F1 and Bahrain: a brand partnership on the racing track to hell
by Chris Reed
The new Syrian Grand Prix is apparently being planned imbetween the Libyan and Yemen one next year, just after the Bahrain one…..no, but what’s the difference? Countries, effectively brands in this context, pay US$40m to F1 to hold a Grand Prix and demonstrate to the world what a shining light they are in the world. An F1 event promotes all their wonderfulness and glitter of a country on the world stage in front of hundreds of millions of TV viewers who may become future tourists and business investors. F1 effectively sells itself to the highest bidder, regardless of who the bidder actually is, to create a profitable, glamorous global circuit that can then be sold to TV companies and brands to sponsor. One of the main reasons that there are grand prix in places like China and Malaysia is due to the pull of cigarette advertising dollars and countries with less restrictions on cigarette advertising. So the row over whether the F1 should or should not be held in Bahrain centred on the perception that the country was still suitable despite their part in surpressing the Arab Spring and questioning whether the race would tarnish the F1 brand. The drivers had no problem with it on the whole, why would they, they’re like rock stars, every country is the same to them and they get paid millions of dollars to go where they’re told. In the end, after much tooing and froing they chose not to race this year but you can bet it will be back on the racing schedule next year, money talks in F1 above everything else…the new Iranian and North Korean Grand Prix are not far away……
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