FORMULA ONE:Bernie Ecclestone made the 12 Formula One teams an offer they must refuse yesterday when he indicated they could decide whether to compete at next week's Bahrain Grand Prix.

The words he left unspoken were that, should the teams take him up on the offer, it would cost each of them millions for breaking contracts.

“We’ve no way we can force people to go there,” Ecclestone had said in response to a Guardian story in which a leading member of one team said everyone hoped the FIA would call the race off. “We can’t say: ‘You’ve got to go’ – although they would be in breach of their agreement with us if they didn’t go – but it doesn’t help. Commercially they have to go, but whether they decide to or not is up to them.”

Guardian Service