BMW race engineer denied US visa

The U.S. Department of State certainly experienced a sudden drop of popularity among Team BMW F1 fans, as the Washington-based foreign affairs agency failed to grant on time the U.S. visa to Iranian-born race engineer Mehdi (‘Mehmi’) Ahmadi. Therefore, in addition to the absence of regular driver Robert Kubica, the #10 car crew also had a new chief engineer at the U.S. Grand Prix.

It was Finland’s Ossi Oikarinen who assumed technical communication with rookie driver Sebastian Vettel in Indianapolis. Interestingly enough, 37-year-old testing engineer Oikarinen, in his first season with BMW after spending the last five years with big spenders Toyota, joined the racing team at the Canadian Grand Prix, the week before. Perhaps in expectancy of Ahmadi’s visa denial.

It is a notorious fact in recent years that individuals of Arabic descent usually face an uphill struggle in getting a visitor visa to the United States. However, it’s for the first time that the U.S.-led crackdown on terrorism is affecting Formula 1 in a twisted way. A highly praised professional in the F1 paddock, aerodynamics specialist Mehdi Ahmadi was working for the Swiss team Sauber for several years before taking over the race engineer duties at Team BMW F1 prior to the current season. He has no known links with terrorist groups or Islamist militants.

The week before the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis, a Team BMW F1 spokesman expressed his hope that Ahmadi would eventually get his visa, but the team avoided to release any comment on this issue. Robert Kubica’s race engineer had no trouble getting to any of the six previous rounds of the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship season.