Bernie insists it's happening, the government there is going crazy keeping the people "in line" and some teams had made alternative travel plans. Now Anonymous brought f1.com down cold and they promise to keep it down (and anything else F1) for the duration of the race.
Odds this race is happening?
My nickel is on it not happening, either officially or the drivers will refuse to run ala USGP.
They've already done a couple of practice sessions, but Force India looks to be pulling out: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2132519/Bahrain-Grand-Prix-2012-Force-India-skip-practice.html
I still think they'll do it, but it will be interesting. Glad I get to watch it on my nice safe couch! 
Petrol bombs are not a good thing. I hope no one gets hurt as a result of the race.
Yeah, I'd hate to see that, too, but let's focus on what's really important here: Bernie getting paid.
You know Bernie gets a lot of bad press, much of it warrantied, but at the end of the day people signed these contracts saying he would get paid. If he insists on getting paid as a result of a contract that two people signed does that make him bad. Yes, if the race didn’t / doesn’t go ahead Bahrain is out a lot of money, but the situation in the country isn’t Bernie’s fault.
Did I just defend Bernie?!?!
Off topic, did you know Bernie failed to qualify for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix in a Connaught that he owned. He had no real chance with 30 cars entered and only 16 allowed to start, it was probably an attempt to promote the car he had been unsuccessfully trying to sell.
He wasn’t actually a bad driver having had a fair amount of success in 500cc F3 Coopers as well as success on bikes as well. This despite the fact his famous eye defect prevented him seeing around some corners.
Anyone would think I was reading his biography right now!
Adrian_Thompson wrote: You know Bernie gets a lot of bad press, much of it warrantied, but at the end of the day people signed these contracts saying he would get paid. If he insists on getting paid as a result of a contract that two people signed does that make him bad. Yes, if the race didn’t / doesn’t go ahead Bahrain is out a lot of money, but the situation in the country isn’t Bernie’s fault. Did I just defend Bernie?!?!
Yes, but the decision to run the race or not under these circumstances is on him, among a few others.
I won't post what Anonymous had to say to Bernie because it would blow up the profanity filters, but you can read it here: http://jalopnik.com/5903732/breaking-anonymous-takes-down-formula-1-website-with-ddos-attack
My understanding that 'officialy' the only people who can say if a race does or does not happen is the FIA. Bernie may organize everything but the FIA is the sanctioning body
BTW I should say I don't think the race should happen with the current situaiton
I wonder if every car on the grid will have mysterious mechanical issues and not qualify, or like the infamouse Indy tires incident they will pull in the pits after the form up lap?
Tom_Spangler wrote: I won't post what Anonymous had to say to Bernie because it would blow up the profanity filters, but you can read it here: http://jalopnik.com/5903732/breaking-anonymous-takes-down-formula-1-website-with-ddos-attack
I was going to screen print the site then post as a hotlink image to avoid the filter, but the site is currently back up.
Now that's funny.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: My understanding that 'officialy' the only people who can say if a race does or does not happen is the FIA. Bernie may organize everything but the FIA is the sanctioning body
Officially, yes. But it's my belief that if Bernie didn't want this race to happen, it wouldn't happen.
The DDOS wasn't working well enough to prevent me from reaching the normal site....
I'm feeling that they should be paying more attention to public opinion, this isn't going to help F1's image at all.
I wish I could see the mural in the background better.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
Don't they realize that they can't use the F1 logo without prior written consent and the payment of all appropriate fees and licenses? These people are savages.
thehounder wrote:Adrian_Thompson wrote:Don't they realize that they can't use the F1 logo without prior written consent and the payment of all appropriate fees and licenses? These people are savages.
That's why the F is a gun!
And for the record, I'm against the race being held. Bahrain has some serious issues.
Javelin wrote:thehounder wrote:That's why the F is a gun! And for the record, I'm against the race being held. Bahrain has some serious issues.Adrian_Thompson wrote:Don't they realize that they can't use the F1 logo without prior written consent and the payment of all appropriate fees and licenses? These people are savages.
While I agree with the sentiment, keep politics out of sport, damned politicians have screwed up everything they ever touched.
Clearly harassing motorsports in country is going to change the poor situation in Bahrain.
Javelin wrote:thehounder wrote:That's why the F is a gun! And for the record, I'm against the race being held. Bahrain has some serious issues.Adrian_Thompson wrote:Don't they realize that they can't use the F1 logo without prior written consent and the payment of all appropriate fees and licenses? These people are savages.
Bernie isn't concerned with the issues, Detroit has plenty too but they went there.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
i'm sure all those 5 year old kids holding the banners know exactly what's going on and what the banners they are holding are saying. also, i'm sure that those 5 year old kids don't want to see shiny and loud race cars, because what 5 year old kid wants that?
8:30 AM EDT 4/22, it's on. SPEED is saying nothing about the unrest and oddly they are not panning the crowd; perhaps because there isn't one? EDIT: As promised by Anonymous, formula1.com is down. EDIT: Force India is running. EDIT again: as of 9:30 AM the site is back up.
Anyway, it was weird to see a car come in because of a piece of paper getting stuck on the front wing, causing an overheat. Man, airflow is heavily managed on these things.
I wondered if anyone was in the stands as it was hard to see.
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