Bahrain Officials Confirm Dog Problem

The officials working at the Sakhir circuit admitted they had a serious problem with the stray dogs this week, during the second part of the F1 group test in Bahrain. There were two stray dogs incidents throughout the 4 days of testing this week, one of which interfered with the testing programme of the 3 teams present at the Sakhir track.

On Tuesday, a couple of stray dogs managed to enter the venue and caused a 10-minute interruption of the test session. Later on, the circuit officials confirmed the incident, but insisted the dogs did not cross the track at any time, but decided to red-flag the session anyway as a precautionary measure.

Yesterday morning, there were another couple of dogs – maybe the same – that wanted to have a closer look at the F1 action. This time, however, the circuit officials decided not to stop the testing session, while advising the drivers to drive carefully under the yellow flags.

“They came very near the track and it was a dangerous position. We don't know what they will do or where they will go while in the circuit, so we have to take the right precautions for them to leave the track as soon as possible,” said Bahrain Motor Federation operations officer and course clerk Jassim Ebrahim, according to the Gulf Daily News.

“So whether they are in the run-off area or on the track, it is the same dangerous position. We chased them back quickly so we didn't have to red flag the tests, which is a good thing,” added the Bahraini official.

Sakhir will play the host of the Bahrain Grand Prix almost 2 months from now, between the 24th and 26th of April, counted as the 4th event of the 2009 F1 calendar.