Bahrain last hosted Formula One in 2010. (Photo: Getty Images)

New Violence Casts Doubt On 2012 Bahrain GP Return: With the 2012 season now just weeks away, the most serious doubts yet about April's returning Bahrain Grand Prix have emerged. Reports claim that, on the eve of the one year anniversary of the bloody 'Day of Rage' protests that led to the cancellation of the race and test in early 2011, violent clashes involving tear gas-firing police have broken out. "Formula One is monitoring events there," a report in the Guardian newspaper said. "Formula One's governing body is keeping a low profile because it doesn't want to be part of the mounting pressure and speculation," added journalist Paul Weaver. International news agencies including Reuters and the Associated Press reported this week's clashes involve protesters trying to reoccupy the symbolic scenes of the 2011 violence. "Traffic came to a standstill on the main thoroughfare into the capital (Manama), and teargas canisters, rubber pellets and rocks littered the highway," said Reuters, adding that elsewhere "youths threw petrol bombs, iron bars and rocks" and police returned fire with "stun grenades." The New York Times, meanwhile, referred to numerous online videos graphically depicting badly injured protesters.

Vergne Vows To Keep 'Tension' Low With Ricciardo: Jean-Eric Vergne has revealed he will try to keep the "tension" down to a minimum inside the Toro Rosso garage in 2012. Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz this week has admitted that, beyond Mark Webber's 2012 contract, "Our primary goal is to put one of our juniors" alongside Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull. With Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari ousted by the energy drink's Faenza-based secondary team after 2011, those most eligible juniors are now French rookie Vergne and his new Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo. At Jerez last week in the new STR7 car, their rivalry got off to a fascinating start. By the end of the four days of running, their fastest laps were separated by no more than one hundredth of a second — with Ricciardo enjoying the miniscule edge for the moment. With a Red Bull seat up for grabs, 21-year-old Vergne admitted to RMC radio that the stakes are high. But "There was not too much tension," he insists. "You have to forget about all those different aspects when you think about the work you need to do. We had four good days of testing. The engineers are working now for the next test in Barcelona at the end of the month. There is a competition with my teammate but at the same time we can't (let it) go in the wrong direction. You always want to beat everybody but my teammate is also the only other person who is working on the very same car as me."

Di Resta Cousin Franchitti Has No F1 Regrets: Dario Franchitti insists he has no regrets despite never adding success in Formula One to his list of career achievements. The famous Scot, whose wife is the Hollywood actor Ashley Judd, is the cousin of impressive Force India youngster Paul di Resta. Last week, 38-year-old Franchitti joined his family member at the Jerez test. The four-time IndyCar champion and double Indy 500 winner was asked by Sky Sports if, despite flirting with Jaguar at the beginning of last decade, he regrets not having made it to F1. "You can live your life thinking, 'I wish I'd done this, I wish I'd done that,'" he answered. "It would have been great to race in Formula One at some point, but when the chances were there I didn't take them; I didn't feel that they were better than the opportunities I had in America." Added Franchitti: "I made the decisions I made, I'm delighted I won a couple of Indy 500s and the four championships, so I wouldn't change that for that world."