There is a simple reason that Formula One racing is losing fans at a rapid clip, and it has nothing to do with Ferrari and Schumacher. Indeed Schumacher's dominance is one of the highlights of the sport. In years to come you can tell your kids you saw the greatest driver of the modern era ply his trade. No, Formula One is losing fans because it is, more than usual, giving into the crass commercial interests that have always lurked in the background. It is not a cheap sport and has always been more about advertising than winning, but at least for a while it retained a good claim to being a true sport. It sold itself as being about fast cars, scantily clad women, champagne and the high life.

Not any more. In one of those hair-brained pieces of logic Formula One is selling out, again:

Drivers have been banned from spraying champagne during the traditional podium celebration at Sunday's inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix...Bowing to local sensibilities, the girls will dress modestly, and race organizers have created a special non-alcoholic drink for the podium celebrations which mixes locally grown fruit with rosewater.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has gone to huge lengths to host the Grand Prix. Bahrain built a world-class racing circuit in 483 days. The king even offered to put up Schumacher in a royal palace. Yet the official drive to stage big sporting events, win foreign investment and turn Bahrain into the Gulf's banking centre is running up against a rising Islamist tide across the kingdom.

A fortnight ago, 100 men armed with knives burst into a restaurant in the capital, Manama, and threatened diners who were drinking alcohol. The twisted wreckage of a customer's car, petrol-bombed by the gang, still sits outside the restaurant, which is closed and guarded by police armed with tear-gas grenades.