FOM Fail To Show Force India During Qualifying Broadcast

After qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, it became apparent that Bernie Ecclestone’s FOM Television company, who are in control of the F1 world TV feed, failed to show a full shot of a Force India car during the session. This has aroused suspicions, after Force India failed to make an appearance during FP2 on Friday.

With controversy surrounding the running of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Force India decided to pack up early on Friday and therefore not run during the second practice session, with the team wishing to leave the track in daylight hours. This came after four Force India members’ got caught up in protests on Wednesday night as they traveled from the circuit to their hotels in Manama.

During qualifying, the Force India of Paul di Resta was the first driver out on track in both Q1 and Q2, yet images of the Scot were never seen from the FOM. Paul di Resta even set the first timed lap of both Q1 and Q2, yet still the FOM failed to pick up on the teams actions on track. This has created suspicions as to whether F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who owns the FOM (Formula One Management) purposefully instructed the TV Director to not show any of the Force India’s throughout qualifying, after they made international headlines after failing to appear in practice two through safety fears.

With many picking up on the absence of a Force India on their TV screens across the globe, Bernie Ecclestone has insisted it was not deliberate: “Nobody cares if someone is 9th or 11th,” he explained to Reuters. “Only the people that are watching a particular team. I spoke to our people and they were more or less concentrating on who was going to be on pole, rather than somebody going to be 10th.”

The team themselves have remained silent on the situation, with Paul di Resta declining to comment, stating that he had read various comments on Twitter. With a 57-lap race ahead of them tomorrow, one would imagine the cars’ would undeniably be seen during the TV coverage of the race.

In qualifying, the only shot of a Force India was whilst onboard with Mark Webber as the Red Bull flew past Paul di Resta in the dying seconds of the session. Whether this is pure payback from not running in FP2 on Friday or not, it will be interesting to see whether the Force India’s make it onto the TV during the race later today.

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