MAY 20, 1996
Australia to open 1997 season
The Melbourne race has just been named Australia's Tourist Attraction of the Year for 1996 and organizers are hoping that next year's event will be even more successful.
This would suggest that there will not be any space in the calendar for a race in South Africa as the South American races in Brazil and Argentina are scheduled for March 30 and April 6. The only way that a South African race could be fitted into this calendar would be for the teams to go from Australia to South Africa and then on to South America. This would mean that the entire F1 circus would be on the road for over a month without returning to base - this is extremely unlikely to be accepted by the teams.