Seems like the Bahraini officials don’t hate us anymore. Direct flights between Bahrain and Lebanon will be resumed on the 22nd of June 2011, with an average of 5 flights per week. [Link]
All commercial flights were halted on March 22 due to the political unrest in Bahrain. Bahrain GP was also postponed and rescheduled to October but I doubt it will go through as planned.
Chances are very high that the Bahrain GP will not take place. Apparently, all 12 formula one teams have a say in this, not just the governing body. A decision will be made very soon.
Link
The Bahrain GP should not go ahead purely on Logistical grounds… stretching the season to almost mid December will throw off all the development work for next year and the domino effect starts.
As for the Teams taking a political stance, that will never happen in public, they will blame Logistics and the fact that their employees are missing on resting time instead of calling out the Bahrainy problems as the true cause.
same with the FIA, but since they don’t have much of what they call Marbles, they threw the proverbial ball on the Team’s side of the court….
as for the flights back to Bahrain resuming, well that’s good, but will they start giving Visas to anyone again? or do you have to pass a political affiliation test before you get it?
Ronman,
You know I’ve been thinking about that. So what if they work till December? We work everyday and barely get 2 to 3 weeks off every year. They get almost 3 off during the season so it’s ok if they work till December.
I was not a big fan of Bahrain GP but it’s a shame its not gonna happen this year.
Well Najib, the team employees have families and the such and they are constantly on the road from February (testing) all the way through to November.
they do not go home after that, they work on developing the cars and planning and practicing for the next season, usually non stop.
they do have a mandatory summer august break (recently implemented to cut down on costs)and they do get Christmas breaks just like us. but traveling the world over 20+ times a year, and working flat out during and in between especially hard during the weekends for our entertainment requires some unwinding time. especially for those with Families…
for us traveling the way they do seems fun, but once you are in the circuit the glamor fades out after the first few days. but hell they get paid well and get days off to make up for it..kinda.
by the way the above does not apply to the drivers and team heads and executives… those guys get some glamor thrown in
another thing, imagine you are suffering from Jet Lag 80% of the year and are required to give out 105% on the job day in day out… plus you are away from your loved ones… it all ads up..
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/06/10/bahrain-drops-bid-host-race-2011/
originally posted this on the wrong story..sorry no spamming intended.