The 1996 Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill has voiced concern over the Bahrain Grand Prix, scheduled to take place in just on April 22nd, calling on the sport to think carefully before going ahead.

With just 3 weeks to go until the race, the British driver urged F1 leaders to “tread carefully” and said,

"It would be a bad state of affairs, and bad for Formula One, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race. That is not what this sport should be about. Looking at it today you'd have to say that [the race] could be creating more problems than it's solving."

The BBC has also reported that some teams and sponsors have private expressed reservations about travelling to the country, with some expecting a cancellation at the last minute.

Hill spoke up against going to Bahrain last year, as Formula pulled out due to ongoing protests and allegations of human rights abuses by the Bahraini government, saying,

"Formula One cannot put its head in the sand concerning the Bahrain Grand Prix, because it is a very volatile situation out there."

After visiting the country in February Hill stated he felt there were “sincere efforts to resolve the difficulties”, but has recently come out and said,

"Things are different now. The protests have not abated and may even have become more determined and calculated. It is a worrying state of affairs."

When reminded of his lucrative Sky commentary contract Hill replied,

"Some things are more important than contracts. The view I gave after returning from the visit last year was based on my understanding of several factors; the substantial economic significance of the GP for Bahrain; that the report on the April riots condemned the actions of the police and security forces, and that both sides were to take part in meaningful dialogue to resolve the problems peacefully. Under those conditions one could imagine the GP being a great fillip for a Bahrain on the road to recovery.”

"However, with under three weeks to go, conditions do not seem to have improved, judging by the reports in our European newspapers, social media and on Al Jazeera TV. The recent meeting to garner support for the race as a unifying event was troubling insofar as it tried to represent the rioting in Bahrain as the result of bad press reporting and as a 'youth' issue.

"Promoting the race as 'Uniting Bahrain', whilst a laudable ambition, might be elevating F1 beyond even its own prodigious powers. I'm just saying we have to tread carefully. I hope the FIA are considering the implications of this fully and that events in Bahrain are not seen as they are often sold, as a bunch of yobs throwing Molotov cocktails, because that's a gross simplification. If they believe that, they ought be more wary. You don't get 100,000 people risking their lives in protest for nothing."

"If we go, we all go... But there is obviously still a great deal of pain, anger and tension in Bahrain. It would be better for F1 to make it clear that it properly understands this, and that it wants only the best for all Bahrain, or whatever country it visits. I think F1 is sailing very close to this limit.”

"But there is an even more troubling thought, which is this: is F1 playing brinkmanship for purely financial reasons while people are putting their lives in peril to protest against this event?"

See our earlier posts regarding the Bahrain Grand Prix here:

2012 Bahrain Grand Prix under pressure (11 Jan 2012)

Criticism of Formula One on aborted Bahrain race (15 June 2011)

Also see:

'Another tour of cricket, another year of sanctioning impunity' (26 March 2012)

'Should England's cricket team tour Sri Lanka?' (10 March 2012)

The myth of sports and repressive regimes (03 Aug 2011)

A force for good or ill? Cricket and Sri Lanka today (08 July 2011)

Why a sports boycott is essential for justice (02 July 2011)

Impossible to ignore (21 June 2011)

The link between Sport and Politics (20 June 2011)