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The Weekly Grapevine

This week, Dieter Rencken looks at the possible 2006 Formula One season calendar

The game of Charades which annually surrounds Formula One's calendar never ceases to amaze. Last year, Bernie's Game centred upon Montreal, Magny-Cours and Silverstone, and, despite there being no non-Formula One considerations such as the Commonwealth Games or FIFA's World Cup, Bernie Ecclestone prolonged 2005 negotiations so much that Formula One's fixture were approved just 22 days before the end of the outgoing year.

This year, it seems, the sport's commercial rights' holder - through common consensus, if not majority control - has widened his net somewhat to hold to ransom the likes of Spa-Francorchamps and Imola, plus a handful of hopeful venues. His 2006 task is, of course, considerably complicated by the staging of the afore-mentioned sporting events, whose dates and venues have the potential to seriously impact upon Formula One's lifeblood - TV ratings - but, still, given that their respective March and June fixtures were formalised years ago, can there be any sporting justification for F1's straggling?

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