F1 accused of “double standard” over Bahrain after Russian GP cancellation

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In the round-up: A Bahraini human rights group has accused Formula 1 of “double standards” after the sport cancelled its Russian Grand Prix contract

In brief

Bahrain human rights group slams F1’s “double standard” after Russian GP cancelled

A Bahraini human rights group has accused Formula 1 of “double standards” after the sport cancelled its Russian Grand Prix contract.

The BBC reported that Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy director of advocacy Sayed Ahmed Alwadei had written to F1 president Stefano Domenicali, accusing F1 of contradicting their claim last year that the sport takes “violence, abuse of human rights and repression very seriously”.

The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled after civil unrest in the country during a wave of pro-democracy protests in nations across northern Africa and the Middle East.

The institute argued there was a “clear double-standard being applied with countries in the Middle East”, after F1 terminated its contract with promoters of the Russian Grand Prix following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Krack a “straight forward, zero politics” team principal – Vettel

Sebastian Vettel says that new Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack is still “settling in” at the Silverstone-based team ahead of the opening race of the season.

Krack joined the team in February from BMW, where he was previously head of motorsport for the German marque. Vettel and Krack had worked together previously in Formula 1 during their time at BMW Sauber.

“Obviously he’s trying to catch up because he doesn’t know the team,” said Vettel.

“But I think he’s settling in. He’s really open, he’s approaching everybody. Easy to talk to, very straightforward, zero politics. I think he’s a great addition to the team.”

Verstappen keen to try endurance racing after F1

Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen says he would like to racing in endurance racing in the future.

The Red Bull driver recently signed a six year contract extension to stay with the team until the end of the 2028 season. In an interview on his website, Verstappen says he would like to try his hand at endurance racing in the future.

“In the distant future, I do want to race in other categories such as endurance racing where you share a car with two or three others,” he said. “Of course I always want to win, but enjoyment will be very important.”

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Comment of the day

With Lewis Hamilton publicly sharing his intention to incorporate his mother’s surname of Larbalestier into his own legal name to show his appreciation for her support throughout his life, @broke1984 recalls a historic racing driver with a notable name…

I’ll remind people of the longest name ever in F1:

Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago.
@Broke1984

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Franky!

On this day in motorsport

Raul Boesel, March, Monza, 1982
March endured a point-less campaign with their 1982 car
  • 40 years ago today March launched their 821 chassis

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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50 comments on “F1 accused of “double standard” over Bahrain after Russian GP cancellation”

  1. “Money talks” —Lewis Hamilton

  2. Saudi Arabia’s government mass executed 81 people yesterday after trying them in secret.
    These evils by empires funded, controlled or infiltrated by oil and gas entities currently dwarf all others.

  3. I think Hamilton should have kept this private on changing his name. By the way in response to the Bahrain article, I saw reports of some bad stuff happening in Saudi Arabia and some people on social media are again raising the notion of racing there. Anyone heard about that yet? I also think they should have put Jeddah later in the year. We are going into the most dangerous circuit of the sport in the 2nd race of a new generation of cars, even though there are alterations to the track.

    1. Good luck with international politics.

    2. I think Hamilton should have kept this private on changing his name

      To be fair, I don’t think any of us knows the context in which it popped up. Plus – it would never stay private once carried out, no?

      1. Its in an interview that commences at 7 mins in, 15 min mark talks about the family’s role in a child’s journey, then onto the possibility of an 8th title; around the 23 min mark, where he talks about what it would mean to him, his family and the family name.
        Despite the headlines elsewhere it is nothing to do with surnames, just adding the name to go with Carl and Davidson. Which nevertheless going by some of the comments here is upsetting to some.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEo1gkHOlP4&ab_channel=PETRONASMotorsports

    3. @krichelle The Saudis prefer being in the early-season phase, hence, the immediate move from the opposite end.
      Going to Jeddah this early with the new car generation versus late-season is irrelevant/indifferent safety-wise.
      Nothing wrong with telling everyone about the name change or rather addition plan, while the SA thing you brought me, I’m unaware of & don’t really see anything huge in that. People are probably only overreacting.

