Damon Hill has voiced some concerns about Formula 1 visiting Bahrain later this month following intensified protests.
The 1996 world champion has previously supported a return to the country after visiting with FIA president Jean Todt in the Autumn last year. Despite this, he has now urged the governing body to consider the consquences the race might bring to the country.
“Things are different now,” he told the Guardian newspaper. “The protests have not abated and may even have become more determined and calculated.
“It is a worrying state of affairs. What we must put above all else is what will be the penalty in terms of human cost if the race goes ahead,” he said. “It would be a bad state of affairs, and bad for Formula One, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race. That is not what this sport should be about. Looking at it today you’d have to say that could be creating more problems than it’s solving.
“The view I gave after returning from the visit last year was based on my understanding of several factors; the substantial economic significance of the GP for Bahrain; that the report on the April riots condemned the actions of the police and security forces, and that both sides were to take part in meaningful dialogue to resolve the problems peacefully. Under those conditions one could imagine the GP being a great fillip for a Bahrain on the road to recovery.
“However, with under three weeks to go, conditions do not seem to have improved, judging by the reports in our European newspapers, social media and on Al Jazeera TV.”
Hill, who currently works with Sky Sports F1, will attend Bahrain if it goes ahead and isn’t calling for the race to be cancelled, but for the FIA to analyse the facts and whether it’s in the best interests of the country or the sport.
“I’m just saying we have to tread carefully. I hope the FIA are considering the implications of this fully and that events in Bahrain are not seen as they are often sold, as a bunch of yobs throwing Molotov cocktails, because that’s a gross simplification. If they believe that, they ought be more wary. You don’t get 100,000 people risking their lives in protest for nothing.
“If we go, we all go,” added the 51-year-old. “But there is obviously still a great deal of pain, anger and tension in Bahrain. It would be better for F1 to make it clear that it properly understands this, and that it wants only the best for all Bahrain, or whatever country it visits. I think F1 is sailing very close to this limit.
“But there is an even more troubling thought, which is this: is F1 playing brinkmanship for purely financial reasons, while people are putting their lives in peril to protest against this event?”
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