DECEMBER 20, 2003

France dreams on...

The Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile continues to bludgeon its way forward in the vain belief that if it raises enough money to satisfy Bernie Ecclestone that the French Grand Prix will be allowed back into the Formula 1 World Championship. The federation does not seem to understand - or has chosen to ignore the fact - that the F1 teams have no desire to compete at Magny-Cours and are not obliged to do so because the race is not covered by the Concorde Agreement. If the French GP is going to take place the teams will need to be paid $2m each to compete - and as FFSA President Jacques Regis says that he is not willing to do that, the federation must face up to the fact that the race is not going to happen.

The FFSA nonetheless issued a statement on Friday to say that the funding to save the race was in place. It then emerged that the opposition socialist and national front candidates on the Burgundy regional council had blocked the signing off of the 2004 budget, thus meaning that the money it was supposed to supply is not in place. Even with this money it will not be enough to save the race.

The FFSA has until December 31 to solve the problem but there seems to be no way that this is going to happen.