MAY 14, 2002

The Austrian mess - more reaction

MANY of the hundreds of e-mails that we have received in the last few hours suggest that Bernie Ecclestone is somehow to blame for what happened in Austria. This is not really fair as Ecclestone, who represents the F1 Commercial Rights Holder SLEC does not appear to have had anything to do with the decision by Ferrari to order Rubens Barrichello to move over and let Michael Schumacher win the race.

Among the e-mails we have received are demands by sponsors for action with the threat that they will withdraw from F1 if nothing is done to suggestions that the race should be run again and that the admission money should be refunded to spectators. There are many from people who say that they are no longer going to watch Formula 1 because they feel it is "fixed".

"This world is a bad enough place as it is," writes Robert Lewis. "If we do away with "sport" then what are we left with?"

Others have taken out their anger on Ferrari.

"If we had a Ferrari we would be trading it in for a Honda," wrote David Robertson of Montreal, Canada.

Montreal.

"I have been a Ferrari fan my whole life," wrote Deborah Schles from Cape Town, "and I feel ashamed that they could be so immoral to take the win away from Barrichello who deserved the win right from qualifying times on Saturday. Team orders are as dishonest as match fixing in any other sport. Ferrari should be banned for the next couple of races or even the season."

That theme was also followed by Damir Bersinic.

"The Scuderia," he wrote,"made the biggest public relations blunder in racing history."

A more worrying thought came from David Valese in Australia.

"I can see in the not too distant future massive law suits against race teams and the governing body for this sort of

behavior," he wrote. "I would not like to see the sport buried by a disgruntled gambler. Their actions were tantamount to fraud."