Bernie offers hope to Bahrain, Turkey

Formula One will give Bahrain more time to decide whether its Grand Prix can be rescheduled this year while Turkey could be spared the axe in 2012, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Thursday.

Updated on: Apr 28, 2011, 23:12:12 IST

Reuters | By HT Correspondent, London

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Formula One will give Bahrain more time to decide whether its Grand Prix can be rescheduled this year while Turkey could be spared the axe in 2012, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Thursday.

“We need to wait a little bit to see exactly how progress is made,” Ecclestone said, adding that it might be “bye-bye Bahrain” but a decision was not imminent despite a May 1 deadline. “I suppose we’d be safe by early June or something like that.”

“Things can change in a couple of weeks...so you don’t know. All of a sudden everything might be peaceful in a month’s time and they are happy to run the event and so we are happy to be there.”

Close to zero chance
Ecclestone dismissed talk of a possible Formula One takeover by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, saying the chances were “close to zero” and suggesting the speculation was being driven by the media and advisers seeking to make money.

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