Ecclestone denies qualifying blackout for Force India

Bernie Ecclestone has denied Force India was deliberately ignored by F1’s television cameras on Saturday.

Journalists on Twitter speculated that the reason for the apparent snub by the Ecclestone-controlled Formula One Management could be because the team sat out Friday’s second practice session over security fears in troubled Bahrain.

Ecclestone, however, denied the charge that Force India had been blacked out.

"Not at all," the 81-year-old is quoted by the Calcutta newspaper Telegraph.

But Britain’s Sky channel appeared to confirm that Scot Paul di Resta’s qualifying performance, including a run all the way into Q3, had been missed.

"For those asking, we have no control over who is being shown on the world feed, sorry you didn’t get to see any of di Resta’s lap," the broadcaster said on Twitter.

Ecclestone responded: "I asked them (FOM) to go and have a look. They missed two other people.

"It was simple. They are interested in who is going to be on pole. Nobody cares if someone is ninth or 11th, only the people that are watching a particular team."

Di Resta was also asked about the FOM-snub rumours.

"I’ve seen some stuff on Twitter," he admitted, "but I was in the garage or in my car driving so I saw my car."