JUNE 26, 2002

FIA announce provisional 2003 calendar

The draft of the 2003 Formula 1 calendar was approved by the FIA World Council in Paris on Wednesday and there is no great difference to the current year in terms of the order and timing and the races. The only big change is that the mid-season holiday week has been axed because it could not be made to fit into the calendar.

The only race that is provisional is the Australian GP which is listed as being subject to and inspection and proposals for safety modifications at Albert Park.

The season will begin a week later than this year with the Australian event being on March 9 rather than March 3 and the rest of the calendar follows with a race every fortnight until the back-to-back races of Europe and France (June 29 and July 6) through the Japanese GP on October 12.

The provisional 2003 calendar is as follows:

2003 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PROVISIONAL CALENDAR

RD

 EVENT DATE

1.

 AUSTRALIAN GP* 9 MARCH 2003

2.

 MALAYSIAN GP 23 MARCH 2003

3.

 BRAZILIAN GP 6 APRIL 2003

4.

 SAN MARINO GP 20 APRIL 2003

5.

 SPANISH GP 4 MAY 2003

6.

 AUSTRIAN GP 18 MAY 2003

7.

 MONACO GP 1 JUNE 2003

8.

 CANADIAN GP 15 JUNE 2003

9.

 EUROPEAN GP 29 JUNE 2003

10.

 FRENCH GP 6 JULY 2003

11.

 BRITISH GP 20 JULY 2003

12.

 GERMAN GP 3 AUGUST 2003

13.

 HUNGARIAN GP 17 AUGUST 2003

14.

 BELGIAN GP 31 AUGUST 2003

15.

 ITALIAN GP 14 SEPTEMBER 2003

16.

 UNITED STATES GP 28 SEPTEMBER 2003

17.

 JAPANESE GP 12 OCTOBER 2003

* The Australian Grand Prix date is provisional pending issues with the track.