Ecclestone Mourns Loss of Spa

Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone is mourning the loss of one of the sport's greatest tracks, Spa-Francorchamps, after the Belgian government failed to resolve a tobacco advertising ban that could have rescued next year's Belgian Grand Prix.

F1 fans had hoped Belgium's House of Representatives would vote to postpone the ban - due to come into force next August - until it is adopted by the rest of Europe in 2006.

Although Spa had already been axed from next year's calendar, a postponement of the ban could have meant the race being restored in 2004, as teams would have been allowed to run their cars in full tobacco sponsored livery.

Without it, the teams say they would be failing to meet obligations to tobacco sponsors. And the House narrowly voted to press ahead with the ban - spelling the end for Spa in F1.

Ecclestone blamed the loss of Spa on F1 teams' stubborn obsession with spending excessive sums of money but said he was powerless to make them race in Belgium.

"What do you want me to do - I can't pay their bloody bills," he said. "The problem with these people is they just go on spending like there's no tomorrow. Losing Spa is a great pity. It is one of the two races, along with Monaco, that everybody wanted to win."

The World Motor Sport Council will meet on Friday to discuss what effect a worldwide ban on tobacco advertising will have on motor racing. A spokesperson for the sport's governing body, the FIA, said: "This is not just about Spa, it is about the bigger picture and the implications a ban will have."