Bahrain GP boss criticises Formula 1 teams over Sakhir race decision

The Sakhir race, which was scheduled to be the season opener this year, was postponed due to the unrest in the country.

Although the FIA reinstated the grand prix, teams opposed the move and the race was eventually cancelled.

Alzayani, who visited the British Grand Prix last weekend, was critical of the teams for being 'very temperamental'.

He also suggested that if Formula 1 was not going to Bahrain for the violation of human rights, most grands prix should also be called off.

"They're going to the US next year," Alzayani told the London Evening Standard. "What about Guantanamo? Isn't that human rights violation? As Bernie [Ecclestone] told me, 'If human rights was the criterion for F1 races, we would only have them in Belgium and Switzerland in the future'."

He added: "They [the teams] have been very temperamental. I feel disappointed because it cannot go within three months from one end of the spectrum, 'Oh, you are my favourite destination. We love it here. We feel like we are at home in Bahrain.' To the other, 'We don't want to go to Bahrain.' Yes, events have happened in between but you can't be so temperamental."

Alzayani said Formula 1 boss Ecclestone always pushed for the race to go ahead, but he denied it was about trying not to lose millions of dollars if the event was cancelled.

"It was a unanimous vote of all the 26 World Council members. Bernie voted for it. On the June 8, I met him here in London.

"He said, 'There is resistance from the teams but if you want I'll push for it. We'll get it sorted.' He even gave us the option of holding it on December 4. This was never about Bernie losing money by not having a race in Bahrain."

The Bahrain GP boss was also critical of former FIA president Max Mosley for his comments over Carlos Gracia, the man sent by the FIA to assess the situation in Bahrain.

Mosley had criticised the FIA for having sent a "very, very nice man called Gracia, [who] speaks no English and, as far as I know, speaks no Arabic."

"That shows you how naive Max Mosley is," Alzayani said. "There were translators there. I don't have to speak Chinese to do business in China. Max is very vocal and not accurate. He talks about morality - if I was him, I would probably not use the word 'morality'.

"I think Max has a grudge against Bahrain because he was officially asked by the Crown Prince not to attend the grand prix."

Bahrain is scheduled to return to the Formula 1 calendar next year, having been given the season-opening slot again.

AUTOSPORT understands, however, that teams are keen for it to move to later in the campaign so its potential return does not overshadow the start of the season.

Alzayani claimed that the main reason why Bahrain decided to also pull the GP2 race off in the end was because of a lack of ambulances in the country.

"We have to have a minimum of 18 ambulances to run a race and, because of the riots and people getting injured, all the ambulances were diverted to attend to the protests. So we couldn't run the race," he Alzayani.