End of the road for Austrian GP
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Your support makes all the difference.Austria will host its final Formula One race this year because of plans to bring forward a tobacco advertising ban to 2005, according to a report.
The Formula One chief, Bernie Ecclestone, has revealed that the A1-Ring at Spielberg, which only returned to the grand prix calendar in 1997, will lose its grand prix even though it had a contract until 2006.
"We'll be racing for the last time in Spielberg on May 18 this year – then it's over," Ecclestone is quoted as saying in an interview in Austria's Kronen Zeitung newspaper yesterday.
"Of course we had a contract with Spielberg until 2006, but with an exit clause that's now come into effect. Your [Austria's] health minister is the one to blame because he agreed to bringing forward the ban on tobacco advertising.
"In 2004 we're racing in Shanghai and Bahrain, 2005 in Istanbul, then in Russia. It's possible that we then only have five or six races in central Europe." Asked whether Austria could win back its place, Ecclestone added: "The decision is final."
Motorsport bosses had agreed to a worldwide ban on tobacco advertising to take effect from 2006. But EU ministers have now voted to impose the ban in 2005.
Belgium's place on the calendar was scrapped this year after a separate dispute over tobacco advertising. It is unlikely to be awarded another race.
Other European races, including the San Marino Grand Prix, are under threat as Formula One diversifies to venues that are not subject to a ban on tobacco advertising.
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