Teams express concern over ongoing political situation in Bahrain

Although the FIA has sanctioned the comeback of the Sakhir event, following its cancellation this year, F1 outfits are not totally relaxed because of ongoing political troubles there - which have included clashes between police and protestors, and the jailing of medical staff.

And although there are no calls yet for the event to be called off, a number of team bosses are mindful that the situation needs to be monitored carefully.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner told the Press Association: "Obviously it's worrying when you hear the type of news that's come out of Bahrain.

"But [F1 supremo] Bernie [Ecclestone], more than anybody, is probably acutely aware of the situation there. When the time is right for difficult decisions that have to be made, he's demonstrated he's not afraid of making them. But yes, some of the reports that have come out of Bahrain recently, the situation is rather worrying."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who is chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), believed there was plenty of time to deal with matters.

"We will make a decision," he said. "As far as I know it is quite a bit calmer than it was six months ago when we were having this discussion before. But we have enough time. To speculate on next year is probably a bit premature I think at this moment.

"There was clearly unrest; there was clearly some aftermath to that. But I don't know what is going to happen in the coming months, and we have a fair amount of time. To speculate on what may or may not happen there next year is a little bit premature."

Renault boss Eric Boullier made it clear that the teams would be more than happy to compete in Bahrain, providing it was safe to do so.

"On the human side, it's not nice to see all these problems," he said. "We keep an eye on it. On the sport side, we want to be back in Bahrain, clearly. We have not changed our position from last year.

"Bahrain is part of Formula 1 for many years, they have invested in F1 and we like to go there and it's part of the show now. So we want to be back. But not at any price."