Teams back Britain, Austria GP date swap

The official F1 calendar will not be finalised until after the end of the season, but Silverstone's date has now been pencilled in for July 22nd, with the A1-Ring set to take over its May 13th slot.

A return to the British GP's traditional summer date means less chance of a repeat of this year's wet weather fiasco, when flooded car parks brought traffic chaos to the Easter weekend event. The A1-Ring organisers also benefit because the new date does not clash with Austria's main holiday period.

For the teams, the swap allows maximum exploitation of the revised testing regulations set to come into force in 2001. Under the new rules, testing would be banned for the four weeks leading up to a Grand Prix at circuits which hold a race and are major test venues (Silverstone, Barcelona, Monza and Magny-Cours).

With Silverstone now in the heart of the European season, and not coming off the back of a number of 'flyaways', the teams will be able to maximise testing at the track before the ban.