city burns but Bernie Ecclestone insists the show must go on

 Rarely, though, can it have found itself on the horns of a dilemma such as it encounters now, at the centre of a complex row over human rights, money, politics, even international diplomacy. The decision to push ahead with Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in spite of ongoing civil unrest was always a big gamble. Now it has turned into a potentially ruinous one. With Force India skipping second practice on Friday — they were worried about returning to their hotel in the dark — after a firebomb incident on Wednesday night, and Sauber admitting that a bus-load of their mechanics were approached by masked men brandishing Molotov cocktails the following night, everyone out here is jittery. An estimated 10,000 people swarmed the highway north of the circuit on Friday to protest against the ruling Sunni regime, with rioting expected to break out across the city as it has most nights this week. Every day the protesters become more encouraged by the international attention they are garnering, with news reporters being denied visas as they scrabble to get in on the action.

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