Should The Bahrain GP Be Held This Year?

Last week, Formula One announced that the Bahrain Grand Prix would be rescheduled into the calendar for this season.

The race was supposed to be this seasons curtain raiser, but following political unrest in the region, the race was cancelled.

Formula One was desperate to get the race added back onto the schedule and at last weeks World Motor sport Council meeting, the FIA approved a race for the weekend of October 30th.

Immediately following the announcement VF1 contributor Villaininthemerde suggested our new front page poll, which asked whether the VF1 users agreed with the decision and while we can never agree on who will be victorious on a Sunday, three out of every four users who voted believed it was the wrong decision, with 75% believing the Grand Prix should not go ahead.

It would appear that our users are not the only ones who believe it's wrong.

Red Bull driver Mark Webber does want Formula One to return to Bahrain in the future, but believes the wrong decision has been made in returning so soon after the problems the country has faced.

'In my personal opinion, the sport should have taken a much firmer stance earlier this year rather than constantly delaying its decision in hope of being able to re-schedule it in 2011,' Webber wrote on his official website.

'It would have sent a very clear message about F1's position on something as fundamental as human rights and how it deals with moral issues.

'It's obvious that the parties involved have struggled to reach a decision but sadly I feel that they still haven't made the right one. Like it or not, F1 and sport in general isn't above having a social responsibility and conscience. I hope F1 is able to return to Bahrain eventually but now isn't the right time.'

Former FIA president Max Mosley also gave a damning response to the decision in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

'Surely the line has to be drawn when a sporting event is not mere entertainment in a less-than-perfect country, but is being used by an oppressive regime to camouflage its actions,' Mosley said.

'If a sport accepts this role, it becomes a tool of government. If Formula 1 allows itself to be used in this way in Bahrain, it will share the regime's guilt as surely as if it went out and helped brutalise unarmed protesters.'

'By agreeing to race there, Formula 1 becomes complicit in what has happened. It becomes one of the Bahrain government's instruments of repression. The decision to hold the race is a mistake which will not be forgotten and, if not reversed, will eventually cost Formula 1 dear.'

If the Bahrain Grand Prix is not run this season then Formula One Management is set to lose in the region of $40 million.

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone however insists that money will not influence the decision.