DECEMBER 12, 2002

Tobacco is the big issue this week

The FIA World Council meets in Monaco tomorrow morning and it is anticipated that the big issue will be the European Union's insistence to push ahead with its tobacco sponsorship ban for the middle of 2005. The FIA and the World Health Organisation have been backing a global ban on tobacco sponsorship in the autumn of 2006 but the Europeans refuse to play ball and their moves could affect the global ban. The European attitude will however affect some of the races in Europe which are considered to be of marginal valut to F1 at a time when there are several countries trying to land races, notably Russia and Turkey. There is already pressure on the F1 calendar following the announcements that there will be new races in China and Bahrain in 2004.