The president of the Bahrain Grand Prix settles scores

Zayed Alzayani, president of the Bahrain Grand Prix, was present at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, won by Fernando Alonso, « a very good race, a deserved result, and new facilities that made a big difference, » assures the Bahraini in an interview with the London Evening Standard.

After the pleasantries, the rest of the interview turns vitriolic as Alzayani settles scores with F1 following the saga of the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The first victims of the Bahraini are the teams that invoked Human Rights to justify their opposition to the Grand Prix: “They will go to the United States next year,” retorts the 42-year-old businessman. “And Guantanamo? Isn’t that a violation of Human Rights? As Bernie told me, ‘if respect for Human Rights were the criterion for hosting an F1 race, then we would only go to Belgium and Switzerland in the future.'”

Alzayani also regrets the confusion, according to him, between the different protest movements in the Arab world. There is Tunisia and Egypt, which are nationalist movements. Then you have Libya, Yemen, and Syria, where leaders use all the arsenal at their disposal to stay in power. You see people being killed there every day. Bahrain is neither one nor the other. His Majesty, King Hamad, is not Muammar Gaddafi or Bashar Al Assad. He lifted the state of emergency and appointed renowned international observers to monitor the situation. The national dialogue is ongoing.

A dialogue where the rebels seem to play only a minor role, according to some observers, and which nevertheless resulted in 31 deaths during the army’s repression against protesters at the Pearl Roundabout.

The situation had moreover caused the cancellation of the GP2 Asia Series race due to the availability of ambulances according to Alzayani: « We needed at least 18 ambulances for the race to take place, and because of the riots and the number of injured among the population, all ambulances were mobilized for the transport of protestors, so we could not hold the race. »

Quickly, the winter tests scheduled at the Sakhir circuit were also canceled before the Grand Prix was postponed, with the FIA planning to decide on the final fate of the race by May 1, 2011, at the latest. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile then again postponed its decision, waiting for the state of emergency to be lifted before making a pronouncement. If the World Council had decided to reinstate Bahrain in the calendar, the reaction of the main F1 stakeholders and the teams’ concerns for their safety pushed the Kingdom to permanently forgo its Grand Prix for the 2011 season.

There was a unanimous vote from the 26 members of the World Council. Bernie voted in favor. On June 8, I met him in London, and he told me that there was resistance among the teams but that if we wished, he would support us in maintaining the race, even suggesting the option of organizing it on December 4, confides the Bahraini businessman.

I feel disappointed because in three months, we have gone from one extreme to the other, from “Oh, you are our favorite destination, we love being here, we feel at home in Bahrain” to “We don’t want to go to Bahrain.” Yes, there have been events in between, but one cannot be so fickle, asserts Alzayani, although he concedes having given up on organizing the Grand Prix in order to not stir tensions with the teams.

The businessman, however, questions Max Mosley’s reaction, who claimed that Formula One would have had to run over [his] body to go to Bahrain if he had still been President of the FIA. The Briton was also surprised that the inspection was conducted by Carlos Gracia, head of the Spanish Federation of Mechanical Sports, as he neither speaks English nor Arabic.

« This shows you how naive Max Mosley is, » retorts Alzayani. « There were translators. I don’t need to speak Chinese to do business in China. Max talks a lot and isn’t very precise. He talks about morality: if I were him, I probably wouldn’t want to use the word « morality », » reacts the Bahraini, alluding to the sexual escapades of the former FIA president that had been revealed by the News of the World. « I think Max has a grudge against Bahrain because he wasn’t invited to attend the Grand Prix » Alzayani seems to believe.

On his side, Max Mosley explains: It had nothing to do with that or with the fact that Gracia doesn’t speak English. Of course there were interpreters, but Gracia is not a lawyer. The FIA should have sent a lawyer specialized in Human Rights. The world of Formula One did not seem to appreciate Bahrain using the Grand Prix to justify the suppression of Human Rights.

But the Brit is not the last to be the subject of sharp criticism from the President of the Bahrain Grand Prix, as Mark Webber, who is the only driver to have publicly opposed a return to Sakhir in 2011, also takes his share: « Yeah, he talked about Human Rights and all that. But doesn’t Australia have issues with the Aborigines? I haven’t heard Mark Webber mention that. Why he opposed Bahrain, I don’t know. He came and raced here many times and he loved it. We never received any criticism during the last seven races. We always received top marks for our organization and everyone involved in Formula One loves us » explains Alzayani, whose inaugural Grand Prix received the award for best organization, given by the FIA.

The businessman is also convinced that Bahrain remains the home of Formula One in the Gulf and prides itself on making more efforts than Great Britain to promote its Grand Prix: At Silverstone, you feel the race on the track [but] you see nothing at the airport, maybe a small banner, but nothing in London. On Oxford Street, no one knows that the Grand Prix is taking place. If it had been in Bahrain, you would have seen posters, flyers, and advertisements in every shop, on every corner of the city. For us, the Grand Prix is definitely the most important event of the year. We prepare for it long in advance, it’s a showcase for Bahrain, it transforms the country and changes the mindset of the population. It’s more important than Silverstone, the FA Cup, the Derby, and the Grand National horse race combined.

This is, moreover, the major difference that contrasts Great Britain, along with most of the historical F1 nations, and the new countries, like Bahrain, which only host the Grand Prix or just slightly more.

The fact remains that, if Formula One does not go to Bahrain in 2011, it will return in 2012, kicking off the season on March 11, just a year after the events at Pearl Square. However, Alzayani does not seem so sure about this, as the 2012 schedule is still provisional. « I don’t know when the race will take place next year. It doesn’t depend on us. »