Bahrain Grand Prix: David Cameron won’t join calls for axing of race

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters flooded a major road leading out of the capital, Manama, about 12 miles north of the Formula One circuit.

Opposition supporters chanted against King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, while riot police fired rounds of tear-gas and pepper spray, along with sound bombs, at a group of about a hundred protesters who broke away from the rally and headed to Pearl Square, a heavily guarded roundabout that served as the opposition’s hub during the first weeks of last year’s uprising.

Masked youths hurled petrol bombs back at police, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The tension was also evident on the racetrack, after two members of the Force India team flew home after a car was caught up in a petrol bomb incident on Wednesday.

The team drivers, Scotland’s Paul Di Resta, from Livingston, and Germany’s Niko Hulkenberg, cut short their practice sessions yesterday to be able to leave the desert circuit before nightfall.

Despite the intensifying unrest, Crown Prince Salman al-Khalifa vowed to press ahead with the contentious event, arguing that any move to scrap it would serve to “empower extremists,”

Scots motor-racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart agreed that it “would have been wrong” not to go ahead with the race.

Sir Jackie, three times the world champion, said: “In my opinion, it would have been wrong not to go ahead with the race, because if it didn’t, it would mean in the future when there is any unrest, you would have to do the same thing. I think it’s an exaggeration.”

Meanwhile, the Formula One supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, lashed out when asked about the demonstrations, telling reporters: “What we really need is an earthquake, or something like that now, so you can write about that.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband added his voice to demands for the race to be called off, claiming it would send out the wrong signal for the Grand Prix to go ahead at a time of protests over human rights abuses in Bahrain.

Mr Cameron said any decision over whether the race should go ahead was “a matter for Formula One”, adding: “It’s important that peaceful protests are allowed to go on.”

He said there was “a process of reform under way in Bahrain,” explaining: “This government backs that reform and wants to help promote that reform.”

Some 17 MPs have signed a cross-party motion at Westminster calling for the race to be called off, warning that it will be used by the Bahrain government as “an endorsement of its policies of suppression of dissent”.

Mr Miliband said sport and politics “generally shouldn’t mix”, but an exception should be made in the case of the race in Bahrain, asking: “What kind of signal does it send to the world when this Grand Prix is going ahead, given the concerns there are, given the violence we have seen in Bahrain, given the continuing issues around human rights?”

However, Prince Salaman said the race “allows us to build bridges across communities,” and described it as a “positive” situation rather than “divisive”.

“I actually think having the race has prevented extremists from doing what they think they need to do out of the world’s attention,” he said.

Prince Salman recognised there are people across the world “out to cause chaos”, underlining his point with the riots in English cities last year.

He then added: “There is a big difference between protesting for political rights and rioting.”

Speaking alongside him, Mr Ecclestone shied away from the topic of the sport seemingly having become entwined with politics. When it was suggested to him that F1 had brought Bahrain into the international spotlight, he replied: “I don’t think we came here for that reason.

“We came here because this race asked to be put on the calendar, and we’re happy and delighted it was. We’ve come here and that’s it.”

The F1 chief added: “What happens in this country is nothing to do with us.”

Mr Ecclestone insisted that any decision to cancel the race was out of his hands.“I can’t call this race off. Nothing to do with us. We’ve an agreement to be here, and we’re here,” he said.

“The national sporting authority in this country can call the race off. You can ask the FIA if they can.”

Mr Ecclestone added that F1 had no part to play in the politics of the Gulf kingdom.

“Political things go on in so many countries. These things happen, but we’re not here to get involved in the politics,” he said.

When a reporter suggested to Mr Ecclestone that the Bahraini government was using the race for political advantage, he said: “I don’t understand how they can honestly be so stupid, because if we weren’t here no-one would talk about Bahrain.

“There are other countries much higher up the priority list you should be writing about.

“Go to Syria and write about those things there, because it’s more important than here.”

Asked about the demonstrations, he said: “It’s a lot of nonsense. You guys love it.”