OpinionEcclestone faces potentially torrid time at Bahrain Formula One
F1 supremo might be protecting his interests as protestors threaten to target event this weekend
It's going to be, as Alex Ferguson so memorably once put it, "squeaky bum time" this weekend. It won't be the 71-year-old manager of Manchester United clenching his buttocks holding on to an injury-time lead, but the 82-year-old ring master of Formula One.
Bernie Ecclestone is a worried man heading into this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. Pro-democracy protesters have threatened to target the event to bring attention to their cause. The way they have been treated in the last two years has already been enough to shine an unflattering light on Ecclestone and the sport for continuing to race there after the 2011 cancellation, despite the unrest.
Last weekend, a car exploded in the commercial district. More radical protesters have vowed to target the event for violent protest, vowing a week of "volcanic flames" in Manama, the capital. Some protesters burnt race tickets and a crowd was recently dispersed by police firing tear gas after chanting "your race is a crime".
Into this predictable mayhem steps Bernie the peacemaker. He has offered to speak to the protesters, told them he sympathises with them. But he has been quick to offer some typically quirky Ecclestone philosophy. He has reportedly told the protesters that they shouldn't try and throw the country into chaos. "You are better off having control when the country is strong and respected worldwide rather than capture something nobody wants" he says. "Who wants to capture Syria at the moment?"
The best-case scenario for Ecclestone and the teams now they have arrived is to keep a low profile, run the race and then get out quickly. The portents aren't good, though. You may remember last year a protester died and a Force India team bus had a run-in with a petrol bomb. The presence of F1 doesn't seem to be helping the country stay strong.
There may be some red faces among the rulers and the F1 family if the computer hacking group Anonymous is to be believed. It has threatened to expose personal data of anyone who supports the race. That might concentrate a few millionaire minds.