Governments around the world, including Canada and the United States, have issued travel warnings for Bahrain over the past week, citing violence in the streets and a threat of terrorism. Today, Formula 1 met the threat with a decision to cancel its season opening Grand Prix.
According to the Bahrain International Circuit, which hosts the Bahrain GP, "The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) today announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain would withdraw from hosting this year's F1 Grand Prix race so that the country can focus on its process of national dialogue."
While understating the situation somewhat, it's yet unclear what impact this could have on the F1 season. At the very least it will allow a few more weeks for development and testing before the first points race, which will now fall on the Australian GP, set for the March 25-27 weekend.
[Reuters]
