Bernie Ecclestone has admitted F1 teams will breach their contracts if they do not race in Bahrain next weekend.

Earlier, as the controversy surrounding the sport’s continued plans to travel to the troubled island Kingdom deepens, an unnamed team boss admitted his peers would prefer if the event was called off.

The Times newspaper then quoted F1 chief executive Ecclestone as saying that “If the teams don’t want to go, then we cannot make them”.

“We’ve no way we can force people to go there,” he also told the PA Sport news agency on Tuesday.

But in actual fact, teams are contractually bound to race at each event on the F1 calendar, with breaches punishable by exclusion from the sport.

“We can’t say ‘you’ve got to go’ – although they would be in breach of their agreement with us if they didn’t go – but it doesn’t help,” the 81-year-old clarified.

“Commercially they have to go, but whether they decide to or not is up to them,” said Ecclestone.

“I’ve had no one say anything other than ‘we’re going to be racing in Bahrain’.”

He said the local race organisers, and the national sanctioning body, are the ones that could cancel the race.

F1′s governing body, meanwhile, is the FIA.

“I’ve spoken to (FIA president) Mr (Jean) Todt,” Ecclestone revealed, “we keep in close contact, and he’s going out there (to China), so we’ll have a chat then, and we always meet with the teams.”

It also emerged on Tuesday that Ecclestone has phoned Dr Ala’a Shehabi, a prominent Bahraini journalist and activist.

She revealed that Ecclestone wants Bahrain’s government opposition to “have a press conference” at the grand prix “in which opposition can get their message across”.

Shehabi said Ecclestone is “very concerned” about the situation in Bahrain, including the fate of human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who amid his hunger strike in jail is said to be close to death.

Many F1 insiders are now expecting next weekend’s Bahrain grand prix to be called off.

“We’re not going to Bahrain, the decision will be announced soon,” wrote Livio Oricchio, the correspondent for Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

In the wake of the latest reports about the ongoing political situation inside the island Kingdom, Oricchio said he expects the news about the race to be known “today or tomorrow”.

He referred to the direct threat made by the protest organising group February 14th Youth Coalition, who said it could not “ensure the safety” of the sport’s travelling members.

A spokesman for the international group Human Rights Watch admitted it is worried.

“On the ground we see an increasing number of deaths, and serious injuries from tear gas and beatings,” he is quoted as saying by the BBC.

And the latest fears have been intensified by the explosion of a bomb that injured seven policemen on Monday, and news that a jailed activist on hunger strike is now close to death.

An unnamed team boss admitted he is worried about his employees “and their families”, but an advisor to Bahrain’s interior ministry tried to play down those fears.

“People can be assured that if problems arise, then there will be a plan to deal with that as there would be with any public event in the world,” former London police assistant commissioner John Yates told the Associated Press.

But even Bernie Ecclestone, who will be in China this weekend, could now be stepping back from the controversy.

“If the teams don’t want to go, then we cannot make them,” the F1 chief executive told the Times.

All the FIA has said is that it is “monitoring” the situation, with it believed that contingency plans are in place so that F1 can cope with a cancellation decision made as late as this Saturday or Sunday.

The Bahrainis, meanwhile, are confident.

“We anticipate formula one will continue and hope it will be a success,” said government spokesman Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa.

The Bahrain circuit’s Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa added: “The race is going ahead — there is no doubt about that.

“There are several reports doing the rounds that are saying a lot of things which are baseless,” he told the Gulf Daily News.

“We are ready and there is a plan in place to ensure the safety of the teams, officials and fans.”

Damon Hill has changed his mind yet again on the controversial issue of Bahrain’s return to formula one later this month.

Amid the debate about the island Kingdom’s return to the calendar in the wake of the cancelled 2011 event, the 1996 world champion said initially: “F1 must align itself with progression, not repression”.

But he changed his tune after travelling with FIA president Jean Todt to Bahrain, insisting the situation on the ground had changed since the 2011 protests.

“The grand prix is of huge economic importance to Bahrain. You’d almost be putting an economic sanction on Bahrain by pulling the race,” said Hill.

But the Briton has now changed his mind again, apparently after the latest reports of violence on the streets and the reaction in the international media.

Hill is quoted by the Guardian newspaper: “It would be a bad state of affairs, and bad for formula one, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race.

“Looking at it today you’d have to say that (the race) could be creating more problems than it’s solving.”

The former Williams driver is scheduled to attend this month’s Bahrain grand prix as a television analyst, but Hill brushed aside any thoughts about his lucrative contract with the British broadcaster Sky.

“Some things are more important than contracts.”

