Bahrain's Crown Prince will decide whether the country's season-opening Formula One Grand Prix can take place next month, the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Sunday.
Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who is also deputy supreme commander of Bahrain's armed forces, is leading a national dialogue after days of unrest in the Gulf kingdom left six dead.
“He will decide whether it's safe for us to be there,” Ecclestone told the BBC. “I've no idea. I'm not there, so I don't know.
“We won't advise people to go unless it's safe,” added the 80-year-old Briton.
Ecclestone said a decision on the March 13 race was likely to be made on Tuesday. The grand prix could also be moved to a later date rather than being cancelled outright.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose team are the world champions, said on Friday the teams trusted Ecclestone to make the right call.
“It would be a great shame to lose the race but it's not the teams' decision -- it's down to the promoter. Bernie and the FIA (International Automobile Federation) will have much more information than us and we will trust their decisions,” said Horner.
The twelve teams are due to take part in four days of testing on the Bahrain track from March 3 2010, which makes an early decision quintessential for the formula one.
{{/usCountry}}The twelve teams are due to take part in four days of testing on the Bahrain track from March 3 2010, which makes an early decision quintessential for the formula one.
{{/usCountry}}Narain keeps pace in training
Montmeló, Barcelona: Narain Karthikeyan finished seventh with a timing of 1:30.722 in the training session of the Hispania Racing formula car on a wet track on Sunday.
The Hispania tested both their intermediate and soft tyres on the day. “The weather conditions today were unfortunate as the track was pretty damp in the morning. We also had some trouble with the gearbox so we lost a bit of time before getting out on track,” said Karthikeyan. “Towards the end of the morning, the track was pretty greasy so there wasn’t much grip. But the car has improved a lot, there is much more front grip,” he added.