Western companies are “opting not to entertain clients and partners" at this weekend's F1 Bahrain Grand Prix after calls for "sponsors to boycott the event because of political turmoil,” according to Bergin & Weir of REUTERS. A source said that Royal Dutch Shell, which sponsors the Ferrari racing team, will “not be hosting any guests at the event.” The Grand Prix was not held last year, but the source said Shell in ‘10 and other years had invited a "small number" of guests to the event. A source said that UBS also “would not be sponsoring any client events at the Bahrain race.” Vodafone, which sponsors the McLaren racing team, said that it was “not planning to invite guests to the Grand Prix.” The company added that “it was not a race at which it had historically arranged significant entertainment as it does have an operating business in Bahrain.” Agencies that “offer corporate hospitality were also seeing less business than they had in previous years” (REUTERS, 4/19).
THE SHOW MUST GO ON: In N.Y., Brad Spurgeon reports the F1 race “has become a flash point in the battle between Bahrain’s ruling royal family and anti-government opposition groups, with Formula One and the sport’s governing body drawn in.” F1 seeks to run the race “to show that it will not be swayed by politics, terror threats and public criticism and that it will honor its contracts in even the most dire situations.” On Thursday, riot police “fired tear gas and stun grenades at anti-government activists in Manama, and on Wednesday, security forces fired stun grenades at protesters who swarmed into a cultural exhibition for the Formula One race, setting off street battles and sending visitors fleeing for cover.” Spurgeon writes with the “world watching and big money at stake, the government has hoped to use the race to demonstrate that life has returned to normal in Bahrain.” But the media spotlight on the race in recent weeks “has to some extent resulted in the opposite: a closer look at the political situation and the protesters and their claims of human rights abuses.” While some observers “consider that by holding the race Formula One can only be seen as supporting the ruling family," the view of both F1 Management Chair Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA is that "calling off the race would essentially be a bow to the protesters and could be interpreted as an anti-government move” (NYTIMES.com, 4/20).