He also expressed misgivings about a recent media briefing in London, in which Bernie Ecclestone and team bosses stood with the Bahrain organisers and insisted the race is going ahead despite the continuing controversy.

Damon said that event was “troubling insofar as it tried to represent the rioting in Bahrain as the result of bad press reporting and as a ‘youth’ issue.

“I hope the FIA are considering the implications of this fully and that events in Bahrain are not seen as they are often sold, as a bunch of yobs throwing molotov cocktails, because that’s a gross simplification.”

Writing in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio admitted he thinks it would be “almost reckless” for F1 to travel to Bahrain this month.

“At Sepang,” he wrote, “many team members were very concerned. They said their insurance companies had expressed concern about going to an Arab country in a belligerent state.

“Personally, I don’t think we will be attacked, but it is the goal of the protesters to do anything so that the grand prix is not run.

“The Arab Spring is very much alive in this small country in the Persian Gulf,” he admitted.

And the Times of London’s Kevin Eason wrote on Twitter: “I have been thinking F1 should give Bahrain a chance but I am not convinced now that safety can be guaranteed.”

The 2012 ‘F-duct’ controversy looks set to keep running for now.

“It’s not over yet,” confirmed Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko to Germany’s Auto Bild.

In Australia and Malaysia, the threat of results protests hung over the opening races of 2012, due to some teams – chiefly Red Bull and Lotus – questioning the legality of the aerodynamic innovation on Mercedes’ 2012 car.

Until now, the FIA has declared that the system – working in unison with the driver-operated DRS – is fully legal.

But it has emerged that Lotus technical director James Allison has come up with another argument against the technology that will be posed to the FIA’s Charlie Whiting ahead of scrutineering for next weekend’s Chinese grand prix.

It is believed that while Ferrari is on Red Bull and Lotus’ side at present, Mercedes-powered McLaren is currently staying out of the debate altogether.

 Hot on the heels of the new F-duct controversy, Mercedes has turned the heat back onto Red Bull.
Amid complaints from rival teams including Red Bull about its innovative aerodynamic concept aboard the W03, Mercedes’ Ross Brawn admitted he sensed a diversionary tactic.

“The discussion about our system has diverted the focus from the exhaust issue,” he said in Australia.

The FIA has clamped down hard on the exhaust-blown diffusers seen throughout the grid last year, but much pre-season chatter focused on some teams’ post-ban 2012 solutions that reportedly fly close to the boundaries of the new rules.

But now Germany’s Bild newspaper reports that Mercedes suspects Red Bull is also bending the rules in another area.

The report said Mercedes’ sound analysis indicated Renault-powered Red Bull is deploying an “illegal engine trick”, apparently involving the turning on and off of individual cylinders.

Mercedes’ competition vice-president Norbert Haug commented: “There is no official protest by us. But there are some questions that we are asking the FIA.”

Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko hit back: “No one will find anything. We comply with the rules.”

German specialist magazine Auto Motor und Sport, meanwhile, reports that Melbourne winner McLaren currently has the most sophisticated exhaust solution on the 2012 grid.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s illegal,” said Peter Sauber, “but it’s borderline.”

Teams including Mercedes, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Williams reportedly used much more conservative solutions in Australia.

“First we wanted to see what is allowed and what is not,” said Williams engineer Mark Gillan.

It did not take long for F1′s first technical controversy of the 2012 race season to erupt.
Asked about Mercedes’ F-duct system that reportedly works in conjunction with the deployment of DRS, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “Are they allowed?”

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting says yes. “I cannot see a rule that prohibits it,” he said.

“What is not allowed is the movement of the driver to generate an aerodynamic effect,” he is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo.

So at least for now, the other teams will have to react, amid talk the concept is worth several kilometres per hour in a straight line.

“We’ll have to have a look at it,” confirmed Horner.

But according to BBC analyst and former F1 designer Gary Anderson, Red Bull and Ferrari – and maybe others – have reacted already.

They “appear to have a different system and I’m struggling to understand how it complies with the rules”, he said.

“I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this subject”, Anderson added.

Also legal for now are all the teams’ different interpretations of the new exhaust rules — even the controversial Red Bull’s.

“As far as we’ve seen so far, they all do comply with the rules,” confirmed Whiting.

 Bernie Ecclestone has played down the controversy over the future of Australia’s grand prix by daring organisers to walk away from the sport.
“When the contract comes up, they don’t have to renew,” the F1 chief executive, speaking from London, told local Fairfax Radio ahead of the 2012 Melbourne race.

“That is the nice thing. We are not going to force anyone into doing anything because we can’t.”

