In a bizarre twist Bernie Ecclestone now appears to be urging the teams to come out against Bahrain.

Ecclestone took part in Friday’s WMSC meeting in Barcelona, along with team principals Stefano Domenicali and Vijay Mallya, and was part of what the FIA says was a unanimous vote.

The Times reports that Bernie has had a change of heart, and is now talking about putting the race at the end of the season on the basis that it will be easier to cancel it – while thus presumably restoring India to October 30.

Bernie apparently wants the teams to demand a new vote, presumably on the basis that he will no longer vote yes and it won’t be unanimous.

“The way things are at the moment, we have no idea what is going to happen,” Ecclestone told the paper. “Better that we move Bahrain to the end of the season and, if things are safe and well, then that is fine, we can go.

“If they are not, then we don’t go and there are no problems. We listened to that report from the FIA and that was saying there were no problems at all in Bahrain. But that is not what I am hearing and I think we can see that we need to be careful.

“The money makes no difference. It is there because the Bahrain people asked us to keep it. If there is no race, we will return it, but money is not the issue here. It is whether it is safe and good to have a race that is the issue. We can change this Oct 30 date by having a vote by fax if necessary. It can be done, and fast.”