Rescheduling Bahrain GP: where is this world going to...??

The World Motorsport Council agreed to reinstate Bahrain GP in the 2011 championship and it will take place on October 30. Reading this statement left me with one thought and one thought only: where is this world going to...? I was totally devostated! I almost had to pinch myself so that I knew I wasn´t dreaming! I didn´t believe at all that it was actually possible to make the decision to reinstate Bahrain GP! I was so certain it wasn´t going to be an option at all. All the teams had been so strongly against the idea of bringing back Bahrain GP and extending the season till December. The teams are the ones that make the sport -F1 racing. How on Earth is it possible that the teams´opinion didn´t get heard? It´s such a howling injustice that it´s up to one man to decide whether they race in Bahrain or not. Of course I wasn´t there to witness the meeting and all the conversation that took place there but the decision really gives the image of only one man making the crucial decision as the teams publicly protested against bringing back Bahrain GP... 

On the FIA document it said: "The WMSC feels that reinstating the grand prix is a means of helping to unite people as the country looks to move forward." Am I the only one who thinks this sounds crazy? I mean F1 racing isn´t supposed to be a means to unite people! Formula 1 racing is -at least to me- exciting sports and entertainment. For the drivers F1 racing means battling for the world championship: who will be crowned as the best driver in the world and which team wins the constructors´championship. For the fans and spectators F1 racing means enjoying thrilling action on the track and cheering for your favourite driver. F1 isn´t about politics -at least it absolutely shouldn´t be related to any country´s political situation! Like it now has been related on the FIA document. If the country is politically unstable we can´t trust the F1 race to make the people live in harmony! 

The statement on the FIA document goes on: "It also recognises the commitment made by the Formula One teams, their employees and families, and personnel associated with the championship, including the local team of volunteers who are so vital to the event." Isn´t this even a bit contradictory? Back to the teams: weren´t they the teams who opposed the idea of extending the season due to it making the season unacceptably long for their staff? Hardly any vacation before Christmas and then back to work in January again? So talking about commitment that the teams weren´t willing to make...! I´d have loved to hear the conversation. Were the teams even represented there or could they even express their opinion? Just wondering...

Enough about the FIA document. I was touched by Mark Webber´s comment on Twitter: "When people in a country are being hurt, the issues are bigger than sport. Let´s hope the right decision is made." But obviously that wasn´t the case. As a former human rights activist I was devostated that the World Motor Sport Council agreed that it was ok to bring back the GP into a country where incommunicado detention, killings, torture and other human rights violations still take place! No matter the FIA officials visited Bahrain to assess the situation in the country -would anyone even have expected them to "find" something suspicious? Watching from the human rights point of view I find it morally utterly wrong to bring Bahrain GP back in the calendar! This gives me remotely a flashback of the apartheid policy in South Africa... The world wide known sporting events shouldn´t be brought to countries where people are being hurt on the basis of religion, political opinion or race! Bringing the F1 race into Bahrain in an unrest situation like today gives the world a message that it´s okay to treat people like this... Or it isn´t at least wrong enough to prevent these events before the true change is made in the political regime!

What matters most for me are the human rights and how they´re guaranteed. As a teenager I was actively involved with the anti-apartheid movement in Finland so I know what human rights violations can be and how bad and inhumane it can really get. But I do have a purely personal reason to be pissed off about the decision, too! I´m worried about the fact how putting Bahrain back in the calender will affect the Race of Champions which should be held in Frankfurt on December 3 and 4! I´ve already bought the flights to Frankfurt and made the hotel reservation and those cannot be changed or cancelled anymore! So Bahrain GP will take place on October 30 and Indian GP on December 11... Will the ROC still be driven on the original date? And what it as important as the date... Will Sebastian Vettel drive at the ROC despite the Indian GP being on December 11? I might be pretty childish but my world will turn totally upside down if I´m not going to see Sebastian driving in Frankfurt...