I have that same feeling. The GP is a golden opportunity for these protesters. I hope nothing happens, but if something does I hope it's only this. The bastard deserves it.
That pic is shocking. They're going to have to hold the race completely behind closed doors and refund people's tickets. They're getting paid a fortune to go there, it'll cost them a fraction of what they get to refund people and take some proper security. Usually they have local people as security on the gates right? They can't possibly trust any Bahrainis not to let people in with Molotovs to start hurling over the catchment fences.
Lets just say I wont be suprised if the pit lane ends up like this if they did kick off in Bahrain... please log in to view this image
From a friend who was recently out there most of the unrest happens at the weekend. He also said the street cleaners had all the mess hidden away before 7am like nothing had happened...
I believe F1 is wrong to go through with this race; but I now acknowledge that, failing a hefty meteorite impact in the Gulf, it is going to happen. Crossed fingers, everyone!
There's a big (thousands, apparently) protest going on at the moment in Al Dair - old and young, men, women and children. It sounds peaceful but it's aimed directly at F1: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Without taking any political stance whatsoever, hats off to the designers of the ladies' clothes in the second post.
Most teams will begin unpacking at the circuit tomorrow. Looks like the only thing that can stop the race now is an actual protest.
'Teargas, petrol bombs and riot police: How MirrorSport's Byron Young escaped the violence in Bahrain' http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula-1/bahrain-grand-prix-how-the-mirrors-797440
MRS have withdrawn from this weekend's Porsche Supercup in Bahrain on safety grounds. I also have an update on the opinions of some sponsors. I'll try to post it later but they're only what you'd expect - "the FIA has decided... therefore we support the teams..." blah blah blah. please log in to view this image
I reckon our race will be cancelled before the cars hit the track. How can driver and team safety be ensured..
On Monday I was directed to this site from someone on Twitter. I can't find anything controversial about them but I haven't looked too deeply. I accept they will have their own agenda and I take everything that's written about this issue with a pinch of salt. When I visited the site on Monday it consisted of the top four lists (Companies with F1 teams, F1 teams, FOM and the FIA) so I emailed them to ask why they hadn't contacted any of the sponsors since a lot of the teams would jump if their sponsors weren't happy. I received an email back yesterday thanking me for the suggestion and linking me to the page. You can see the list of sponsors there and the replies of those that can be arsed replying. Examples are: Etc. The majority haven't bothered responding. They have a slightly different angle on doing what Jean Todt tells them than the teams, of course. The scale of the publicity this race will generate is a marketing manager's dream so it was perhaps naive of me to consider the remote possibility that anyone involved in these companies would have anything approaching a sense of social responsibility, a conscience or a spine. Nice get-out from Diageo: Notwithstanding the fact that they spray Waard on the podium, the sale and consumption of alcohol in Bahrain is legal. Intel don't seem to know what's going on: The wife of hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has publicly criticised Ecclestone. A cross-party campaign calling to stop the race has been launched in Parliament. EDIT: The Guardian's live updates page picked up on the sponsors story at 13:21 Thursday.
