Violence marred Bahrain’s controversial Grand Prix race as a firebomb exploded near Force India team members and protesters clashed with police in the lead-up to the Formula One practice runs set to begin on Friday.
The incident prompted F1 officials to reassure participants that despite the violence, Bahrain was safe.
Speaking to reporters at the Sakhir circuit, chairman of the Formula One Grand Prix Drivers Association, Pedro de la Rosa, said safety is “not a concern,” adding that he had full faith in the decision by the International Motoring Federation to hold the event despite mounting tensions in the kingdom.
Four members of the Force India team were stuck in traffic when a firebomb exploded as they returned from the Sakhir circuit to their hotel late on Wednesday, Bahrain International Circuit chairman Zayed R Alzayani told Autosport magazine.
Nobody was injured, but one member of the team, based at Silverstone in England, decided afterwards to leave Bahrain and return home.
The four mechanics apparently got caught up in a clash between protesters and police on the main motorway from the capital Manama to Sakhir.
“It was an isolated incident… The protesters were not targeting the cars, they just happened to be there,” Alzayani said.
Force India driver German Nico Hulkenberg said it was “not right” that members of his team had been close to an exploding firebomb, but added that he still felt safe.
Bahrain’s main opposition group, Al-Wefaq, has called for a week of daily protests to coincide with the Grand Prix, using the sports event to focus media attention on their long-standing demands for greater equality and representation in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
“There is a desire to take advantage of the presence of (international) press, normally barred from entering the country,” said Bahraini rights activist Nabil Rajab.
“The Formula One… is a symbol of the regime, it represents its repression,” said Rajab, noting that the Bahrain race is a personal project of the Crown Prince.
The government on Thursday barred Al-Wefaq from holding a protest in central Manama, an interior ministry statement said.
Meanwhile, two Associated Press journalists are being prevented from covering the race because they have not received visas to enter the Gulf kingdom.
The two writers, based in Dubai, have been granted accreditation to cover the race by the sport’s governing body, the Paris-based International Automobile Federation, but have been told by Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority that their visa applications to enter the kingdom are still “pending.”
Other Gulf-based journalists working for international news organisations had also not received visas in time to cover Thursday’s practice.