Attempting to reassure the race’s opponents that the political situation is less volatile than 12 months ago, when Force India mechanics narrowly escaped being struck by a Molotov cocktail, Ecclestone argued: “The big problem, from what I can see, is that you have a set of people who want to have more of a say in the way the country is being run. It’s probably like our country, England, there are sectors there who sees things the other side are doing wrong and would like things done their way. It happens worldwide.”