RED Bull’s Mark Webber has insisted he wants to race in the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend despite some misgivings about the safety.
Formula 1 is scheduled to return to the Gulf state next weekend after last year’s race was cancelled.
And F1 bosses say the race will go ahead despite continued civil unrest.
With just two days until first practice, the 35 year old says he wants to race but said it was for governing body, the FIA, to decide if the event should go ahead at all.
“Clearly there are some massive decisions to be made,” the Australian told BBC Sport.
“Let’s hope it goes well.
“There is no beating about the bush, it is sensitive out there, we get lots of view points from there, both sides. I get constantly reminded on Twitter.”
He added: “If we have a choice ... I want to race, and I would like to go there and do that.
“But you cannot ignore the fact there are a lot of good people in our sport and all of them have in the back of their minds that we want it to go down smoothly and we don’t want to be involved with the situation that’s out there.”
“Obviously we are putting an immense amount of trust into the FIA - I’m not talking about the drivers, I’m talking about you guys (the media), photographers, catering everybody going to and from that track each day. Competing at that track and having a normal grand prix weekend is what we would all love to see.”
Aston Clinton’s most famous motorist said that Red Bull had planned extra security for the Bahrain weekend, but admitted: “I accept not everyone can have that and that doesn’t make me feel comfortable.”
Bahrain pays one of the largest fees for its race, is influential within the FIA and is a 50% shareholder of McLaren.
When asked about the decision, Webber concluded: “We all know why it might have dragged a bit. It’s like that.
“For teams it’s a tricky situation because they need to know by a certain date whether to send equipment. For drivers, we just have to change our flight ticket.”
