Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost dismissed calls from human rights groups for the FIA and Formula 1 to demand the Bahrain government release protesters who have criticised the race.

On Wednesday 16 human rights groups wrote* to FIA president Jean Todt and F1 general counsel Sacha Woodward-Hill urging them to publicly call for the release of Najah Yusuf and others

Yusuf was arrested after publishing a social media post describing the Bahrain Grand Prix as “nothing more than a way for the al-Khalifa family to whitewash their criminal record and gross human rights violations”. Yusuf, a mother of four, claims she was tortured and sexually assaulted during her detention.

The letter claim’s Yusuf’s public criticism of the race was included in the prosecution against her, a charge the government denies. It also states a “spike in human rights abuses occur each year around the time of the race”, and accused F1 of failing to respect the statement on human rights it adopted in 2015.

Tost, one of four F1 team principals who attended yesterday’s official FIA press conference at the Bahrain International Circuit, was the only one to respond when asked for their views on the subject. He argued Formula 1 should not involve itself in a “political” matter.

“It’s quite easy,” he said. “We are here for a sport event, not for a political event. That means – first of all, I was surprised that there are still some political turmoil which I don’t think is the reality.

“I think that the reality is just that a few people want to create troubles and Formula One is here to make sport, to entertain the people. We should not be involved in any political questions. This, people should do, who are here, who are living here. The government, whoever, that’s their job, not our job.”

*The letter can be read here (PDF link)

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2019 F1 season