The current contract expires in 2015, and Ecclestone has offered to ease the taxpayers’ burden if race organisers agree to host the race at night, to better service Europe’s live television audience.

But the 81-year-old Briton is also furious, after a federal politician for the ruling Labor Party scorned the millions paid to Ecclestone in order to bankroll the billionaire’s flamboyant “bogan” daughter Tamara.

“Who was the halfwit that said these things?” Ecclestone told 3AW radio.

“You’re not a communist state there, are you? Any money that my children have got, they didn’t steal.

“I’d like him to say what he said to me face to face.”

The latest spat is yet another threat to the highly popular Albert Park race, with Ecclestone surmising: “From all the things I read that the government say, I don’t think that they want to continue.”

Australian driver Mark Webber hopes the race has a future.

“I don’t think it’s a gain to lose it, put it that way,” he said.

“It was successful in Adelaide and in Melbourne as well and it would be brilliant to keep it here for a long time yet.”

While ‘step’ noses were still occupying some in the F1 paddock, the sport’s purists were staring at the rear of the cars as the field of 2012 tested at Jerez on Tuesday.
With blown exhausts effectively banned this year, the new rules state that the outlets must now be visible from above.

But according to Auto Motor und Sport, the Ferrari and McLaren solutions are not necessarily visible from a bird’s eye view, causing some insiders to predict a new controversy about the legality of cars this season.

So at Jerez, the game began.

“We have had a lot of correspondence with the FIA,” said Ferrari designer Nikolas Tombazis. “We believe that what we are doing is legal.”

McLaren’s solution is also innovative, with the side ‘bump’ seen at the launch of the MP4-27 still on the car at Jerez.

One early analysis is that the team is using a rule loophole to cleverly redirect the exhaust air.

“There’s always a chance that somebody will come up with something that’s right on the border,” said Red Bull designer Adrian Newey.

Added Lotus’ James Allison: “So far we have a conservative solution,” he commented on the day Kimi Raikkonen went quickest in the 2012 car.

“We will watch the competition and also what the FIA says. Depending on how much they will allow, we will act accordingly.”

Some of the smaller teams are already expressing frustration.

“The FIA has said that the exhaust should no longer influence the aerodynamics. We support that and we will stick to that,” said Toro Rosso’s Giorgio Ascanelli.

Added Williams’ Mark Gillan: “The rules are actually pretty clear and we are trying to be on the right side of them.”

Organisers of the Bahrain grand prix are pushing ahead with preparations for April’s race.
Last year’s pre-season test and race at the Sakhir circuit were cancelled amid the civil uprising within the troubled island Kingdom.

F1 has scheduled to return to Bahrain this year but reports of strife persist, amid claims from human rights groups that the sport’s participants should boycott the April 22 event.

But a spokesman for the circuit says Bahrain has taken strides forward with the independent report into the unrest, insisting the government has subsequently reacted “swiftly and convincingly”.

“It (the race) is supported by an overwhelming majority of people from all sections of society in Bahrain and represents a symbol of national unity,” he is quoted by The National newspaper.

The Daily Mail quotes him adding: “The independent report was a milestone for Bahrain and we will now work tirelessly to ensure the race is a great success.”

Red Bull avoided a repeat of last year’s ‘wing-gate’ by letting Mark Webber keep his latest specification front wing at Suzuka.
At Silverstone 2010, Australian Webber kicked off the controversy by angrily declaring ‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’ after winning the British grand prix.

The win came after the team took the front wing off his car because the only other version collapsed on Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 in practice.

At Suzuka, a similar situation arose when Vettel crashed at Degner on Friday morning.

But the German then tackled the rest of the weekend until qualifying with an older spare front wing replacement, and was duly outpaced in all the practice sessions by McLaren’s Jenson Button.

Suddenly, Vettel returned to the front in qualifying — with a brand new front wing.

“The team did everything to bring it back and just in time it arrived (from Milton Keynes) for qualifying,” the 24-year-old said.

Team boss Christian Horner told Reuters he never considered simply taking Webber’s front wing away again.

“Last time (at Silverstone), it failed and we had one left and it wasn’t anything to do with the driver,” he said.

“Yesterday it was purely down to him (Vettel), that’s why he looked pretty pissed off when he got out of the car because he knew he’d damaged a front wing that he knew there were only two of in Japan at that time.”

Even now as Fernando Alonso’s teammate, Felipe Massa is not shy to denounce the result of the Singapore grand prix three years ago.
It was in that 2008 race that Ferrari’s Massa had a problem during a pitstop that was triggered by Nelson Piquet’s notoriously deliberate crash and resultant safety car.

Piquet’s then Renault teammate was Spaniard Alonso, who duly won the race before the ‘crashgate’ scandal claimed the scalps of his bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds.

