Bahrain finally cancelled! Finally official!

[Dave B]

The natives are restless, it seems. Hot on the heels of Egyptian protesters eventually overthrowing President Mubarak, Iran and Bahrain now appear to be in a race to become the next country to oust their leaders.

Thousands took to the streets recently in Manama to protest the death of a mourner at an earlier funeral, and now it appears that some protestors are planning to use next month's F1 race as the focal point for more action, knowing that there'll be a massive media presence.

Joe Saward relays this quote from Nabeel Rajab, the vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights:

For sure F1 is not going to be peaceful this time. They’ll be lots of journalists, a lot of people looking and [the government] will react in a stupid manner as they did today and yesterday. And that will be bloody but will be more publicised.

James Allen also makes this point in his excellent analysis of the situation:

It’s not the event itself that we need to worry about, as that will be extremely well protected, it’s the comings and goings of the people who work in the sport, which is more tricky to protect. And of course, the drivers. Remember the coverage Jenson Button got when he and his entourage were held up at gun point by an armed gang in Brazil? They got away, but no coverage at all was given to the two groups of mechanics and technicians who were actually robbed by the gang.

Hopefully all will pass peacefully, but personally I'm glad that I don't have tickets.

[Dave B]

Even Bernie's taking notice, if he thinks something could affect the bottom line then you know it's serious
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89496

[steveaki13]

Lets hope the protests pass peacefully and that we and the world can go to Bahrain and enjoy a cracking first race of the season.

[gloomyDAY]

Good. I hope the race gets called off altogether and the teams' time isn't lost in a wasteland.
I'm not a fan of Bahrain and its circuit, so I'd much rather see the season-opener in Australia.

[Shifter]

Good. I hope the race gets called off altogether and the teams' time isn't lost in a wasteland.
I'm not a fan of Bahrain and its circuit, so I'd much rather see the season-opener in Australia.

Correct. Bahrain needs democracy and enlightenment much more than it needs auto racing at the moment. Bernie needs to understand that if you hold races in such places they'll probably need to be cancelled every now and then, or perhaps he can take a lesson from Dakar and run the race somewhere better.

[Tazio]

Correct. Bahrain needs democracy and enlightenment much more than it needs auto racing at the moment. Bernie needs to understand that if you hold races in such places they'll probably need to be cancelled every now and then, or perhaps he can take a lesson from Dakar and run the race somewhere better.

They need Liquor too. Lots of Liquor

[Shifter]

I dont know if Liqour in Bahrain is a 'need', but I can't see any downside to it, and I can think of a few positives.

[UltimateDanGTR]

F1 needs to avoid Bahrain for its own well being, and never return.

It also has the worst track on the calendar, which doesnt help.

[MAX_THRUST]

Its more like a test track with points. Don't see the ppoint of the race there. Thought it was great idea at first, now i think its dull, maybe this year will be better than last year who knows?

[Nikki Katz]

The only truly bad race in Bahrain was the one last year where the used the extended circuit for less passing, although I'll admit that it's hardly my favourite track on the calendar, and is pretty low in even my list of Tilkedromes. But I really hope that this does go ahead.

That's a pretty selfish of me though, I'm sure that the protesters are a lot more upset about their human rights than I am at the possible loss of a race.