» Misplaced priorities in Bahrain…

Rather than admit gratitude ~~and amazement~~ that their event is still (for the moment!) on the 2012 calendar, organisers of the under-fire Bahrain Grand Prix have expressed disappointment that the race at Sakhir is not kicking off the season.

Let’s not forget that last year’s season-opener was postponed – and ultimately cancelled – following the country’s high-profile civil unrest, the Bahrain Grand Prix was originally slated to return as the opener to this year’s championship season.

However, when the FIA published the final version of the calendar, Bahrain was moved to the fourth round of the championship – and the last of the opening flyaway races – after Australia, Malaysia and China.

And with tickets to the race going on sale this week, the Sakhir circuit’s chief executive, Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa (pictured), has spoken to the government-controlled The National newspaper.

Rather than picking his comments to pieces, we’ll just give you snippets which we’re confident will simply speak for themselves…

“Formula One should start the World Championship in a timezone that makes sense,” he said.

“We have a lot of support in Europe for our Grand Prix and to start in Australia, where it is 2:00am or 3:00am in Europe, that to me doesn’t make sense.

“Hosting the first race, you benefit obviously by people talking about you in the lead up to the start of the season.

“Now we are going to be after China so our event will come into play only after the third round. For us, it is important to host the race and we plan to make it a success.”

Heads in the sand, anyone?