MARCH 24, 2004

The World Council meets today

The FIA World Motor Sport Council meets today in Paris and while there is nothing major expected, it is possible that the Council will look at the question of Formula 1 qualifying, although there does not appear to have been any movement from the teams towards finding a solution to the problem. The FIA last week asked the teams to consider changing the existing format but there were no team meetings in Malaysia and thus it does not appear that the issue has been addressed. The F1 broadcasters are up in arms about the qualifying format which they argue is not very entertaining and is driving people away from the sport.

Selected team bosses in Malaysia said that they would be happy to see things changed but had different views on which system should be adopted. There were others who said that the sport should not make knee-jerk reactions to criticism.