Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

MORE than 120 cases of heat-related exhaustion were reported during the second day of the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix.

With the official temperature reaching 40C, many fans were forced to seek treatment for dehydration and heat exhaustion at the Bahrain International Circuit's medical facilities, the race's medical head Dr Amjad Deeb Obaid confirmed yesterday.

"We've seen more than 120 cases of heat related exhaustion," he said.

Four patients were referred to the Salmaniya Medical Complex.

"We had a meeting with the marshals in the morning and briefed them on the importance of drinking plenty of fluids and to mix them with oral rehydration solution (ORS) - we've handed out about 9,000 packets so far," he said.

Perhaps the organisers should not be stopping people from bringing in their own water and then setting prices inside to circuit at rip-off level. At every gate there is a growing pile of discarded plastic bottles.