The F1 world champion was speaking before the season-opening race in Bahrain and was unequivocal in a stance he first displayed last year. “Coming here all these years I was not aware of all of the details of the human rights issues. I have spent time speaking to legal human rights experts, to human rights organisations like Amnesty,” the 36-year-old said. On Thursday the Bahraini government issued a statement responding to the call for an inquiry by insisting it had put in place “internationally recognised human rights safeguards”.

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