Formula 1: Ecclestone to monitor situation in Bahrain hourly

Bernie Ecclestone is to monitor the political unrest in Bahrain on an hourly basis over the weekend before making a definitive decision on the future of next month's season-opening grand prix.

The F1 supremo yesterday claimed he was "more hopeful" of the race taking place in contrast to Thursday, when four people were killed and hundreds more injured as riot police stormed a camp of demonstrators in the capital Manama.

However, Ecclestone appreciates the shifting sands of a volatile situation are too difficult to predict, and says he will be far better equipped to appraise the matter in a few days.

"From a realistic point of view it appears that things are changing hourly," added Ecclestone. "I feel the most important thing now is to wait until after the weekend, to see what happens over the next few days, and then make a decision next Tuesday or Wednesday."

Ecclestone was yesterday in contact with representatives of the teams currently based in Barcelona for the penultimate pre-season test. And it is understood officials at the Circuit de Catalunya have been approached as to whether they could host the test, confirming the track is available.

On the track, meanwhile, world champion Sebastian Vettel deposed local hero Fernando Alonso from the top of the timesheets at the end of the first day of the penultimate pre-season test. Vettel posted a time in his Red Bull of one minute 24.374secs, just over four seconds slower than team-mate Mark Webber's pole position lap in last year's Spanish Grand Prix.