Monday October 14th, 2002

By Carl McKellar

Watched by 200 sheikhs gathered in an air-conditioned tent, a curious ground-breaking ceremony took place in the Bahrain desert last week.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley, Britain's Prince Andrew and Bahrain's own Crown Prince, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa were each handed a shiny, new spade.

In turn, the three dignitaries shovelled a spadeful of gravel into a trough surrounding a waist-high marble monument to mark the start of Bahrain's ambitious plans to build a Formula One circuit and stage a Grand Prix in 2004.

The tent, the monument and a Jordan Grand Prix car were the only objects in the otherwise empty desert near the capital city of Manama. As quickly as they and their armed guards had arrived, the guests of honour disappeared into the hot, orange haze.

The ceremony was notable for the absence of Formula One ringmaster and calendar-maker Bernie Ecclestone. But the Formula One circus has come out and endorsed Bahrain's plans and a long-term contract has been signed, Sheikh Salman said last month.

Six Layouts

Mosley described the plans as "one of the most exciting projects we have seen in Formula One for a long time".

With the pleasantries out of the way, now comes the tricky bit - turning 78 square kilometres of desert into a state-of-the-art Formula One facility in less than 16 months.

The venue will have six different layouts, including a flat oval for testing and a 1.2-km drag strip. The circuit is being designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the man responsible for Malaysia's Sepang track and the new Hockenheim layout.

Organisers have been looking at ways to stop sand from the surrounding desert blowing on to the circuit.

In charge of the $150 million project is circuit manager Dane Peter Hansen, whose courteous but forceful leadership style will be crucial to the project. The weight of expectancy on his shoulders is enormous but he is confident about achieving the mammoth task ahead.

Tobacco Advertising

"Formula One, the Olympics or the World Cup offer countries absolutely outstanding opportunities to get their name firmly established on the world map," said Hansen.

"If you're not capable of picking that up and running with it you're wasting your time. The government, the Royal Family and everyone living in the kingdom knows this. And the support and desire to see it happen is incredible."

Importantly for Formula One, Bahrain is free of the tobacco advertising restrictions that are threatening several European races. Mosley has said that the Championship is unlikely to expand from its present 17 races and that one of the existing races would probably be dropped from the calendar.

The Italian circuit of Imola, where former World Champion Ayrton Senna died in 1994, is considered among the most vulnerable while Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps may also be a risk due to local anti-tobacco advertising legislation which is due to come into effect next August.

The FIA has insisted that any ban on tobacco advertising should not come in before the end of 2006.

Published at 08:32:29 GMT