But the saga also arguably claimed the scalp of Massa’s 2008 world championship, as the Brazilian ultimately went on to lose the title to Lewis Hamilton by a single point.

Massa has always been outspoken about ‘crashgate’, but his complaints have got quieter with time and with Alonso now a revered Ferrari driver.

But he was open about his feelings when speaking with Spanish reporters on Thursday.

“Yeah, what happened hurt me because when you lose the title by so small a margin you start looking back and one of the things that was an influence was Singapore,” said the 30-year-old.

“Everyone knows that result was manipulated by what happened. Singapore 2008 was false,” said Massa, according to AS newspaper, “but the result was real.

“Have I spoken to Fernando about it? He knows and I know how the world works.

“The past is the past,” Massa is quoted by Brazil’s Globo Esporte. “I have answered 45 thousand times what I think about it.”

Alonso, who insists he counts Singapore 2008 as a real victory, confirmed to Spanish sports daily Marca that he and Massa have never talked about the controversy.

“Yes, in 2008 Felipe lost points here, but he also lost points in Hungary when his engine failed with three laps to go,” he said.

“When you lose a championship by one point you remember all those things. When I look back at last year I remember all the reasons why I lost the title as well,” added Alonso.

The FIA has moved to ensure the safety of Pirelli’s tyres this weekend.
Usually, F1′s official tyre supplier issues recommendations to the teams about how best to use its products at grands prix.

But at Spa two weeks ago, a controversy erupted when Red Bull was found to have breached the guidelines about front tyre camber, causing worrying blistering.

Pirelli reacted by tightening its camber recommendations from 4 to 3.25 degrees for the Monza weekend.

Mark Webber confirmed after Friday practice that Red Bull had indeed “adjusted a few things following the camber setting guidelines for this race”.

But Pirelli also turned to the FIA for help, resulting in a technical directive being issued at 7.45 on Saturday morning, the supplier’s motor sport director Paul Hembery revealed on Twitter before third practice.

He confirmed that the FIA will enforce the 3.25 degree camber angle “just for this race”.

The concern is that the tyres will overheat on the ultra high-speed Italian layout, but Hembery said there was no blistering seen “outside the usual parameters” in Friday practice.

Sebastian Vettel returned to the top step of the podium and extended his championship lead on Sunday by winning the Belgian grand prix.
But the German was sporting an angry face before the Spa-Francorchamps race, after rival teams refused to allow the Red Bulls to change their qualifying tyres due to blistering.

Pirelli had reacted to the situation by rushing spare tyres to the fabled circuit, but ultimately the likes of McLaren and Ferrari – and FIA chief Charlie Whiting – made Vettel and the sister RB7 start on their damaged tyres.

“We had a lot of concerns,” Vettel said after extending his points lead to 92 points over his teammate Mark Webber. “We didn’t feel too comfortable and we both had to stop pretty early.”

The Red Bulls finished one-two ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.

“No wonder Ferrari and Mclaren objected to them wanting to change them (the tyres) before the race,” said BBC commentator Martin Brundle.

Bernie Ecclestone has organised a meeting of the F1 Commission in an attempt to formally scuttle the proposed engine rules for 2013.
That is the claim of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, revealing that the meeting will take place on Wednesday.

The report said F1 chief executive Ecclestone, a staunch critic of the proposed rules, believes FIA president Jean Todt improperly introduced the four-cylinder turbos by bypassing the official bodies including the F1 Commission.

Despite Renault’s apparent threat to quit F1 over the controversy, Ecclestone is understood to have attempted to overturn the rules with a recent vote of the World Motor Sport Council.

The rules narrowly survived and Wednesday’s F1 Commission is his ‘plan B’ according to Auto Motor und Sport, with the 80-year-old also not ruling out a legal challenge.

The FIA is pressing ahead with its clampdown on blown exhaust technology following a meeting in London.
The technical working group met with Charlie Whiting on Thursday where, despite some controversy, the FIA delegate told teams they will have to severely limit their off-throttle diffuser exhaust blowing from next month’s British grand prix.

It is suggested pioneer Red Bull will be the team most affected by the ban, but Mercedes and Renault are also leaders in the field.

“The degree that a team will be affected is dependent on how much they’re exploiting that technology,” Red Bull chief designer Rob Marshall told The Sun newspaper.

“There are certainly some teams that are exploiting it very vigorously and some that aren’t exploiting it at all. Some will suffer more than others.”

And Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport: “After Silverstone it will be possible to express an opinion about our season.

“All I can say is that I hope it (the clampdown) affects us less than others.”