Formula 1 commercial manager Bernie Ecclestone is willing to give Bahrain Grand Prix organizers more time to decide whether or not they can hold their race this year, ahead of this weekend's deadline laid down by the FIA.
In the wake of the political trouble that caused the season-opener to be called off, the FIA told Bahrain chiefs that they have until May 1 to inform it if they feel they can hold an F1 event later this year. But with that deadline looming, and the security situation in Bahrain still serious, Ecclestone has now said that there is a chance the Gulf state could be offered a few more weeks to sort out what they want to do.
"We need to wait a little bit to see exactly how progress is made," Ecclestone told the Reuters news agency. "I suppose we'd be safe by early June or something like that."
He added: "Things can change in a couple of weeks...so you don't know. All of a sudden everything might be peaceful in a month's time and they are happy to run the event and so we are happy to be there."