Formula One ( F1 )

It does help being at the front but the only guys I can remember doing it like that were Vettel last year and Schumacher during the years where the Ferrari was in a league of its own! It seems to be one of the very few cars that can make the tyres work in cold temperatures (as well as the Sauber, which just makes the tyres work no matter what). However I still fear that any of the warmer GPs will ee them return to their former form.

I hear you. Will be interesting to see. One of the good things about this season - it's so hard to call.

You say that about the Saubers but they didn't fair so well in China. As demonstrated by Kimi's Lotus - tyre mangement was pretty crucial in that race.

Williams seem to be doing well with their tyres.

This thread has regained its mojo.

So it's Bahrain this weekend. Bit controversial but hey ho. At least they took that shit twisty bit out of the track and it's back to the old layout although it's always been a bit of a boring race/track from what I can remeber. Hopefully this new order will spice it up a bit.

Predictions?

I predict hot and dusty.

I'm not sure I'm going to watch the race; morals and all that. Force India have already been caught up in a demonstration - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98957

Just coming on to post that apparently at least one member of their team has asked to return to the UK. Bernie Eccleston is a dick, they shouldn't be there.

Bernie Eccleston is a dick, they shouldn't be there.

Bernie isn't going to be there, he's staying in London. Georgie and Anthony from Sky's coverage aren't going either.

Edit: I was wrong, Bernie has turned up. Last week he said he was staying in London to watch his girlfriend compete in the London Marathon.

Could be a very ugly race weekend.

For the sake of a few extra personal millions, Bernie is risking the name and the brand of F1. He will regret this, I'm sure of it.

And the government of Bahrain will count the cost of lost tourism, and lost investment. What a balls up.

The Force India Team weren't actually targeted they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact remains that the FIA has put the teams in a potentially volatile situation for the sake of profit. Red Bull has hired private security contractors who presumably are ex-special forces and heavily armed, what would happen if they were in a situation where they perceive a threat and open fire?

The fact that Bernie is not there just confirms my long held belief that he is a total cunt who doesn't care about F1 and is only in it to increase the size of his already hefty wallet.

I'm glad others share my opinion on Bernie and the Bahrain thing too.

Politics and what not aside, fact is there is a race going on this weekend! I'm looking forward to watching it!

I'm swimming against the tide on this one. I like Bernie Ecclestone, and I think he is good for Formula One. Its a business, and he seeks the maximum exposure and financial reward for the business, and its major players. In this sense, he's done a brilliant job. True, I hate that only Sky has all the races live, but the Beeb wishes to represent the middle-ground, and how many women (half the nation) get up at 3am to watch Quali-1, or Quali-2? See what I mean? Its fair, even though I don't like it.

Bahrain though, is a watershed moment. Its a gamble that may backfire in spectacular style. I'm sure our Bernie was given concrete assurances that the race and all events leading up to it, would be incident-free. So far its not panned out that way at all, and the negative press is something Bernie can do nothing about at all. I'm sure there have been some very concerned phonecalls from him the the rulers of that state, and he's been given yet more assuarances. Its a bad situation, and the teams will be telling Bernie that. Ferarri will not want their huge name brand caught up in this, and yet they are.

I don't think Bernie knows what humble-pie tastes like, but I can see the teams making him eat plenty.

EDIT:
Regarding my comments above, to add to it there is now an Open Letter To Shell, and also news that hospitality is not being offered at this race by UBS and other companies.

Just got told that formula1.com has been threatened with attack by hacking group Anonymous!

Other F1 sites may also be targeted.

Force India will be finishing 2nd practice early so that the team can leave the track before dark.

Force India have now announced that they will take no part in second free practice. Is this the beginning of a move to pull out of the race completely?

Don't think so. From what I've read they still plan to do a full qualifying and race programme.

Yes, but they also said that they were going to take part in FP2, it would also appear the Bernie was putting a lot of pressure on them.

You'd think that a team wearing the name "India" would not want to piss off Bahrain, a major employer of people from India, either.

I think if they pulled out of the race, when every other team will race and with some of thier immediate rivals sure to score points, I think it would be very costly for them to pull out completely.

The people with money in India couldn't give a toss about the labourers who work in shitty conditions in the Middle East.

I think if they pulled out of the race, when every other team will race and with some of thier immediate rivals sure to score points, I think it would be very costly for them to pull out completely.

I think if one team pulls out a large number of other teams will as well, from what I understand almost all of the teams have private misgivings about this race, also I would imagine that some of the team sponsors are less than happy about having their brand associated with this.

The people with money in India couldn't give a toss about the labourers who work in shitty conditions in the Middle East.

Lot of high tech workers as well as the labourers, Bahrain is attracting high-tech companies with the promise of very "friendly" taxation and cheap skilled workers.

Or at least they were a few years back, I doubt they've changed their strategy that much.

I know but I still think it'll go ahead, no matter how much anyone doesn't want to be there. If the race is on, as it is, all teams will want to score points in this tight season - could make all the difference to the championship / standings.

That said not great if your ERP providers helpdesk and dev team are all shot by police when they go to the motor racing at the weekend.

BBC website

BREAKING NEWS
Sauber have released this statement: "Yesterday (Thursday) night at 2030 (local time) a minibus of the Sauber F1 Team had left the circuit to go back to the Novotel in Manama. At 2050 (local time) the 12 mechanics being on that bus noticed fire on the medial strip of the highway. The traffic was slow, cars had their hazard flashers on. On the opposite lane there was no traffic. The team members saw a few masked people running from there over to their lane where a bottle was burning as well. The mini bus moved to the very right side of the highway and went passed the situation. No one from the Sauber F1 Team was hurt."

Not as serious as the Force India situation.