OCTOBER 1, 2000
South Africa says "No" to tobacco
It remains to be seen whether this will have any direct effect on the country's dreams to host a Formula 1 race but it cannot help matters. Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone flew to South Africa in August 1998 to discuss the proposed ban with the then president Nelson Mandela and a deal was agreed to take F1 to South Africa as soon as there was an opening in the calendar but since then the rand has dropped against the US dollar and the South Africans have not been able to complete the deal. As part of the arrangement Ecclestone agreed to send teams to South Africa for winter testing but to date this has been limited to just a handful of teams.