  4. some racing fan
    15th March 2022, 1:29

    Fair criticism. Include Saudi Arabia in that.

  5. They’re absolutely right. The same European countries that are refusing or rejecting Syrian refugees are welcoming Ukrainian refugees with open arms. There is a massive double standard.

    1. Didn’t you know, Western Europeans can’t be hypocritical. They are the barometer of morality, what they say goes.

      1. @geemac more than 1 million Syrian refugees have been taken in by Western European countries, with Germany being one of the largest host countries of Syrian refugees, according to the UNHCR.

        1. anon,
          Let’s not forget that the million refugees you were talking about were hosted solely thanks to a brave decision made by Angela Merkel that nearly costed her her job at the time in 2015 and she was slammed for it both in Germany and Europe. The Ukrainian hypocrisy has exposed the western hypocrisy in treating the refugee issue based on race.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z9UyPurVok

          On another note, Tunisia one of the poorest countries in the Arab world has hosted more than a million refugee in the Libyan crisis in 2011. People only started talking about it when Angelina Jolie visited the refugee camps and asked the international community for more aid.

          1. * The Ukrainian crisis

          2. That’s the thing tho, Tunisia and Libya are neighbours. As are Ukraine and Poland. Ukrainians going to Germany or Belgium move over 2 or 3 countries. Syrian refugees pass 6 or 7 good countries to try and get in to that 8th or 9th that they think is even richer. And let’s not pretend like those countries refuse every single refugee. It’s easy to put it all on race but explain to me why Syrians want to be in the UK, France or Belgium when they already passed Bulgaria, Croatia etc.

          3. @tifoso1989

            Your narrative is full of lies, half-truths and leaves out facts that paint things in a different light.

            For example, Tunisia gets the highest amount of EU aid per capita. So it’s not like we are not helping.

            The entire narrative that ‘merely’ taking in over a million of Syrian refugees is evidence of racism, is something you believe because your ideology hates white people, not because you can actually make a decent case for it.

          4. @aapje
            Instead of insulting me and accusing me of being racist, can you expose the lies that I have included in my narrative and the remaining half truths. To best honest, I’m already used to you being confused on this proper forum but I’m going to answer you anyway.

            For example, Tunisia gets the highest amount of EU aid per capita. So it’s not like we are not helping.

            I wasn’t talking about the economic aid Tunisia gets from the EU. I hope you realize hat’s a completely different subject. I was talking about the fact that Angelina Jolie called the international community for more support to the refugee crisis on the Tunisian Libyan borders in 2011 and that what was went viral at the time more than the crisis itself.

            https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2011/4/4d9ae8476/angelina-jolie-calls-continued-support-populations-fleeing-libya-humanitarian.html

            I didn’t say that taking a million Syrian refugee was an evidence on racism. I said that the decision wasn’t popular even in Germany let alone Europe and could have costed Merkel her job which was the case. The famous “Wir schaffen das” phrase and the criticism it drawled in the summer of 2015 are all documented.

          5. @tifoso1989

            I wasn’t talking about the economic aid Tunisia gets from the EU. I hope you realize hat’s a completely different subject.

            The EU sends aid to non-EU countries that are harboring many refugees, to help them. Your accusation was that the EU is not helping Tunesia enough with their refugee crisis, but again, we are giving them more aid per capita than any other country.

            So I don’t understand why you insist that this is a completely different subject when this is clearly false. In fact, you are now again proving my point that your narrative is full of half-truths and falsehoods.

            I was talking about the fact that Angelina Jolie called the international community for more support to the refugee crisis on the Tunisian Libyan borders in 2011 and that what was went viral at the time more than the crisis itself.

            Yes, people are irrational in many ways. But how does that support your claims?

            Your tactic seems to be to take things that are extremely common and thus can be used to ‘prove’ anything, and claim that they prove that your narrative is true. For example, you criticize Europeans because some spoke out against harboring so many refugees (which is merely one way in which one can help them and not necessarily the best way). Any policy, in any society will have people in favor and against (and for different reasons). So your argument can be used to criticize any peoples (with your glass half full argument) or compliment them (if you look at the people in favor instead). It proves nothing.

