Formula One boss Chase Carey drew criticism from rights campaigners on Tuesday after he said the sport represented a "force for good" in the countries it visited.
Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton last week urged F1 to do more, saying human rights issues were a "massive problem" in some of the countries the sport visited.
Carey countered the claim ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, he told CNN Sport: "I don't think we have a massive problem, I think actually sports have a unique opportunity to be a force for good. Sports in some ways have uniquely -- over time -- crossed borders, crossed cultures and brought people from different places together.