AUGUST 8, 2003

Oops!

Normand Legault, Bernie Ecclestone's right-hand-man in North America and the promoter of the Canadian Grand Prix called a hurried press conference yesterday in Canada and announced that the Canadian Grand Prix will not be on the calendar next year. He said he had received a letter from Ecclestone saying that the race had been ditched because of Canada's new tobacco legislation.

Ecclestone in Germany denied that Canada was under threat and when asked by the Press Association to comment on Friday morning said that "I've no idea where this story came from - the calendar for 2004 has not been put out yet or even considered."

It is unlikely that Legault would have gone ahead with a press conference revealing the existence of a letter if no letter exists and one must assume that Ecclestone was unaware of the press conference which had taken place. Given that he has a lot to do this is not surprising as Bernie has no time to read the newspapers or surf the web but one presumes that he employs people to keep him up to speed...

No doubt all will be revealed when the F1 calendar does eventually see the light of day.