We are writing to you in your capacity as the CEO of Formula 1 (F1) ahead of the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix on 3 March 2023 to raise our serious concerns over F1's ongoing role in "sportswashing" amidst a deterioration in Bahrain's human rights situation. Bahraini authorities are imprisoning its population at the highest rate of any country in the MENA region according to World Prison Brief, and Bahraini political prisoners remain behind bars and some face imminent execution, in violation of international law...

We note that in a 12 February 2023 interview with Sky Sports, you affirmed that you would "pull the Grand Prix, like you did in Russia" if F1 was not satisfied "with the way human rights issues have developed in a country" that hosts an F1 race. You went on to reference 'specific articles' in your contracts that were followed by 'independent auditors' and could be invoked if human rights were not "going in the right direction". However, it is unclear to us what specific human rights criteria F1 applies to make a decision to withdraw hosting privileges from a country...

With this in mind, and in the interests of transparency, we ask you to disclose the articles to which you refer as well as share the most recent human rights assessment of the "independent auditors", disclose how regularly these auditors conduct assessments, their names and how civil society can engage with said auditors...