Ecclestone says F1 teams not worried about Bahrain GP

Bernie Ecclestone says Formula 1 teams have not expressed security concerns to him about the Bahrain GP, but suggested the race's contract may not be renewed.

There have been claims that some teams have reservations about making the trip due to political unrest.

Ecclestone told BBC Sport's Dan Roan: "None of the teams have expressed any concern to me – quite the opposite."

On renegotiating the race's contract, F1's boss added: "Maybe we wouldn't renew it. We'll have to look and see."

Last year's grand prix was cancelled following civil unrest and human rights activists have called on the F1 bosses to think carefully about whether this year's race should go ahead.

Former world champion Damon Hill also believes the plans should be reconsidered, but Ecclestone has repeated his belief that there are no security concerns for teams or officials.

He says he has been reassured by Bahrain sporting chiefs and an F1 team he did not want to name, which he said had been out to the Middle East to assess security.

Bahrain International Circuit officials have since said that two representatives from the Lotus team visited the Middle East to investigate the security situation, but Lotus is yet to comment.

"At this time, there are no indications it won't go ahead," Ecclestone said.

"It's really not up to me to decide whether it should go ahead or not. It's up to the people in Bahrain to decide. At this time, they are not cancelling the event, so presumably they are happy.

"One of the teams sent a person over there recently – and I've spoken to them today actually – and they said everything's perfect, there's no problem.

"They've been to the circuit, they've been everywhere in Bahrain and they are very happy.

"We can't force teams to take part. They would be in breach of contracts with [F1] if they didn't, but we would deal with that matter as a separate issue."

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