No guarantee of 2011 Bahrain GP admits Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted he is not sure if Bahrain’s formula one race will be rescheduled in 2011.

Until now, the F1 chief executive has been bullish about the event in the troubled island Kingdom, pushing recently for the rescheduling deadline to be extended to early June.

He met this weekend in Turkey with Bahrain’s circuit chairman Zayed Rashed Al Zayani, who reportedly said at Istanbul Park that Sakhir is now "ready" to host F1 after months of civil turmoil.

"It’s difficult to say," Ecclestone admitted on Saturday when asked about Bahrain’s chances of being slotted into this year’s calendar.

"If they are happy to have the race, I am sure we are happy to be there," he told F1’s official website. "But we would need a guarantee that there won’t be problems.

"Right now I don’t know how anybody could guarantee that because it might be peaceful now, but who knows in the future?"

Ecclestone was more confident about earthquake and nuclear crisis-affected Japan, insisting the Suzuka race scheduled for October is "not at all" endangered.