The renegade pooch seen galloping across the BIC track trying to catch up with racers during Friday night’s F1 free practice is now in the care of the Bahrain Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) waiting to be vaccinated and spayed before she can be adopted by a ‘fur-ever’ family.
The excitable stray, who was nicknamed ‘Spaniel Ricciardo’, made her debut on Renault’s team radio and was clocked reaching a high speed of 10kmph, which ended up ‘paws’ing action on the track for a few minutes.
It took just a few milliseconds for the drivers to recover from the shock before Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was heard howling: “Who let the dogs out?” echoing the eponymous Grammy-award winning song by Baha Men.
When world champion Lewis Hamilton was informed via radio of the intervention, he quipped: “Hope it’s not Roscoe,” referring to his beloved bull dog, who joined him for the track walk on Thursday.
This was the second race weekend in a row that a dog had taken to an F1 track.
A fortnight ago, in Turkey, ‘Pierre Wagsly’ got his AlphaTauri radio debut during qualifying at the Intercity İstanbul Park.
Bahrain’s ‘Spaniel Ricciardo’, believed to be aged three-and-a-half, had no microchip, and was one of a number of desert dogs straying around Sakhir.
“She has been checked by the vet and is doing well, even though she was a bit scared at first,” Yasmin Alhilli, deputy vice chairperson at the BSPCA, told the GDN. “I was surprised and concerned when I saw the video of her running onto the track, owing to my own history as one of the first female race car drivers in the Gulf region.
“We are thankful that BIC’s chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa and his team contacted us on Friday evening.
“Our chairperson Mahmood Faraj and chief executive Paul Duke headed out to the circuit at 10pm. We were also lucky to have some of our volunteers at the circuit, who were there as marshals and support volunteers.
“Everyone worked together and it was only around 2am that we were able to locate her and bring her in safely, because of the dark.
“I can only imagine how overwhelmed she was, amid the roars of the cars.”
Spaniel Ricciardo became an instant viral celebrity when an F1 video of her track antics were posted on social media, with some of the F1 teams commending her for finding a way onto the circuit, amid a lockdown.
Ms Alhilli
“We still don’t know how she got onto the circuit, but we are glad she was safe and unhurt,” Ms Alhilli added. “Since we announced that we have taken her in our care, people from all over the world, including Holland, Italy and Australia have been contacting us, seeking to adopt her.
“She has yet to be vaccinated and spayed, in line with our policy but I am sure that once she is ready to be adopted, there will be many ‘fur-ever’ homes happy to take her in.
“I also keep reminding people that we also have 80 other dogs, who are just as lovely and loving, waiting for their forever parents at our centre, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.”
Follow @bspca on Instagram and Facebook to get more details about adopting her or one of the other dogs at the BSPCA.
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