In a victory for campaigners, the organisation behind Formula One racing has done a 180-degree policy reversal in the runup to the contentious Bahrain Grand Prix and agreed to formulate a human rights policy. F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has previously been reluctant to be drawn on human rights issues, saying in 2013: “We don’t go anywhere to judge how a country is run. I keep asking people, ‘What human rights?’ – I don’t know what they are. The rights are that people who live in the country abide by the laws of the country, whatever they are.” The change of heart comes after the UK government agreed to investigate a complaint from international human rights organisations who argued that between 2012-14 the Bahrain Grand Prix led to increased human rights abuses, and helped to “present an international image of Bahrain at odds with a reality of ongoing human rights abuses”.