceeded 400,000 signatories, calling for Red Bull to boycott the event, could put pressure on the teams and sponsors to call it off, which would then force the FIA’s hand.
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