Wednesday March 29th, 2000

Formula One's ruling body has summoned the organisers of the Brazilian Grand Prix to a meeting next week after advertising hoardings fell on the circuit during qualifying for Sunday's race.

"Having examined the reports of officials with regard to the incidents which occurred during the qualifying practice ... the FIA has summoned the organisers of this event to appear before the World Motor Sport Council at its next meeting," the international Automobile Federation said in a statement.

The meeting is in Paris on April 6.

The Interlagos track came in for heavy criticism after a series of incidents in practice and qualifying.

Qualifying was stopped three times when advertising signs fell on the circuit, one of them hitting the Prost driven flat out by Frenchman Jean Alesi down the pits straight.

Organisers said a violent wind, which broke the hoarding ties made of nylon, was to blame.

The Swiss-based Sauber team withdrew from the race after Finland's Mika Salo crashed in free practice on Saturday when the rear wing of his car came loose.

His Brazilian team mate Pedro Diniz had experienced a similar wing failure while the Prost team lost a wing off one of their cars during Sunday's warm-up.

Former world champion Jackie Stewart said the resurfacing of the undulating track was to blame for a number of incidents including those of the two Saubers.

An FIA court of three judges is also due to sit in the French capital at the start of next week to hear McLaren's appeal against Briton David Coulthard's disqualification from Sunday's race after his car failed a post-race inspection.

Coulthard finished runner-up to Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, winner of the first two races of the season.