            Similarly, the claim that people are callous because many only noticed something once Jolie got involved ignores that hypes are very much in human nature. The sudden interest in Tunesia is inherently not much different than the sudden popularity of shoes with wheels on them. It doesn’t prove that Europeans are particularly callous, it just proves that they are human.

            I didn’t say that taking a million Syrian refugee was an evidence on racism.

            I didn’t say that you said that, so…

            I said that the decision wasn’t popular even in Germany let alone Europe and could have costed Merkel her job which was the case.

            This is just an outright falsehood, because there was an election after Merkel did this and while her party lost votes (which you cannot just attribute to one decision), the party remained the largest and Merkel remained Chancellor.

            Merkel didn’t leave because she was voted out, but because she chose to retire. So what you are claiming is completely contrary to the facts.

            The famous “Wir schaffen das” phrase and the criticism it drawled in the summer of 2015 are all documented.

            And it is also documented that terrorists benefited from this. Also, keep in mind that I live in a country where North-African refugees not merely have had severe integration problems for generations, but also many intra-cultural conflicts.

            I realize that it is dogma among people like you that migration is wonderful and fixes all the problems in the world, for those who migrate and for those who harbor the migrants, as long as everyone opens their heart. However, reality is a lot more complex than that.

          6. I don’t think it is mainly racism, though it has a similar effect: People are more likely to want to take in those who are more similar to or more closely “related” to themselves.

            If a sibling, parent or child lost their home, few would hesitate to give them a place to stay, even if that meant turning their own world upside down to do so. A cousin or aunt/uncle would probably get similar treatment. A stranger who was a victim of a disaster from your own village or area of town would have more people hesitating, and one from the other side of the country even more so. And so it goes, along with other factors: Many would be less willing to let someone of a different religion stay than one of the same religion, I suspect most would be less willing to allow someone to stay with whom they didn’t share a spoken language, and the more different the culture the more reluctance will be seen.

            Now there is, of course, a chunk of racism involved. Some of the above is even used by racists in an attempt to hide racist tendencies (my ex father in law used to proudly state that he was xenophobic, not racist, though the behaviour he displayed was decidedly racist). But the fact is that humans will generally be more supportive of helping when those needing the help are more similar to themselves. It’s a pretty horrible part of human nature, and it shares many aspects with racism, but it isn’t, in itself, racism.

          7. @aapje
            Tunisia receives aid from the EU through the Micro Finance Assistance program which is as a form of financial aid through medium/long-term loans or grants, or a combination of these, which the EU extends to partner countries under certain conditions.

            The aid is targeted towards specific areas, if for example the EU grants a non EU country a loan to improve the healthcare system then the money must be spent on improving the healthcare system and not anything else. The refugee camps are totally a different subject. I hope do you understand that.

            or example, you criticize Europeans because some spoke out against harboring so many refugees (which is merely one way in which one can help them and not necessarily the best way).

            Don’t put words in my mouth. I criticized the fact that the refugee crisis is treated differently by the westerns based on race. I stand by the fact that Ukrainians, Syrians, Iraqi… refugees should all be given help with regard to their suffering.

            And it is also documented that terrorists benefited from this. Also, keep in mind that I live in a country where North-African refugees not merely have had severe integration problems for generations, but also many intra-cultural conflicts.

            What are you talking about ? I told you, I’m used to you being confused because apart from the Libyan crisis, there is no war in North Africa. The problem with you exclusionary right-wing populists like you is that they think anything bad in this planet is related to immigration. If you look bad, don’t blame the mirrors.

          8. It has not to do with race it has to do with culture and shared history. My country cared not much about Ireland conflict or Basque conflict, but cared about East Timor in the other side of the world. We have a big Ukranian community here from 1990’s
            Not all refugees are the same for everyone, Culture have consequences. A refuge from a Culture that puts women as subjects, do not recognizes others religions except those of the “book” is significant problem.
            You live in Democracy and that vote and public behaviour has consequences.
            And finally Syria is one of the most anti-Jewish in the world, Mien k*mpf is a good seller there if you like that…. Do you see Hindu, Budhist temples in Arab countries? If not why not?

