Monday October 28th, 2002

By Alan Baldwin

World Champion Michael Schumacher lost his favourite Grand Prix circuit today when Formula One's governing body removed Belgium from the 2003 calendar in a row over tobacco advertising.

While International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone both suggested Spa could be back in 2004, there remained a real risk of no return.

Two new circuits, at Shanghai in China and in Bahrain, are due to be included in the 2004 season and European races will have to be axed to make way for them since the continent currently has 11 of the 17 rounds.

Spa, one of the great tracks in motor racing history, could easily find itself following the likes of Brands Hatch, Jerez, Le Castellet, Kyalami, Zandvoort and Zolder down Formula One's memory lane.

The Belgian circuit was cancelled, with no replacement, after the teams decided not to attend if restrictions on tobacco advertising were in place.

While other countries have passed anti-tobacco legislation, Belgium is alone on denying Formula One an exemption before an agreed global ban in 2006 and has insisted on introducing it next August.

"Other countries adapted and Belgium did not," said Jaguar's Niki Lauda.

The race at Spa, where Ferrari's Schumacher made his debut in 1991 for Jordan and has won six times, would have been at the end of August.

Door Open

Ecclestone told a news conference that the door was not shut for Spa and denied speculation that the circuit might now switch to CART.

"What's going to happen I think is that the government are quite convinced that the laws will be changed for next year so we will be back there in 2004," he said. "I don't believe we are going to see CART racing there at all."

Two Belgian senators said they planned to introduce a bill in the upper house of parliament this week aimed at postponing the date of the law taking on tobacco advertising taking effect. Mosley said the decision on Spa, left entirely to the teams, had been very simple but also held up hope for the future.

"It could come back on the calendar in 2004 if there's an exemption," he said.

British American racing (BAR) boss David Richards, whose outfit is part-owned by British American Tobacco, said the teams had little choice given the stance of the Belgian government.

"We have to stand firm on this particular issue, especially when so many other governments and circuits and people have gone out of their way to accommodate us. That was the only conclusion we could come to," he said.

Asked whether Formula One could have a vintage season without Spa, a circuit famed for its challenges and history as a throwback to the golden age of motor racing, Richards replied: "For the purists maybe not but I look at new circuits like the Hockenheim revamp, I look at the future circuits of Bahrain and Shanghai and I feel very positive and optimistic."

Some Formula One sources suggested that the tobacco legislation was not the only issue surrounding Spa's future.

They pointed out that Belgium was not a major market for the carmakers who now dominate the sport and suggested that Spa had not done enough to move with the sport's technological advances.

Published at 19:51:19 GMT