In this weeks issue of AUTOSPORT there is news that Bahrain has clinched a deal to host a GP from 2004 onwards. Given that a Bahrain GP will not carry any kind of tobacco sponsorship restrictions, the prospect of F1 losing an 'anti-tobacco' European round of the championship is looking ever more likely. It appears that time is running out for Grand Prix like San Marino and Belgium as fag-friendly locations queue up to replace them.
MOTORSPORTFORUM recently raised the issue of the future of the Belgian GP. It potentially faces the axe for many of the same reasons that Bahrain has been given the green light. Coupled with ongoing negotiations to stage an F1 race in China, this news is almost certain to be the death knell for one of the current European rounds. There are positives to be taken from this move but again it returns F1 to the debate on the merits of tobacco sponsorship.
A GP in Bahrain would introduce F1 'live' to a whole new region of the world, which can only be a good thing for the sport's future. If allowing tobacco companies the opportunity to advertise in an unrestricted environment is necessary to do this, then perhaps it is worth it. With dwindling TV figures, opening up the sport to an almost 'new' market could help ease any period of instability. Furthermore, with the track still to be constructed, there is hope that this new track might follow in the footsteps of the Sepang circuit and offer drivers a challenge and hopefully also an opportunity to pass. But the negative aspects of this move, and the trend that it may begin, need to be addressed.
Should the Belgian GP be dropped to accommodate this new Bahrain round, F1 as a sport will have lost out no matter how good the new track turns out to be. F1 must remain a genuine world championship and not become a world championship that visits only tobacco friendly regions. By maintaining tobacco sponsorship, apart from advertising a potentially lethal product, F1 is not safeguarding its future by blatantly avoiding the tobacco sponsorship issue. So unfortunately we once again find ourselves back considering how to balance the increasingly hard line adopted in some countries towards tobacco sponsorship and the lax attitude in others.
As a global sport, F1 could blend the requirements of different countries if it put some of its efforts into dealing with anti-tobacco legislation, instead of hunting endlessly for tobacco-friendly venues. From the outside it appears that F1 as a sport is happy to invest time into finding new venues such as Bahrain, China and Russia where tobacco cash is welcome, whilst sticking its head in the sand when it comes to the future of European GPs. This is unacceptable but seems at present to be the emerging pattern. A continuation of this attitude, without any efforts put into encouraging other industries to get involved in F1 or reducing the reliance of teams on such cash-rich businesses will not safeguard the future of the sport.
In 3-4 years time, once anti-tobacco legislation has really started to kick in, F1 will find itself at a crossroads. It will either choose to continue down its current path of steadily phasing out European rounds (and perhaps other western rounds) of the championship, or it will decide to tackle the key issues in order to maintain it's 'world' status. The clock is ticking and only one option has a genuine future.
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