    2. It is called selective vision, somethin a visit to the eye doctor can’t correct.

    3. They’re flleeing to the neighbor country. Why syrians didn’t do that as well?

      1. The vast majority of Syrian refugees are in Jordan and Turkey for precisely this reason, the west has taken on close to none comparatively speaking.

        1. @hazelsouthwell

          Over a million people are apparently close to none.

          Your completely unrealistic demands can never be met, anyway, so whatever we do, you will hate the west for not doing enough.

          1. Proportionally, yes, that is close to none.

          2. Syria had about 22 million inhabitants (about half of what Ukraine has), some 6,5 million of those have fled to different, somewhat more safe places in Syria itself and about 6,7 million to other countries @aapje. Turkey houses about 3,6 million of them, and here are about 1,5 million Syrians in Lebanon (population about 6-7 million), some 750k in Jordan, and a quarter of a million in Iraq.

          3. @bascb

            Indeed, so the EU is harboring 1/6th of those who fled abroad, which is very far from close to none. Especially considering that many of these are being harbored very far from Syria itself.

            How many Syrians does China harbor? Russia? Japan? Brazil? The US? Yet somehow it is the EU that deserves criticism.

            As I said, it is never enough and the double standards are obvious.

          4. That is pretty big BS @aapje.

            The US, Canada, Brazil need you to take a plane to fly there. Yes, there ARE people who went over the pond, but it just is not as easy to get there. Go to China? they know how china treats Muslims in the north-east. Not to mention it is almost 5000 km (through territory that was ISIS at first, then through Iran, and through war-zone Afghanistan to get there)

            And the idea that anyone fleeing bombing by Russian airforce in Syria to go live in Russia is so completely off world that it must be you just spouting nonsense to feel you are opposing something.

    4. There are two sides to the story. I am from country that has border with Ukraine and we have refugees coming in.

      First of all, I agree that Syrian refugees should have been treated the same as Ukrainian refugees. They were not. We had elections here and the ruling (and wining party) made refugees the main political point to cover their corruption scandals and other issues. They were playing simple fear of people and using it for their benefit. Also, quite many people in my country are idiotic bigots fearing anything different, being it other religions, homosexuals, whatever, you name it they hate it… Part of the government coalition was also nationalist party that is well known for their good relationships with Putin and they are spreading their pro-Putin narrative even now. Luckily they are not part of the government anymore. Putin gave them a lot of money as he did to other extremists organizations around Europe.

      On the other hand, there is a difference between Ukrainians and Syrians, because Ukraine is our close neighbor, they have similar religion, education and culture. They are much easier to integrate into our society than a Syrian refugee. Their language is close to our etc. They have been coming here and working here for long time, just not in the same amounts. I have neighbors from Ukraine. They are known quantity and do not trigger the bigots here as much. They are far more likely to become productive member of society rather than social burden. And we do not know of any Ukrainian that has blown himself in suicide attack. That is why people have different opinion about the refugees. Many of those expectations are not true and I do not agree with them, but some are.

      Also, Ukraine is fighting for us now, we would be next target in Putin’s mind.
      And don’t worry, pro-Putin propaganda is working 150% 24/7. There are already trolls talking about decreasing the support for Ukraine and thinking about “our people’s” problems. The same people speaking against Syrians now already talking the same about Ukrainians. This narrative will get to the stupider par of our population and there will be change in the currently welcoming attitude against the refugees.

      1. You make some valid and well-thought-out points.

        All I will add is that hosting refugees is difficult even when you share common ethnicities, languages and cultures. Just like with pointless wars, bigots find a way to bring out the worst characters of humanity.

      2. Well made points indeed @raqua, the last day or so I have seen more and more of the expected trolls, those kinds of politicians, media etc starting to come out with “oh, but our fuel”, “hey giving them 200 EUR for nothing and free zoo access is not fair to our own poor”, and “help our jobs” kind of disinformation (I live one country away from the border about 500-600 km), pretty much like what turned the public opinion against refugees from Syria a few years ago.

