OCTOBER 11, 1999

Another F1 calendar

THE FIA World Motor Sport Council, which met in Paris last week, announced a variety of calendars for the 2000 season but the Formula 1 dates were less than conclusive with six races still to be settled.

THE FIA World Motor Sport Council, which met in Paris last week, announced a variety of calendars for the 2000 season but the Formula 1 dates were less than conclusive with six races still to be settled. As expected Malaysia has been moved from the start of the year to become the season finale in October, Australia has moved to its preferred date of March 12 and Brazil has gone back to March 26. The San Marino, Spain, France and European races are yet to be confirmed although they will take place on April 9, April 23, May 7 and May 21 in one order or another. The problem appears to be that there is no decision yet regarding the dates of the Austrian and British races in July and one or the other may be moved forward in the calendar. Britain wants a race on July 16 to avoid a clash with the All England Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. The FIA says that the six dates will be finalized within three weeks.

The only other point of interest is that, as expected, Belgium is back on the calendar on its traditional end-of-August date thanks to the rapid retreat of the Belgian authorities over the question of tobacco advertising. As expected the United StatesÊGP is on September 24 with a two-week gap before the Japanese GP and then a further two weeks before Malaysia.