Ecclestone unhappy with Bahrain organizers

Last weekend, F1 went to Bahrain for the fourth Grand Prix of the season. While the country has been shaken by a conflict between Shiites and Sunnis for over a year, the arrival of Formula 1 was an opportunity for organizers to promote the kingdom’s unity with the slogan “UniF1ed” (United) visible everywhere. During the podium ceremony, a banner was even displayed. Zayed Alzayani, the circuit director, wore a cap featuring the same slogan throughout the weekend.

This appropriation of Formula 1, and more likely the use of the term F1, is not at all to Bernie Ecclestone’s liking: “We have asked them to remove it and not to use it,” explains the F1’s chief financial officer.

However, Mister E does not think that it added fuel to the fire: « There were already problems before they used this slogan. We are not here to tell people how to run their country, » emphasizes the Englishman.

Some journalists, however, were not kind regarding the staging of this Grand Prix, particularly the English press, which drew the ire of Ecclestone: « I saw Bernie getting angry with English journalists in the press room. I had never seen him so upset, » reports Livio Oricchio from the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo.