OCTOBER 1, 2002

Formula 1 calendar modified

The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on October 1st and amended the Formula 1 calendar for 2003. The Hungarian GP has been pushed back a week to August 24, creating a three-week break between the German and Hungarian events but this means that Hungary and Belgium are now just a week apart.

The Belgian event remains provisional and it is interesting that the World Council has decided to leave the future of the event up to the Formula 1 teams by saying that the race is provisional on them all deciding that the event can be run without tobacco advertising. The long term aim is to re-establish the race on the calendar in 2004 and 2005 but there are legal problems in 2003 as the Belgian politicians have passed legislation which cannot be undone in the time available.

The likelihood of the teams agreeing to run the race is small as they are unable to agree on anything these days so it is fair to say that the event will probably not happen next year - and if it doesn't it will be the teams that will be held responsible.

2003 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 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 24 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