OCTOBER 3, 2002

No problem for Australia

The FIA World Council 's new Formula 1 calendar for 2003 has one very significant but unnoticed change. The provisional status of the Australian GP has now disappeared, indicating that the problems surrounding the Melbourne race have now been sorted out.

The problem can be traced back to the accident in 2001 which resulted in the death of a trackside marshal. The coroner's report into the accident suggested that the crash had been "avoidable" and this created a series of other problems, notably with the issue of insurance. The Australian authorities have been working quietly to solve the problem and the FIA World Council was obviously satisfied with what they have achieved.