        As you rightly mentions @husseynrazaq, it is hard to integrate large groups of refugees even when they are close too.
        I hope we will manage it better this time around. And I hope this war at least can be won so that many/most of them can return home (to rebuild their homes probably with our support). Maybe a defeat for Russia in Ukraine will also help make it possible for Syrians to return home in time too (since Assad will be left without Russian air defence and jets to bomb them into submission).

        1. I hope we will manage it better this time around.

          I hope so too. The amount of disinformation which was spread about Syrian refugees was appalling. Acquaintances of mine were convinced by certain media outlets that they were all rapists and thieves, that none could be trusted and we shouldn’t even help out the kids because they would attack “our own” children. It was vile.

          1. Quite @drmouse.

            I see some signs of alike disinformation already being pushed out, but I guess with Russia having less money easily available, with more awareness of it happening (and therefore more immediate pushback from authorities) they are having a harder time to make it stick so far.

  6. In our minds we need this clear, most of the company banning, blocking… Russia including F1 don’t really care about human rights, human life what they really care about is to “look good”. So when we are going to se Bahrain banned?… Maybe when it on BBC,CNN,DW when millions of people star putting little Bahrain flags on their twitter, facebook and instagram profiles basically you need to create a tik tok trend.. then they will listen.

    1. Sad but true, politics/media decide the news and the herd will follow after.

  7. Did Bahrain militarily invade a neighbouring country? No? Then no double standard there.

    1. Bahrain are part of the Saudi led invasion of Yemen. Which is heavily criticised.

      Not a direct neighbour though. So technically you’re correct.

      1. @gongtong Have a look at who supplies weapons to the Saudi and Bahraini military and then think about whether we should cancel their grands prix as well.

      2. @gongtong

        There is a big difference between the government of Ukraine and Ansar Allah.

        1. @geemac and @aapje

          I don’t know where my personal view on this kind of thing lies. So I’m not going to pick and choose which countries I think we should stop going to. I think probably there’s a case for all bar Switzerland. And someone will probably correct me on that now.

          I certainly don’t agree with those that say that sport should be apolitical. It shouldn’t be.

          My point here was simply that Bahrain have committed troops to invading another country. It’s not necessarily comparable to Ukraine. But the initial comment wasn’t 100% accurate.

          1. @gongtong Motor racing is illegal in Switzerland. :)

          2. @geemac of course it is! I forgot about that. It all makes sense now! =D

    2. You must have misses when the Saudi army came into Bahrain to slaughter the protesters a few years back

  8. The point is that F1, FIA, LM and very other company involved don’t care about human rights.
    Cancelling Russia is simply virtue signalling under Western pressure, it has nothing to do with being morally correct or upholding human rights.

  9. Bwahaha, the ‘F1 derived’ suspension on the linked forthcoming Dodge muscle car will use leaf springs – you know, like those in a horse and cart… F1 stopped using leaf springs back in the 50s! They mentioned that they would be made of a composite material, so let’s hope they didn’t pick the composite material known as wood… :)

    1. You will be amazed the kind of cars that still used leaf springs in that market well into this century.
      The Corvette just finally let go of leaf springs in the 2020 version C8

  10. Starting a war is different & worse than human-rights stuff, so I don’t see a double standard in approach.

    So four drivers went golfing in the Bahrain desert.

    I like the AT photoshop.

    I noticed Ocon wearing glasses in the Vanity Fair fashion shoot, which are certainly non-prescription as otherwise, he would’ve had to take them off immediately. However, decently stylish clothes & good questions.

    Seb’s sim looks nice.

    Funny COTD.

  11. Coventry Climax
    15th March 2022, 10:27

    Having ‘Cow’s Head’ in your last name doesn’t sound really flattering. Just ‘Alfonso de Portago’ is what he used himself.
    He died, aged 28, in a tragic car crash during a race, in a Ferrari 335S (one of 4), on a straight. Blew up a tyre and killed himself, his co-driver and 10 spectators.
    Makes me wonder, were they Pirelli’s?

  12. I guess that I’m the censorship list now.

Comments are closed.