Bahrain Grand Prix: F1 bosses again toe the party line on security issues

Force India – the team whose leading driver is Scotland’s Paul di Resta – and Sauber both encountered violent scenes on Thursday and Friday night respectively, resulting in two team members from the former marque returning home, citing safety concerns.

Instead, McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh, Christian Horner from Red Bull and Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali may not have buried their heads in the Bahraini sand, but at least certainly again toed the party line.

Mr Whitmarsh said: “There have undoubtedly been difficult times here, but from a pure team perspective we’ve been comfortable with the situation.

“Clearly, we race as an international sport all over the world and we have security concerns and issues at a number or races, and we take that very seriously.

“We’re cautious, and we try to take the right precautions, but ultimately we’re a race team. We’re here to go motor-racing, and that’s our number one priority.”

Mr Horner followed a similar tack, adding: “Martin’s summed it up perfectly. Formula One is a sport at the end of the day, and it’s wrong for it to be used politically.

“We’re here to race, we trust in the FIA, in the decisions that they make, and we’re comfortable with the decisions that they have made.

“For us, it’s about trying to extract the maximum from this weekend as a sporting team in a sporting championship.”

Mr Domenicali added: “Speaking about security, I would say that we have received all the guarantees from the organisers, the federation, the embassy.

“It is pretty clear at the moment it is like that. We don’t seem to be the target of anyone that is protesting.

“We are here for the event that is racing, the race of the F1 world championship, and we are here to make the best of it.”

Meanwhile, hacking collective Anonymous has claimed responsibility for a denial-of-service attack on the official Formula One website in protest over the Grand Prix.

The group also attacked F1-racers.net, where it posted a message saying the “Formula 1 racing authority was well aware of the human rights situation in Bahrain and still chose to contribute to the regime’s oppression of civilians and will be punished.”