Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Recommended for you

How F1 rule changes to improve safety could also remove "unintended overtaking"

Formula 1
Miami GP
How F1 rule changes to improve safety could also remove "unintended overtaking"

Can Miami really be the start of a 'new' F1 season?

Feature
Formula 1
Miami GP
Can Miami really be the start of a 'new' F1 season?

Ducati brings new swingarm and fairing to Jerez MotoGP test

MotoGP
Jerez Official Testing
Ducati brings new swingarm and fairing to Jerez MotoGP test

MotoGP Jerez test: Aprilia 1-2-3 as new aero packages appear

MotoGP
MotoGP Jerez test: Aprilia 1-2-3 as new aero packages appear

Bedrin's initial Velocity guides him to early GB3 lead at Silverstone

National
Bedrin's initial Velocity guides him to early GB3 lead at Silverstone

The simulations that show how F1 qualifying and racing will change from Miami GP

Formula 1
Miami GP
The simulations that show how F1 qualifying and racing will change from Miami GP

Neuville: “Nobody" at Hyundai has answers to WRC struggles    

WRC
Rally Islas Canarias
Neuville: “Nobody" at Hyundai has answers to WRC struggles    

How Ogier mastered the fine margins in epic Solberg WRC duel

Feature
WRC
Rally Islas Canarias
How Ogier mastered the fine margins in epic Solberg WRC duel

Williams 'would've missed' Bahrain

Williams chairman Adam Parr says his team was unlikely to attend the Bahrain Grand Prix, had it not been cancelled earlier this week

Unrest in the country had called the event into doubt and it was eventually postponed on Monday, but several teams have indicated that they would not have travelled even if it had gone ahead.

"The decision was right by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and if for whatever conceivable reason that hadn't been the decision, I don't think we would have [gone]," Parr told AUTOSPORT.

"Had the Bahrain Grand Prix gone ahead, I don't think we, and in fact I suspect even all the teams, would have gone.

"It was quite apparent to everybody that we were simply going to make the situation there worse, because we would have been a focal point for demonstrations and unrest. There would have been all the media associated with us there, and therefore I think it would have just been incendiary."

Both Formula 1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone and the Bahrain GP organisers have indicated their desire for the event to return to the schedule as soon as possible.

Parr says there will be an attempt to run the race later this season, though the political situation in the country will remain a deciding factor, as well as the climate in the Gulf.

"I think everyone is going to try really hard to put it back on the schedule, but I am not sure about it with the weather," Parr added. "Obviously that takes out the summer months, then it's a bit hectic with all the flyaways we've got.

"I'm sure everyone is going to try really hard to find a new date, assuming of course that everything has settled down. But I am not sure at the moment."

The headline has been changed, AUTOSPORT would like to make clear that Adam Parr did not say that Williams would have 'boycotted' the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Previous article In AUTOSPORT magazine this week: Credit where it's due for McLaren's MP4/4
Next article Brawn: Cooling hampering Mercedes

Top Comments

Latest news