Formula 1 under threat in Bahrain

For several hours today, Formula1.com - official website of the pinnacle of motor sport - was taken down by Anonymous. They posted a rather harsh press release (see link below) mostly detailing the problems, as they see it, in Bahrain ahead of the F1 return. Just a day earlier, a shuttle bus taking Force India mechanics back to the hotel happened to have gone near a petrol bomb attack. This led the team to withdraw from Free Practice 2 to get there guys to the hotel before nightfall.

BBC has reported more than a thousand people protesting in the streets of Bahrain. They all want F1 to pull out and cancel Sunday's race as part of their general grievances against the Bahraini government, which is using F1 as a sort of political PR stunt with a message of unity. At the same time, however, the human rights groups fighting for political change have assured the F1 world that they will not target F1 staff members.

I do hope the race goes ahead despite all these various problems in the past two days. It will be a shame if everyone made the trek out only to see the race get pulled. However, I do hope that the crown prince of Bahrain does not make an appearance either on the grid or on the podium at the end of the race. It's really not the right moment for him to get exposure thanks to F1.

Let's see what happens then...

Anonymous' press release is available here.

Anonymous has watched with growing alarm the incredible human rights abuses of the Bahrain regime. We have watched this tyrannical government tear gas it's own people literally to death, with over 30 fatalities so far. We have watched as thousands of innocent protesters and activists have been jailed. We have suffered with our dear friend @AngryArabiya on Twitter as she watches her father slowly die of a hunger strike in prison to protest the atrocities committed by the regime of this "king" of Bahrain. We have witnessed doctors and nurses imprisoned for simply treating the wounded protesters that your security forces have brutalized. And finally we have suffered in outrage the ignorance and out right lies of mainstream media regarding what is REALLY happening in Bahrain.

Image source: 2space.net, Motor Sport Press and Wikipedia